North of 8 - 9/13/2021 1:46 PM
kap - 9/13/2021 8:15 AM
Kirby Budrow - 9/10/2021 7:29 AM
Abu7000 - 9/9/2021 7:21 PM
Why put a fish in a net unless it is so hooked up on a bait so bad you can't shake it off at boatside? Get the fish next to the boat, and shake it off the hook.
Safety. For you and the fish. Odds of getting your hand hooked are far greater without a net.
I do not use a net on smalller fish if i can see hook not swallowed.
Just like all northerns, no net just grab hook with pliers and flip it out.
can be much quicker and better for the fish. Hands never touch fish.
how ever if hooked good it may be worse on fish if you struggle with the hook.
To a degree, I do this is well with small fish but it carries risk. Had an upper 20s ski hit a Believer last year and when I got it to the boat saw it had one of the hooks from the front treble in side of mouth. Reached down and unhooked but what I didn't see was that one of the hooks on the back treble was hooked on outside of jaw, on the bottom. As I started to straighten up, the still hooked fish flipped and drove a hook into the knuckle on my thumb. Now I had a struggling fish attached to my thumb. I pulled it off and other than a sore thumb, no harm done. Could just as easily have buried it in the pad at base of thumb.
