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Posts: 60
Location: Poca, West Virginia | Just curious how many guys use the Boga Grip to handle muskies. Is this the best way to handle a fish for release? I'm thinking about buying one and wanted some opinions. Thanks |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | I only use the Boga Grip as a tool for release....control the head and revive the fish leading it through the water so water passes over the gills. Works great. DO NOT LIFT THE MUSKIE WITH THE BOGA GRIP. |
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Posts: 35
| Couldn't agree with Bob more. Boga grips provide for more control and safe clearance from a fish's mouth while trying to remove/cut hooks and while finding a grab underneath a gill plate, but otherwise provide unnecessary stress and damage to due to the amount of pressure put on the connection of skull and spine while holding horizontal for a net removal and subsequent horizontal picture, as these fish shouldn't be kept in a vertical position for longer than necessary due to the effects of relative gravity out of the water and the position of vital organs and innards. Very useful for containing a fish at the hole while ice fishing too when used in a proper manner on all species!
Bob, wish we had run into each other when I used to be on Marco myself, would have been a good chat or two at the Sand Bar or The Snook Inn while on the dock while the "saltwater walleyes" moved in! |
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Posts: 70
| i bought one when they first came out thinking i was doing the the fish good then i read about the injuries it was causing , broken jaws. it is now nailed to my shed at the cottage.
every yr i catch a musky with a "bent" jaw and these fish are all skinny
last yr was the worst one i had ever seen, small fish approx 36" skinny, with it's jaw to the side,
i'm not a fan of these, they have their place but for pike and musky a net is still
the best option
bob |
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Posts: 968
Location: N.FIB | I could see them being good for shore fishing when you want to take the hook out of the fish while it`s still in the water,I`ve thought about picking one up for that reason only but don`t shore fish enough to want to spend alot of money on something like boga grips.But the one time you might need it could save you from killing a fish or getting a hook in you. |
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| We use a tool for Northerns so we do not have to put them in the net. A few years back I was reaching down to grab a small (23") Northern. As I reached down I saw the gills starting to flare so I knew the fish was going to thrash. I pulled my hand back as the fish launched out of the water and buried a 7/0 treble in my hand. The fish thankfully got off - but I was left with the bucktail in my hand. Not good.
I would recommend the boca or the Berkley (a lot cheaper) for safety. But net the muskies. The Northerns we use the boca on typically thrash with the tool and tear their jaws up bad. |
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Posts: 112
Location: Nielsen's Fly-In Lodge, on Rowan Lake | lost a big fish for one of my clients years ago went back to the big net
never any problems and its a great live well atthe same time and lots of time for the other guys to get the camera ready |
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Location: 412 | Not a bad tool at all when used properly, if I ever get into kayak musky fishing - thats one tool I want to have. Like others said above, you have to be careful with how you handle with the fish with this particular tool, as well with any piece of equipment for that matter. |
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Posts: 484
Location: St. Louis, MO., Marco Is., FL, Nestor Falls, ON | Don is correct. The Boga Grip is NOT a substitute for a big net. I use a very large Frabil net and then use the Boga as described. Since I fish alone much of the time, a large net is a must. |
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Posts: 1663
Location: Kodiak, AK | Agree with Bob. It's not a substitue, it's an added tool, and I use mine as he does his. There are other species and fishing scenarios where it's my primary landing tool, but muskies aren't one of them |
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Posts: 582
| Personally i wouldn't use one. i have seen them do damage. In order to protect my hands i wear a pair of gloves that have some abbrasion resistance and a long pair of pliers. |
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Posts: 1030
Location: APPLETON, WI | If I have a fish in the net, I certainly don't need a Boga Grip tool. A glove by Musky Armour on the hand I'm using to pick up the fish out of the net is more than sufficient. Having a tool that applies that much pressure to the lower jaw is simply asking for trouble.
It doesn't quite seem right to me that we take so much care to make sure the fish is released and swimming away properly... but then, prior to that, we've got a vice-like grip around its bottom jaw with a large stainless steel tool.
Just seems a bit contradictory to me, IMO. |
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Posts: 60
Location: Poca, West Virginia | Thanks guys for all the input I'm presently use a Frabill cradle which works great with two people but when I fish alone it is tough to use so that is why I was thinking about the Boga grip. I've been getting them next to the boat and picking them up with a glove in the gill and removing the hooks. I was concerned about injuring the gill, is that possible? |
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Posts: 906
Location: Canada | Buy a net. Like you said, the cradle works but only with two people. There have been many threads about fishing alone and the nets these guys use and why. Not too long ago I saw a video on YouTube where a guy was fishing by himself and netted a musky by himself, could be good to watch as to get an idea of how to use the the net/work the fish when alone. |
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Posts: 291
Location: Minneapolis | The boga does work well when you're fishing from shore or a pier. You can keep the fish under control in the water, get the hooks out, and let it swim off. It is also good for kayak or canoe fishing where you don't have room for a big net. I use mine all time time when fishing for pike and lake trout in the BWCAW. |
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | Just food for thought. A boga is going to be just as safe for the fish picking it out of the water as it is for you to put your hand in the gills like a typical pick up. If you are picking a fish out of the water straight vertical with the gill hold you are imparting stress on the fish as well that way. If you are concerned for the fish either way is going to be safe as long as you try to keep the fish as horizontal as possible while taking it out of the net. It doesn't matter if you use a boga, gill hold, gaff (hooked same place you put your hand, but not directly into fish), or whatever. Unsupported is unsupported, and supported is supported.
Think about it a bit. |
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| Nice post Cisco. Your reply has been my reply for years. Many TV shows and videos show muskies tangled in nets, hooks getting ripped out of thier faces and much of the slime being removed in the process, only to be verticlly lifted by the gill for removal from the net and again for release. No great way to handle these fish but they can be handled with a boga and never even touched. Please don't use the cheap knock offs that don't rotate... will break jaws of fish. Boga the fish, cut hooks, and release quickly. |
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Posts: 1030
Location: APPLETON, WI | Just curious... after watching all of the musky fishing shows on Saturday morning (Keyes Outdoors, The Musky Hunter, Joe Bucher Outdoors)... none of these "professionals" in any of the episodes that I watched last Saturday used a boga grip.
Can anyone explain why that is?
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but I'm curious to know why a professional on television wouldn't promote the use of a boga grip if it's 100% critical to the sport and hobby of musky fishing. |
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Posts: 426
Location: Perryville, MO | Hold, on Scott. I didn't hear anyone suggest boga grips as 100% critical to the sport. A couple of guys did however say that they effectively use them without causing damage to the fish, in some case perhaps less stress and damage. That's interesting and food for thought. I always thought they were a big no-no. I'll believe that some guys can rightly use them, yet more often than not I've seen people poorly making use of them (even a "guide" who tried promoting his buisness on M1 in the past). I like my big net. I fish alone and it isn't really a problem just takes a little practice. But even this method is far from perfect. Even proper net bags remove slime and can at times split fins. Why do pro's use a net? I tend to think because it is the best balance between being the most effective and safest method for the fish and the angler. But I won't frown the next time I see boga grips laying on someone's front deck, until after I see them CPR a fish (then if I don't like their performance I'll jump all over their @#$%!  ) |
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Posts: 1030
Location: APPLETON, WI | Got'cha... I agree. In a best of both worlds scenario and a lesser of two evils, I guess for me personally... I'd opt for a large net (using support and not allowing the fish to dangle from your hand in its gill vertically) before I'd reach for a boga grip.
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Posts: 1906
Location: Oconto Falls, WI | I have not used a boga, and probably never will. So my comments, like most on here I am sure, are without knowledge of the boga itself. My guess is the “pros” on TV are just more accustom to a net and don’t see the need to switch. That doesn’t make a boga wrong. I will then question back these same pros, are they pulling the fish out of the net straight up or are they supporting the middle portion of the body while picking them up? I’ve seen the shows and know the answer.  It’s the same way most of us take fish out of the net.
Common sense just tells me a boga could be just as safe as using your hands for holding a fish. You just need to take the same precautions. I will also ask this question for guys that have held fish with their hands. Have you ever had a fish go crazy while holding, and in the process of making sure that fish don’t flop down to vertical or out of your hands a finger or two punctures through the skin below the gill plate (not sure what it is called)? Maybe I have been the only unlucky one. Wouldn’t happen with a boga.
Saltwater guys use bogas on a lot larger fish than muskies! Again it all boils down to taking the same care with the tool as you would without it.
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Posts: 109
| Actually, bogas have been used to hold a musky's mouth open while extracting hooks, and yes it has been used that way on Keyes and Joe Bucher. I don't know a lot of guys that use them for lifting muskies, mainly for getting at deep hooks. Hook spreaders work well on average to small fish, but have you tried to pry a 50 incher's mouth open with one? This is why the boga has been being used - while the fish is in the net, you get the fishes mouth open and you are able to reach in to extract deep hooks. It can be used in conjunction with a net, not a replacement for.
-Conservation Guy |
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Posts: 8785
| Seems like a good way to control a fish in the net while you are unhooking it. I don't know about lifting the fish with one however, or using it in place of a net. |
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| As noted in my post above there is no perfect way to handle these fish and every catch has its own circumstances. Glad to see that some are at least concidering that the Boga is not taboo. We have landed over a thousand muskies in my boat since I starting using the Boga. Small fish are all Boga'd some larger ones see the net. Yes I did break the jaw on one when it did a mega spin and wraped the line around my boga-hand-arm about 50 times. I really believe that it is a great tool and can help save more fish than it harms.
On a side note don't always do what you see on TV and in many videos. Reaching in the net to grab a fish with hooks in it will eventually lead to disaster. (FOR YOU) |
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Posts: 1030
Location: APPLETON, WI | For me, personally, I leave the fish in the net and THEN remove the bait/hooks from the mouth of the fish. And THEN I pick it up, snap a quick pic and it's back in the water. I guess I'm failing to see how that's less safe for me (or the fish) vs. clenching a boga grip around its lower jaw...? If we've already put the fish through enough stress by catching it, fighting it and bringing it to the boat. Why put it through additional unnecessary stress by clamping a vice-grip around its lower jaw?
I simply referenced the popular Saturday morning musky fishing shows on television because I would ASSume as professionals they would want to relay the safest, the best & the healthiest way to release a musky once it is caught to their viewing audience. If the boga grip is, indeed, that... why don't they show that? Why wouldn't Jim Saric, Joe Bucher or Mike Keyes want to relay that information to their viewing audience if it is such an important and necessary tool. I always see a lot of gloves... a lot of nets... but no boga grips. I can say for a fact that I watched all three programs last week Saturday and NONE of them utilized a boga grip. We can agree to disagree but I watched the shows from start to finish. At this point, I don't quite see how some can say one way is better (or safer) than the other?
I don't think newcomers to the sport/hobby should be convinced into thinking that they need yet another tool on the boat with them and that the boga grip is the end all/be all. It isn't. |
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Posts: 109
| Like I stated above, Keyes outdoors have used a boga grip - it was their "night fishing on Minnetonka" episode last year. Joe Bucher has used it on several occasions on his show as well. This does not make it correct, but your argument is that you are not seeing these guys use it, when they have (even if it was not on the most recent episode). In fact, most of these shows do not show how the fish is being unhooked. If used properly (when the fish is in the net) to extract swallowed lures, it is safer for you and the fish. It should not be used for pulling a musky out of the net or in place of a net.
-Conservation Guy |
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| You also don't see alot of Bogas on Saturday mornings because for many of those shows Frabil, Stowmaster and Beckman are major sponsors. I know Frabil sponsors Bucher and I can't recall who sponsors Keyes, but until Boga sponsors someone, you'll likely not see tons of them on TV. Just like Knipex...you know they use them but Knipex doesn't sponsor anyone. Same goes for brands of headlamps, watches, underwear, rain gear, etc. |
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Posts: 802
| a few key points:
1. you MUST put the wrist strap on, it's easy and comfortable. otherwise that fish can twist from your grip and swim away with it clamped on its jaw.
2. buy a boga or one that has a swiveling head- as stated above if it doesn't swivel, jaw damage is very possible.
3. why aren't you seeing more 'pros' on tv using them? it's called sponsorship, and boga could divert from the saltwater stronghold they have and concentrate a little more in that aspect on the musky guys. frabill products are great, but they are also very sharp in their marketing.
the boga is a great tool, that helps keep the fish and fisherman safe. but just as everything else, when used correctly!
steve |
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