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Author
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Jeffonc
Site Moderator
Blog Captain Angler
Captain's Club Angler
NC Kayak Angler
Registered: August 2006
Location: Raleigh
Posts: 3628
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Review Date: 6/26/2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $13.00
| Rating: 9
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Pros:
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high-vis, floating, price
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Cons:
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not a boga
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Just ordered it, just received it in the mail. Gets rave reviews on cabellas.com (49 out of 50 gave it 5 stars). Had to try it at this price.
Initial impressions:
+ color
+ the thickness of the plastic
? rivets (they're small)
? wrist strap (attached by small rivet-looking things)
Hope to update the review once I get a chance to grab some fish with it.
- - - - - - -
(Update - August 2007) I've had a chance to use it some this summer. I've been doing a lot of crankbait fishing and it works great for getting hold of something wiggly with 6 hooks flailing around its mouth area. Also for holding the fish while I take solo photos. Rivets look like they're going to be no problem. I'm using the wrist strap to connect to a lanyard, not really using it on my wrist at all - no problems there either. Raising its score to a '9'.
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GanzAndere
NC Kayak Angler
Registered: May 2007
Location: Hillsborough
Posts: 437
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Review Date: 9/7/2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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useful for landing/handling fish in kayak; no maintenance; floats; holds up well to abuse
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Cons:
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can be tricky to grip fish's lip; may be less useful in a larger boat
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I've found this product to be a good, cheap alternative to expensive Boga Grips and clones -- though there are now some attractive, more economically priced lip-gripper-type devices on the market now that I'd like to test and/or see reviewed.
The product has been especially great for landing and handling fish in a kayak (price doesn't hurt either, esp. given the possibility of capsizing and losing gear!). Product is plastic, requires no maintenance, and holds up well to neglect; I've had mine over a year, and it's still in good working order and still locks down tight. I'm pretty sure it even floats. I've found it esp. useful for landing and handling red drum (though drum sometimes keep their jaws shut, making it tricky to clamp the unit on their lower lip), flounder and speckled trout. Less useful for largemouth bass, esp. big ones -- I often net bigger ones first, then use this product to handle the fish. It protects the fish by minimizing handling, and it protects me from the hooks (!). I have attached a carabiner to the wrist strap, and occasionally have clipped the carabiner to my yak, then dropped fish back in the water temporarily while I managed my gear (tape measure, camera, etc.). That way fish is back in the water and not suffocating or flopping around with me in the kayak while I fumble with gear. I recently have found the product esp. useful for stabilizing fish while i remove lures with multiple treble hooks.
I've made two trips to urgent care facilities in the last 1.5 years (!) to have hooks removed from my thumbs -- both times, I got snagged by trebles. And this product--along with a good landing net, long-nosed pliers, and a Lindy glove--has been part of my solution to prevent these painful hook "incidents." As a catch-and-release fisherman, I've also found this product to be a useful and generally successful way to ensure that the fish I catch are released in good health with a minimum of handling.
// Joel Elliott
Hillsborough, NC
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lefty
Captains Club Member
NC Kayak Angler
Registered: November 2005
Location: Cary
Posts: 2557
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Review Date: 10/23/2007
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: $13.00
| Rating: 8
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Pros:
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Grips tighter than Berkely's Pocket model
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Cons:
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Haven't got it wet yet, but discovered an interesting illustration in my garage.
Before this one, I bought a Berkeley Pocket Lip gripper. It's been in salt a few times, rinsed, and its steel tape surgically removed -- so it's not new, but it also has not been treated roughly. But anyhow -- I picked up a magazine, inserted it into the grips, and held it vertically. The spring and the jaws on the Berkeley will not hold the magazine.
Not so with this one -- it clamps like a vise grips. Mondo easy to operate as well.
I knew the Berkely would have problems -- on at least three occasions it has held a fish long enough for me to remove the hook, but lost it before I could get the camera.
Dec 2007 update: It held a 12" speck great yesterday! (Not much, but at least it's been slimed!)
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NC Angler Fishing
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;)
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