THE FISH FLIPPER
It goes by many names, but what this little tool does... is priceless.
It is understood that fishing means you will likely be getting a little dirty. Your going to get some fish on you. That's just the nature of the beast. However, there are certain fish... like this salt water catfish (commonly known as a hardhead) that no angler really wants on their hook, much less in their hands.
The reason for that is simple. Hard heads are just like their freshwater brothers, except the tip of their fins are coated in a slimy poison. Ask any gulf coast fisherman and he/she will tell you horror stories of being finned by a hardhead. The prick is quite painful. Some people even experience nausea and severe swelling that can last 24 hours or more. Not fun at all.
Rather than shaking the fish off with a pair of pliers, or cutting your line and abandoning the hook (losing valuable tackle) there is another way.
A few years back my uncle patented an invention for removing hooks without touching or damaging the fish. It's something many companies have picked up since then... and with good reason. For this article I will refer to the device by the name my uncle gave his product... the fish flipper.
Just like the name suggests, the fish flipper works by flipping the fish around the device, the force of which slides the hook out and sends the fish tumbling back into the water safe and sound. No mess, no lost tackle, no painful pricks from the fins. Check out the video below for a demonstration on how it works.
As you can see, it's just a matter of hooking the tip of the flipper around the curve in the hook and then giving the fish a good flip. Just make sure you flip the fish around and away from your body. You wouldn't want the fish flying off the hook and coming towards you. Even better, it works on every type of hook.. circle hooks, J hooks, etc...
OH! and in case you were wondering, this device works with all species of fish small enough to be flipped and does virtually no damage to the fish. Much better than using a pair of pliers to dig the sucker out! In a future post I'll show you where you can get one of these devices super cheap and better than any store bought model could hope to be!
A GOOD PAIR OF PLIERS
