Methods of holding fish

[Hybridfish7]

I saw that one picture of the guy holding a herichthys by its dorsal fin, thought I'd try it out. Safe to say it's a pretty safe method of holding fish, makes them flare out their fins too. Good for pictures




Now, for fish that are too heavy to hold like this but are still small, the classic underhand behind the gill pinch:


And for things that are too big for either of these, and don't have gill spines/mouths big enough to lip, "the cellphone":

 

[Matth05]

Gonna try this, Yellow perch especially have to be the worst fish to control. Usually for larger bluegill they’re pretty compliant with the “cellphone hold” lol.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Gonna try this, Yellow perch especially have to be the worst fish to control. Usually for larger bluegill they’re pretty compliant with the “cellphone hold” lol.View attachment 1504759

I usually lip perch personally, but the dorsal fin hold is better for pictures. Perch around here are generally pretty light.

 

[Matth05]

I usually lip perch personally, but the dorsal fin hold is better for pictures. Perch around here are generally pretty light.

Perch in my area can get to a decent size. They get massive further up north. One my father caught at a local lake:
Almost all the perch I catch will immediately flare all their fins and puff out there spiky gill plates. Then they’ll clamp their jaw shut, makes it impossible to lip them without holding them. It’s actually pretty funny. Hard not to love them though. I mean they’re beautiful fish.

 

[esoxlucius]

Perch in my area can get to a decent size. They get massive further up north. One my father caught at a local lake:
View attachment 1504762Almost all the perch I catch will immediately flare all their fins and puff out there spiky gill plates. Then they’ll clamp their jaw shut, makes it impossible to lip them without holding them. It’s actually pretty funny. Hard not to love them though. I mean they’re beautiful fish.

I'm a sucker for perch, my favourite fish. In blighty we have the European red fin, I believe stateside it's the yellowfin which prevails.

Both can be tricky to hold. I'll never forget the first time I got spined from their gill plate spines, ouch! I think most anglers are extra careful when holding these fish.

There are some syndicate waters in the UK where perch grow massive, up to 6lb in weight. But even that is dwarved by some of the European specimens I've seen.

Holding fish is very much a personal preference thing. Some are slimier than others (bream, tench and eels for example in the UK) making them difficult, and messy, to hold.

Others, even big ones, especially after they are tired from the fight, are easy to hold and pictures can be taken without them flapping all over.

And some (pike and perch in the UK) can even be dangerous if you don't respect their teeth/spines.

 

[wednesday13]

Gotta chin em proper and support the belly ???… Always debate with handling techniques in different countries/areas. Pike for example should not be held like trout/carp. Alot of people still do though and believe its correct. It puts too much pressure on their organs. Regardless of handling, always a quick pic for “evidence” and back in the water is probably more important. #PikeBazooka

 

[jjohnwm]

Gotta chin em proper and support the belly ???… Always debate with handling techniques in different countries/areas. Pike for example should not be held like trout/carp. Alot of people still do though and believe its correct. It puts too much pressure on their organs. Regardless of handling, always a quick pic for “evidence” and back in the water is probably more important. #PikeBazooka
View attachment 1504781View attachment 1504782

Agree completely. It's called Catch-and-Release, not Catch/Abuse/Release. If you want to live release a fish, then you owe it to the critter to handle it carefully and briefly.

One of my biggest pet peeves...and I have a lot of 'em!...is the way many people, including those who absolutely should know better, distort the lower jaw of fish like Bass and others by lipping them and twisting the mouth open so wide, probably because they think it produces a better picture. If you are going to lip a fish, your hand should be pointing downwards so that the fish's mouth is not hyper-extended way past the point that it normally opens. Guys grab a bass, then hold their hand in the same position as if they are about to give a thumbs-up salute. It almost looks as though they are trying to break the jaw off. The fish's weight drags its body downwards, and the lower jaw is forced so far back and down that it can be damaged...all for a supposedly better "grinning idiot" photo op. Worse yet, so many tournament guys do this that their groupies actually think it is the correct method, and will defend it vehemently as being proper...I've seen that right here on MFK.

"Grinning" is good when you are taking a quick trophy pic; the "idiot" part is best avoided.

 

[esoxlucius]

Yes, the bass jaw hold that you see quite often isn't particularly pleasant for the fish with nothing to support it's weight. Especially so when said fish weighs twice as much as it should due to all the lead weights stuffed into it!!! Lol.

 

[Hybridfish7]

I personally hold most fish that have big enough mouths in the "thumbs up" lipped position, just because they're light enough to where it shouldn't do anything with the size of their mouths in proportion to their actual weight. If they are heavy enough to where it might be a problem, I will support the tail, or just take a picture holding them against my leg/on the ground.
Example:

 

[esoxlucius]

Perch are related to bass and also have that huge cavernous mouth. In all my years fishing, and catching decent sized perch, I can safely say I have never held them so their mouths are unnaturally forced open like that. I don't see any need for that.