Gaffing salmon
- Thread starter spring fever
- Start date
Hit em Hard
Member
I like using a net however at times when fishing by myself or when I have the insatiable desire to stick something in the head with a sharp object I use a gaff. One gentle bonk to the head and drive the gaff home. I have yet to knock a fish off the hook (knock on wood). A couple of years ago however watched one of the Ukee guides (name with held to avoid embarrassment to said guide) knock 3 fish off in a row before he switched to a net. i'm not sure why it took him so long to switch up.
h.e.h.
h.e.h.
Karma-Kazi
Active Member
90% of my fish are gaffed. Nothing over 20 pounds as a few have said and I also dont bonk first. I keep boat in gear and try to keep my leaders under 6ft so I can manage them alone. Yikes nothing worse then trying to grab a 8ft leader when ur 5'6 not the easiest of things to do.
-KK
-KK
If a salmon will fit in the net, I'd far rather net it than gaff it, and I've had lots of practice gaffing bottom fish. If you think about why they net butterflies rather than go after them with tiny gaffs, the same principles apply.
As to the earlier suggestion to gaff the fish in the dorsal part of the body, if you really wanted to ruin good meat, you could just shoot it in the middle with a 12-gauge, then gaff the pieces.
As to the earlier suggestion to gaff the fish in the dorsal part of the body, if you really wanted to ruin good meat, you could just shoot it in the middle with a 12-gauge, then gaff the pieces.
FishWhisperer
Active Member
Karlo you need to leave the net on the dock for a while bud, and learn how to use your gaff. It's not just about dragging fish over the rail it's also about releasing fish with the least amount of trauma and scale loss. I haven't had a net in my boat since ...hell I don't even remember. Actually, I don't even have a frickin boat this year. lol. I still refuse to use a net tho...
Question: Why you chasin' butterflies around dude?
Englishman
Well-Known Member
Surely the use of a gaff as a "catch and release" device to remove and/or knock out the hook are entirely different from using it to actually land the fish.
It seems to make a lot of sense to use the gaff for catch and release. To use it for landing a fish to keep not so much since a) you are much more likely to accidentally release your fish, especially if you are a gaffing novice, b) you may wrongly damage or kill a fish which you have misidentified along side the boat c) you will make a huge slippery bloody mess in the boat.
FishWhisperer
Active Member
lol. I beg to differ there Englishman, respectfully.
a) I don't "accidently release" fish.
b) I don't wrongly "damage" or kill fish because I never misidentify.
c) Bloody mess? Well, guilty as charged
I tend to spray the blood around a bit with the odd artery gaff.I would rather "accidently release" the odd fish tho, if I were a novice, than to drag a fish over the rail that's thrashing around in a dip net and then realize you should have released it in the water before half the scales were knocked off, or worse.
If someone can't identify what type of salmon they have at the side of the boat, hatchery or not, they have no business with a rod in their hands to begin with. Unless of course, they're being guided by someone who knows what they're doing.
Not preaching. Just how I feel. Can't be a novice forever...
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hooktender68
Well-Known Member
look carefully to see how they are hooked before the bonk, so they dont get bonked off the hook.
Fish Whisperer, I've gaffed many bottomfish as I plainly stated, and on a commercial troller, I've gaffed plenty of salmon as well. I'd bet my experience with a gaff against yours anytime.
Your accusation that I would net fish that I intend to release is ridiculous, but what I find horrifying is your statement that you gaff fish, and then release them! If I want to release a salmon, and I release a lot in the course of a season, I reach over the side with a needle-nose pliers or a gaff, depending on the size of the boat, and engage only the hook. No fish I intend to release feels either net or gaff, ever comes into the boat, or ever loses any blood or scales from contact. Any spring I might confuse with a coho, pink or chum (and I've been telling them apart for many seasons here in Haida Gwaii) is smaller than I want to keep in any case, and any gill-hooked bleeding fish that I can legally keep won't be worried about scale loss after I club it.
If any of the guys I fish around in Haida Gwaii saw you actually gaff a fish, and then shake it, you'd hear about it big time. Pathetic.
Your accusation that I would net fish that I intend to release is ridiculous, but what I find horrifying is your statement that you gaff fish, and then release them! If I want to release a salmon, and I release a lot in the course of a season, I reach over the side with a needle-nose pliers or a gaff, depending on the size of the boat, and engage only the hook. No fish I intend to release feels either net or gaff, ever comes into the boat, or ever loses any blood or scales from contact. Any spring I might confuse with a coho, pink or chum (and I've been telling them apart for many seasons here in Haida Gwaii) is smaller than I want to keep in any case, and any gill-hooked bleeding fish that I can legally keep won't be worried about scale loss after I club it.
If any of the guys I fish around in Haida Gwaii saw you actually gaff a fish, and then shake it, you'd hear about it big time. Pathetic.
Fishing24/7
Active Member
Kelly, those pics are epic! as for gaffing large springs, I was fishing with my dad at Buck point we had an epic 50 pounder at the side of our 14ft lund and we almost flipped the boat as he had to use both arms to haul the beast in. thats just a fraction of the story but let me tell you, gaffing big fish is done only if you want an epic story to go with it! also 15" gunwalls help, dont have to lift as high 
scott craven
Well-Known Member
Gaff is a useful tool. Almost all our releases are done by gaff.
I'm sure commercial boats use them for speed of hauling fish on board .
As far as sports fishing, I would not want to chance knocking off a good fish and getting blood everywhere in the process.
The net works just fine for me.
I'm sure commercial boats use them for speed of hauling fish on board .
As far as sports fishing, I would not want to chance knocking off a good fish and getting blood everywhere in the process.
The net works just fine for me.
FishWhisperer
Active Member
Gaff. Nothing but. Never lost a fish. Every release lived.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9uQUB_JYpQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9uQUB_JYpQ
trophywife
Crew Member
nothin like releasing 40+ a day the right way. gaffs our friend.... keepers tho, slam behind the gill plate and throw em in the boat!!!
FishWhisperer
Active Member
What are you talking about - gaff then release? Personally accuse you? Wtf? Where did you read that in my post? And a challenge against my gaffing too? Bring it on son but it sounds like you're trolling. You're obviously a rookie. I was fishing Cohoe Pt and McPherson Pt long before the lodges. Back when there were only "hippie shacks" on Langara and the island was infested with rats. When we fished North of 54 (you prob don't know what that means) Kano Inlet was basically my home for 20 years ...loooooong before the lodges. We anchored in there for weeks sometimes, waiting for weather. So, anything you say about the Queen Charlotte Islands or about your "many seasons" in the mosquito fleet are purely moot to me kid. You use a net? ...to me, you're a rookie (unless of course, you're guiding a paid charter).
...let me rephrase that to coincide with your finishing comment - pathetic rookie, pathetic statement.
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Dave S
Active Member
hahaha, good story.
FishWhisperer
Active Member
Ideal shot placement is through both gills and out the other side.
JPS gaff face is priceless
Its effective in a double header like this. Net the big spring, drop the net and then gaff the teener.
Excellent post Kelly. THAT'S how you bring fish aboard
jeffywestcoast
Well-Known Member
Nice work, for the record i always gaff release salmon but for the bigger fish i always prefer head first into the net.... jezzus dont have to worry about bleeding that one out...
guess the gaff does a better job of that..
guess the gaff does a better job of that..Well, Fish Whisperer, when you refer to me specifically and sermonize that "It's not just about dragging fish over the rail it's also about releasing fish with the least amount of trauma and scale loss", I'd assume that you're accusing me of causing trauma and scale loss by netting and releasing fish. When Englishman read it the same way, you repeated your suggestion about netted and damaged fish being released.
He also pointed out the distinction between using a gaff as a release device , and using it to land fish.
You're the one who suggested that you were "dragging fish over the rail" with a gaff, then releasing them.
I have to laugh when some guy who deckhanded up from the Island a few times goes all "More Haida Gwaii Than Thou". I've fished salmon as an adult on these Islands on commercial and sport boats year around every year since 1975, including yesterday and the day before, so your short-timer exploitations don't impress me at all. And if you're trying to sell the idea that your knowledge of where 54 degrees lies is some piece of profound local knowledge, that's just sad.
For classic BS, though your, "Gaff. Nothing but. Never lost a fish. Every release lived." definitely puts you in a class by yourself. Leave aside the unlikelihood that a tired deckhand, leaning out from a pitching, slippery deck over frothy chop on a confused swell after too many days with too little sleep, with rain and spray driven by strong wind blowing in his eyes while the gurdies brought up multiple smileys never missed with the gaff over a period of decades. It's your foolhardy assertion that every released fish lived that makes you look terminally ridiculous. To pretend that you could guarantee that every exhausted salmon released in waters teeming with seals, sea lions, opportunistic halibut, dogfish and other sharks lived, when you obviously lost sight of them in about two seconds, shows that those winds off Cone Head aren't the only thing blowing hard!
I guess you don't need a boat because you just stroll and troll, right? Hilarious.
He also pointed out the distinction between using a gaff as a release device , and using it to land fish.
You're the one who suggested that you were "dragging fish over the rail" with a gaff, then releasing them.
I have to laugh when some guy who deckhanded up from the Island a few times goes all "More Haida Gwaii Than Thou". I've fished salmon as an adult on these Islands on commercial and sport boats year around every year since 1975, including yesterday and the day before, so your short-timer exploitations don't impress me at all. And if you're trying to sell the idea that your knowledge of where 54 degrees lies is some piece of profound local knowledge, that's just sad.
For classic BS, though your, "Gaff. Nothing but. Never lost a fish. Every release lived." definitely puts you in a class by yourself. Leave aside the unlikelihood that a tired deckhand, leaning out from a pitching, slippery deck over frothy chop on a confused swell after too many days with too little sleep, with rain and spray driven by strong wind blowing in his eyes while the gurdies brought up multiple smileys never missed with the gaff over a period of decades. It's your foolhardy assertion that every released fish lived that makes you look terminally ridiculous. To pretend that you could guarantee that every exhausted salmon released in waters teeming with seals, sea lions, opportunistic halibut, dogfish and other sharks lived, when you obviously lost sight of them in about two seconds, shows that those winds off Cone Head aren't the only thing blowing hard!
I guess you don't need a boat because you just stroll and troll, right? Hilarious.
mbowers
Well-Known Member
I agree the AFTCO hook gaffs are sweet and the 'hairpin' gaff is not seen anywhere else. To me swinging that hairpin down is for halibut where the wide side of the fish is on the surface instead of vetical in the water. The hairpin is also much more dangerous with the way it's swinging around and the point is almost always exposed. A 6 foot AFTCO with probably the 3" hook for the NW lets you reach way out and essentially 'rake' the fish in. Always hit the fish from the top side with the point towards the boat: calmly but firmly push gaff down on top of fish and pull in. Just remember to walk the gaff in and not lever it up: same as with the net. Hold the gaff straight up over the side and cut gills if you missed them with the gaff. The fish can not easily wiggle off a hook gaff the way it can get off a hairpin.
For an inexpensive homemade hook gaff try a 12/0 stainless tuna hook ($10 for Mustad 7732SS), file off the barb (stainless is pretty soft so it doesn't take long), lash the hook to the butt section of an old mooching rod (an extendable aluminum paint roller extension if you want to get fancy for $20) with some superbraid (I used 80lb) and cover the lashing in epoxy.
Rate my Gaffe Shot
*Warning gruesome picture below*
Decided to put the wisdom found in this thread to use last night. Left the net stowed away and got out the manliest of landing tools, the trustee gaffe.
Rate my work!
Not huge specimens but at 10-11 pounds each they provided a good scrap and good practice. I've gaffed fish before and each time I landed the fish but it took a couple wacks. This time it was smooth one swing for each fish and the follow through plopped them both into the back of the boat. I did not pre bonk.
*Warning gruesome picture below*
Decided to put the wisdom found in this thread to use last night. Left the net stowed away and got out the manliest of landing tools, the trustee gaffe.
Rate my work!
Not huge specimens but at 10-11 pounds each they provided a good scrap and good practice. I've gaffed fish before and each time I landed the fish but it took a couple wacks. This time it was smooth one swing for each fish and the follow through plopped them both into the back of the boat. I did not pre bonk.
