QUOTE="divemaster99, post: 7333497, member: 120225"]I always thought that gill gripping would be more painful for the fish than by the mouth, I guess it varies by fish though. But you're the Pike expert here not me, I'm a Trout, hopefully Walleye (if the bite ever turns on good in erie), and rough fish type of guy
. Although hopefully come this fall I'll be picking up a few pike and musky in the lower allegheny river at home.[
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Thanks for calling me expert hahaha.
There are a couple of different factors of why boga grips arent good.
You can offcourse always **** a gillgrip up and then it might be worse, like if you break a gill or something. But there are lots of good guides of how too do it, one tip is unless its like an 1meter pike just use a couple of fingers not the whole hand. If you dont support the fishes belly with a boga grip it can break its neck or back, this of course counts too a degree also with the gillgrip, so if its a good fish you wanna support the belly. The boga grip can also do alot of damage to the mouth, even if its a rotating one, i have seen some fish with some seriously bad damage from boga grips. There are things you do to make boga grips better, like putting alot of rubber on the grabbing ends, and having a rotating one, but there is still risk of damage. A good kevlar reinforced glove and a gillgrip for photos is definetly better. Landing with a net is definetly easier haha, plus you have a place for the fish to rest while you get weighing equipment out. I land with gillgrip too and its definetly not that bad, can be done easily. One thing i always liked about the bogas are the abillity to weigh a fish quickly, but the damage to neck and mouth you risk its really not worth it, you can just use a weigh sling. Of course it all depends wether or not you do catch and release, if you dont it doesnt really matter. I dont think pike tastes that well, but of course its up too opinon and how you cook it haha. Dont know if Walleye tastes the same as zander, but zander can be real good.
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