Methods of holding fish

[Hybridfish7]

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.

It's not a need to open the mouth, it's a way to control the fish without the thing thrashing/slipping/spiking me. Sort of the same concept as holding plecos by their face, or other catfish by their armpits, since they can't really move the front half of their body and that immobilizes them.

 

[jjohnwm]

Holding a pleco or large cat in those ways does not distort any part of their body beyond its normal limits; as long as the heavy cats have their weight supported, no problem.

But those three bass pics show the spectrum of typical holds that are commonly seen. First pic, that mouth is about as far open as it really should ever be, and much further than required when the fish is in that position. Second pic, that looks great; fish is controlled, mouth is merely open...not distorted.

But, man, that third pic displays exactly the bad practice to which I was referring. You're supporting the fish's weight, even though that fish is not heavy enough to worry about holding in a vertical suspended position...but you still have the lower jaw cranked open way past normal. Look at the acute angle the jaw makes to the fish's body, right in front of your index finger. That is not normal and is not doing anything good for that fish, and it isn't making it any easier to control. Bass don't have a nuchal hump; in that pic the entire head is twisted downwards to such an extent that it appears this one is trying to grow such a hump.

If your hand were rotated 180 degrees downward, the hand by the tail would be unnecessary, the fish's body would be hanging comfortably vertical, and the mouth would not be so severely distorted. The fish would still be comletely under control, but would not be forced into an unnatural and potentially damaging posture. There is simply no reason for holding a fish the way it is shown in that pic.

 

[Matth05]

Gotta agree with everything being said here. Even in first pic of the perch I posted without a doubt the jaw of the fish is being extended far more than necessary. A bass or similar fish being held by the jaw shouldn’t be held at the unnatural angle like in that pic of the perch. For the past few months I’ve been trying to stop with the lip holding pics altogether when I don’t have someone else to take a picture. I found that taking a video or picture holding bass like this is much better.
Not the highest quality pic this a screenshot from a video and you can see this bass has already suffered a prior mouth injury. When it comes to the “professionals” I think I’ve mentioned some of the horrible things I’ve seen and heard in other threads, not only with mishandling the fish. I’ve heard some advocate for pouring soda and other sugary drinks in gills of fish that are gill hooked. Their logic is it makes the blood coagulate, keeping them alive longer for weigh in. Horrible.

 

[Hybridfish7]

Holding a pleco or large cat in those ways does not distort any part of their body beyond its normal limits; as long as the heavy cats have their weight supported, no problem.

But those three bass pics show the spectrum of typical holds that are commonly seen. First pic, that mouth is about as far open as it really should ever be, and much further than required when the fish is in that position. Second pic, that looks great; fish is controlled, mouth is merely open...not distorted.

But, man, that third pic displays exactly the bad practice to which I was referring. You're supporting the fish's weight, even though that fish is not heavy enough to worry about holding in a vertical suspended position...but you still have the lower jaw cranked open way past normal. Look at the acute angle the jaw makes to the fish's body, right in front of your index finger. That is not normal and is not doing anything good for that fish, and it isn't making it any easier to control. Bass don't have a nuchal hump; in that pic the entire head is twisted downwards to such an extent that it appears this one is trying to grow such a hump.

If your hand were rotated 180 degrees downward, the hand by the tail would be unnecessary, the fish's body would be hanging comfortably vertical, and the mouth would not be so severely distorted. The fish would still be comletely under control, but would not be forced into an unnatural and potentially damaging posture. There is simply no reason for holding a fish the way it is shown in that pic.

I personally didn't feel like the fish's mouth was extended too far. Its weight was supported by my leg and other hand in each respective picture, more of the fish's weight was on both, and less on the fulcrum of the jaw. I am against lipping trout altogether, but trout mouths are not made to open 180 degrees like that. I have a feel for when a certain part of a fish is taking too much weight, and try to alleviate that. At the point of those pictures I'm basically just opening the mouth, the mouth was taking little to none of the weight. Now, hyperextending the jaw really becomes a problem when people hold them like this, where the jaw is almost touching the chest:

 

[jjohnwm]

Let's agree to disagree. Look at the outline of that small bass in your most recent pic, and compare it to the bigger one in your last post. The extreme angle of the jaw to the body...the "humpy" look of the head bending downward...the hyperextension of the jaw...they look virtually identical.

Not one bass shown here...and only a tiny percentage of bass anywhere...are so heavy that they cannot be safely held hanging straight down. The compression and pressure on the internal organs starts to become a thing when you get into larger fish like pike, muskie, etc. With bass, for all intents and purposes, weight is not the issue...it's the hyperextension of the jaw way past the point to which the fish ever would, or could, open it itself. It's bad enough when guys catch a big bass and allow its body mass to twist the jaw; far worse when we're talking about some little tiddler that would be a candidate for the "cell-phone" hold (I love that moniker!) but it ends up being lipped to within an inch of its life because "that's the way the pros do it!"

I've heard the old tidbit about this calming and paralyzing the fish; bonking it over the head with a shillelagh would work too, but neither method lends itself to undamaged, healthy live releases. But this kind of lipping, IMHO, falls into the same category as another cruel and damaging practice that dates back many years, and thankfully seems to have fallen by the wayside today. I'm talking about the ridiculous practice of seizing a pike or muskie over the top of the head, with the thumb and forefinger pressing down hard on the eyes. Yes, that was once considered a smart move also. The big difference is that there is no way to grab a fish by the eyes safely; lipping can be done safely...but usually tends not to be.

 

[Fishman Dave]

Don’t really go for the holdable but……. Father in law with a small barbel,
My way of holding a bigger barbel
And my preferred way of holding the none conventional wildlife

None of the fish or wildlife were harmed in the capture, photography or release, albeit the eel I caught next took 5 days of me swimming in the river to clean the gunk off my trousers!

 

[esoxlucius]

Don’t really go for the holdable but……. Father in law with a small barbel, View attachment 1504802
My way of holding a bigger barbelView attachment 1504803
And my preferred way of holding the none conventional wildlife View attachment 1504804

None of the fish or wildlife were harmed in the capture, photography or release, albeit the eel I caught next took 5 days of me swimming in the river to clean the gunk off my trousers!

I'm surprised you caught any fish at all glugging Stella Artois whilst fishing, lol.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I lip fish most of the time. It depends on the fish size. The only problem is the fish that have teeth. Then I’ll try to hook my finger/hand through the gills. But then that scratches my hand. So then I hit ‘em with the double hander (that’s not me, in case annyone was wondering). Except then it slips from my hands. By then I take out the ol baseball bat and give it a nice haircut.