Get a grip!

While surfing at Youtube for some juicy pike-porn one can't help but stumble upon exactly the opposite every now and then. It's truly amazing how much horrible stuff you'll find out there. Take this one for example:



This really, really hurts, and not just for the pike. What on earth was this guy thinking when he decided to try and catch a pike anyway? That the pike would unhook itself (even with all those barbed hooks) and then jump out of the boat again? "Oh my god, I caught a pike, now what?" While for all kinds of fishing some skills and sanity wouldn't hurt, this is even more true for piking. The relative vulnerability of the pike in combination with the sharp teeth provide its catcher with a serious challenge to keep himself and the fish unharmed during the catching and releasing process.

Apart from being a nice argument for using barbless hooks, this video shows once again how important it is to master a secure grip. Sure, there's the neck-grip (see above), but that's only for relatively small pike and it also lacks some of the advantages of the gill-to-jaw grip.

Here's the grip in action:



As shown here, one of the advantages is that there's no need for a net. Because a net, even properly used, will harm the pike to some degree no matter what.




Another big plus of the gill-to-jaw grip is that there's no need to put the pike on the ground while unhooking it. There is a however however, because big pike do need to be supported with the other hand while in the gill-to-jaw grip. This would require either a fishing mate to unhook the pike or putting it partly and gently on the ground (grass or softer) anyway. But even with the pike (partly) on the ground the gill-to-jaw grip has a great function, because it prevents the pike from crawling all over the place and damaging itself along the way.

But we're not done yet with the praise for this technique. Usually the pike will automatically open its mouth while in the gill-to-jaw grip. Excellent! And if it doesn't, it only takes a little help:




Here's how the grip looks from inside:



The bigger the pike, the more space there is in its mouth and hence the easier the grip. With a small pike, there may be only room for one finger. At that point, one might consider the neck grip instead.

In Holland there has been some research about this, concluding that in most circumstances the gill-to-jaw grip is the preferred way to handle and unhook a pike while practicing catch and release. So get a grip yourself!