Proper hold for Pike/Muskie

We have been fielding a number of questions via our YouTube channel and Facebook account in regards to properly holding a Pike. Some of this may be new information to you (if you don’t fish Pike/Muskie often, or perhaps you are just getting started chasing these toothy critters).

The first and most important item to remember is that there is a big difference between Gills and Gill Plates. You should never grab a fish by the Gills.

The main goal of a “Gill Plate Grab” is to control the head of the fish from violent thrashing. By following these steps below, you can avoid a mistake that could result in your bleeding or the fish’s mortality rate increasing.

1. Start by curling your fingers into the shape of U (just four fingers, not your thumb). Pretend as you are grabbing a pull up bar, your hand will be in a similar formation.

2. Once your hand is in formation, slip your hand under the fish’s gill plates. It doesn’t matter if you are grabbing the left gill plate or the right gill plate. You can decide what gill plate to grab based on the position of the fish and your body.

3. Your fingers (still in the U shape) will be touching the inside surface of the plate covering the gills. Again, do not grab the gills!

4. When your fingers are touching the inside surface of the gill plate, you will position your right thumb forward, essentially parallel to the head of the fish.

5. Squeeze your fingers (still in the U shape) toward your thumb. This will provide you a nice grip on the fish.

6. You can now move into position for a photo or a release. Holding the fish horizontal is recommended for the best photo opportunity.

Here are some examples taken on the ice, however this tactic applies to open water too.

Attachments:

1. 

   GillPlate-Grab.jpg
   

2. 

   IMG_0194.jpg
   

3. 

   IMG_0196.jpg
   

Great illustration.

With musky opener approaching Outdoor news last week had a good article about proper handling of big fish. It is also important to support the fish horizontally as shown in the pictures. Never lift them vertically. Lifting a long old heavy fish vertically will cause tissue damage that most likely will cause delayed mortality, aka kill the fish.

When holding them for pictures hold them horizontally as shown above.

Kyhl wrote:

When holding them for pictures hold them horizontally as shown above.

IMO you can hold them somewhat vertically if supported by two hands. I think the somewhat vertical hold can actually be easier on fish. The horizontal is good but in some instances when you’re dealing with heavy fish you can put a lot of pressure on internal organs. See pics below. This is just my opinion though.

Attachments:

1. 

   muskie-2.jpg
   

2. 

   muskie-1.png
   

Thanks Nick, big Pike being more rare than a honest politician, we need to protect the fish as much as possible. I might add to wet your hands prior to grabbing the fish, in my mind it protects the slime on the Pike which is critical to their survival.

great post, Nick, thanks.

here’s a good tutorial video by Rob Manthei and Ken Jackson that shows the gill plate hold from both outside and inside the fish’s mouth as well as some suggestions on unhooking and releasing:

and here’s a few photos that show a little better view of the hand position being described for the gill plate hold. i also find that my holds are more confident when i’m wearing a pair of thin fishing or golf gloves.

Attachments:

1. 

   hold2.jpg
   

2. 

   hold3.jpg
   

3. 

   hold4.jpg
   

4. 

   hold5.jpg
   

I’ll throw in one more tip.

When handling them by the gill plates you will need to choose left or right side. When I fish pike the biggest reason I pick one side or the other is where the lure is in the fish’s mouth. Often enough the hooks can be way too close to your fingers on the inside of the mouth.

Stay safe and put your hand on the opposite side from the hooks

This is all good information, particularly for those who have limited experience handling big esox. I have handled many of them over the years and experience helps as they can be unpredictable when removing from the net. One more important thing, leave the net and the fish in the water during the hook removal process. Once unhooked, lift out for your CPR. Do NOT bring the fish into the boat and drop it on the floor. Once they start thrashing on the floor they just about commit suicide as it doesn’t take much impact on their marble sized brain to render them handicapped when returned to the water. They may swim away fine, but the unseen brain injury may cause them to forget how to eat!!
Here’s one more helpful tool…I just got one of these recently because it was very difficult to pull large pike up through an ice hole trying to reach for the gill cover. This a great tool that can be used anytime and for those with less experience handling the big toothy beasts!

Attachments:

1. 

   Mechanical_Fish_Gripper.jpg
   

Good information. I watched the video as well. I always leave them in the net while unhooking, and carry jaw spreaders, hook cutter and a long handled tool for pushing backwards on deeper hook ups that aren’t close to the gills. My problem is I’m a little gun shy on the gill plate holds because a couple times in the past I’ve had big fish rip up the inside of my finger tips with their teeth, when going for the hold and lifting them out of the net. I’m not sure if it’s because of the head shakes or maybe I’m not positioning my grip right…i.e. getting my fingers too far into the fishes mouth. Any tips for this?

Fishtalez wrote:

Good information. I watched the video as well. I always leave them in the net while unhooking, and carry jaw spreaders, hook cutter and a long handled tool for pushing backwards on deeper hook ups that aren’t close to the gills. My problem is I’m a little gun shy on the gill plate holds because a couple times in the past I’ve had big fish rip up the inside of my finger tips with their teeth, when going for the hold and lifting them out of the net. I’m not sure if it’s because of the head shakes or maybe I’m not positioning my grip right…i.e. getting my fingers too far into the fishes mouth. Any tips for this?

First off, great post with a ton of good info.
Like Mr. Winther mentioned above, a glove helps a ton with gill rake. Give it a try. You will have better control and in turn more confidence in handling those big toothy critters.

Good luck to everyone this weekend. I can’t wait to get out in the boat and huck some baits.

Fishtalez wrote:

My problem is I’m a little gun shy on the gill plate holds because a couple times in the past I’ve had big fish rip up the inside of my finger tips with their teeth, when going for the hold and lifting them out of the net. I’m not sure if it’s because of the head shakes or maybe I’m not positioning my grip right…i.e. getting my fingers too far into the fishes mouth. Any tips for this?

There’s a piece of cartilage running from the tip of the jaw along the bottom of each side of the mouth and eventually extends to each of the gill plates. I focus on squeezing this in my fist between the thumb and fingers. That helps keep my fingertips away from the teeth on the inside and stops my thumb from wrapping around and into the mouth from outside.
This is the picture that probably shows it the best.

Attachments:

1. 

   point.jpg
   

Fishtalez wrote:

My problem is I’m a little gun shy on the gill plate holds because a couple times in the past I’ve had big fish rip up the inside of my finger tips with their teeth, when going for the hold and lifting them out of the net.

I’ll be honest with you, unless you’re wearing a glove you’re going to get some “road rash” on the backside of your knuckles from time to time. This occurs when the backside of your fingers make contact with the gill rakers during a head shake. The fish isn’t hurt in any way but it will leave the back of your fingers looking like you lost a fight with a cheese grater. Yeah, it stings a little bit but in all honesty I take it as a sign that I didn’t overly-fatigue the fish and it is going to release well. I’ll take that… fair trade.

Making contact with the teeth of the fish is a whole different story. If that’s happening you’re going in WAY too deep into the fishes’ mouth. I think the best advice for avoiding this is the point Nick made in the initial article… curl your fingers in a “C” shape as you go in under the gill plate and be mindful of the fact that you don’t have to go in very far to get a good grip on the fish. Once you have your fingers in place behind the gill plate slide your hand forward so your fingers come to rest in the “V” where the gill plate meets the chin of the fish. At this point you should be “locked in” and the outcome should be a good one for you and the fish.

The only other thing I would add to the info shared so far (it may have been shared in the videos – I haven’t had a chance to watch them) is to go in with confidence. Just about every time I’ve seen someone get beat up by a fish they were going in tentatively, slowly, hoping the fish was going to offer them the perfect opportunity. They rarely do this. I find that when I do go in with the hand its best to go in quickly, with authority and purpose. In the moment it feels like you’re throwing caution to the wind, but trust me, it turns out better than slowly sliding a hand up inside the gill opening of a fish that’s giving you the stare down just waiting for you to get half-way in position before it does a death roll.

And once you pick up that fish, NO MATTER WHAT, you’re responsible for that fish. No matter how much it shakes, you’re responsible for it. If it is a big fish and it starts to thrash, pull it in close to your body and hold on! If you drop that fish on its head… there’s a strong probability that it isn’t going to survive.

Great thread guys. There’s nothing better than the thrill of catching a big-toothy fish! Knowing that the fish has the capability of messing you up a bit during handling adds a little extra adrenaline and excitement to the experience! Good luck to all the muskie hunters over the upcoming opener!

Thanks for the advice Mr. Bowman, Mr. Winther and Mr. Holst! I will pick up a glove as a confidence booster/hand protector. Seeing the illustration with the central piece of cartilage really connected the dots for me. I’ve been doing it all wrong. Placing my thumb on the outside of the gill plate and sliding my fingers along the inside of the plate – as opposed to the center cartilage. A couple times I’ve had to duct tape my fingers up to keep fishing afterwards. I mainly target them on NE medium sized Wisconsin rivers, on float trips. So special to encounter such an apex predator in that setting. Thanks for the help on proper handling, as it’s an honor to catch one, and seeing it swim away unscathed is a huge part of that.

And while its been slightly mentioned, I will offer to re-emphasize the placement of the thumb UNDER THE JAW!!! (Winther’s Pic above) If not and the fish thrashes and your thumb slides into the jaw, you’ve got a mess!!!

The other thing I will say is that by carrying the tools with, you have the proper equipment to handle a self-hooking injury as well!!! Last time walleye cranking, I had to use the Knipex cutters to get a rear treble out of a smallies gills and never would have been able to do it with conventional tools peeps carry in their boats.

I actually carry this box with me in other people’s boats to be sure that we can release anything!!!

Mark

All of the generous comments and feedback are welcomed! Thank you all for sharing your knowledge. I look forward to seeing some of your fish throughout the season right here in the forums.

you mean don’t do the eyeball death grip like this?

Anyone hold a pike this way or is this a no no

Btw
30 incher and personal best for Gabe

Attachments:

1. 

   image-26.jpeg
   

No on a no no on a Pike that size. However if you get into the bigger fish be sure to give the body support with a more verticle hold.

Love this post. I read it on Friday and was happy to see the good info. While I was enjoying my coffee and morning quiet time on Saturday, I picked up my old “Fishing Basics: The Complete Illustrated Guide” book which had a Pike/Muskie handling section. I was mortified when I noticed it promoted the “eye hold” and “gaff hook” methods. Both were once ways to handle these fish, but I am glad to see people are more concerned about fish mortality and catch-release. It’s a great book but needs to be updated.

Ryan Scholl wrote:

you mean don’t do the eyeball death grip like this?

WHOA! I wish I could have seen that grab from a different angle.

does this photo look right or wrong?

Right on. I think the people who do that kinda stuff are afraid of getting bitten/scared of the fish. He even mentioned “wish I had my gaff” after he hooked up. You should only gaff a fish if it is going in the fry-pan. Why would you want to eye-hold/gaff a fish you throw back? Seems not logical.

Matt

Same gill-plate technique described from Field & Stream website(credits go to them). Nice info-graphic.

Attachments:

1. 

   pike.jpg
   

I highly recommend NOT to use a Boga Grip or any tool like it.
These are very dangerous to a fish’s mouth.

pikeintheboat:

I agree that it is a great pic, but I still can’t stress enough getting your thumb in the slot that I circled in red. Where the thumb is positioned in that drawing seems to be an opportunity for it to slide into the fishes maw if it sqirms/shakes massively.

Mark

Attachments:

1. 

   Musky.Pike_.Hold_.16.png
   

Wow…. old post.

I just want to ask, after the hooks are out, why not put your thumb over the top of the mouth like a “gator grab” and hold it’s mouth shut? Talk about controlling a thrash, I’ve got it’s mouth clamped shut, like a “c” clamp. I’ve never had it come undone. Therefore, when lifting a fish out of the net for a photo, I make sure it can’t open it’s mouth let alone get my thumb inside. Once the fish settles in the photo position, I usually slide my thumb underneath as shown but in picking them up, I’ve been clamping the mouth shut with my thumb.

What hook cutter is recommended?

Won’t rust
Snips through a 10/0 saltwater hook without damaging the snips?

Just as a note of caution. I have often seen the bottom teeth of northern, particularly big ones, cut through the upper jaw and get people in the thumb when trying to hold the fishes mouth shut like stillakid2 recommended.

Smalls, I agree whole heartedly. If you routinely clamp your thumb on the outside, it will eventually cost you a trip to the doctor and stitches. Don’t ask how I know…

I completely agree as well. I can honestly say that it’s extremely hard for me to control a 30+ pound fish when they decide to go nuts. I would suggest clenching onto the bottom jaw like a fist with the thumb exactly where mbenson circled in red, and no matter what never let go. I know that my thumb will stay in that groove when the fish does its thing. If you have your thumb elsewhere you never know where it will end up. My thumb has only ended up in the fishes mouth once and it was when I was lowering a fish into the water for release and didn’t quite have a good enough grip on her anymore. ouch! At least the fish was over the water and no harm was done to her.

In the picture from hagcel it almost looks like the persons fingers are in between the actual gills. You want to make sure that you follow the gill plate with your fingers to ensure that your fingers are OUTSIDE of the fishes gills! This is extremely important!

One other thing is if you are a bogo grip user, you should only be using them as a Jaw spreader to aid in unhooking a fish that is hooked in a sensitive area. This should be done while the fish is still in the net. Never use the bogo grip to support the weight of a fish. You will never have the control like you will using your hand. If you have a bogo on the bottom jaw and the fish decides to thrash you might lose your grip on your supporting hand placing all the weight on the two skinny metal pieces on the bottom jaw of the fish, most likely resulting in a broken jaw.

FishBlood&RiverMud wrote:

What hook cutter is recommended?

Won’t rust
Snips through a 10/0 saltwater hook without damaging the snips?

I have always used a compound cutter like this, works like a charm!

Attachments:

1. 

   cutter_.jpg