Hard water Pike

[Delawareriver]

Yeah jeez it's only a pike, most or which are pickerel size and hooking 40 a day who cares if you loose one or two while trying to land. Gonna let them go anyways. I land big muskies, countless pike and big walleyes every season and never would harm a fish just to land it if I'm planning on releasing it

[bigfishy]

Originally Posted by njflyfisher

Hey I seen you on the ice this week!! Nice fish! When I was leaving I saw you gaf a fish and then realese it. I'm just wondering why you were gafing fish if you were throwing them back. I also seen one floating belly up under the ice.

I'm not saying this is the case but its quite possible that in THAT moment the glory shot was more important than the fishes overall health....Its a shame but i've seen quite a few ppl act this way in THAT moment.....Pictures and internent notorioty will have ppl do some questionable things....Not so sure that this is the case in this instance as i was not there to witness this....just sayin

Don't mean to offend Zmerch but if you are offended, oh well

[stevejordan]

Originally Posted by Delawareriver

Big difference in a hook hole and a gaff hole through a jaw. No reason to gaff a fish you don't plan on keeping. Bocca grip works great for landing big toothy fish

You can get a clean gaff job off on a pike under the chin without ****in it up if you get a good shot at it with its mouth open. I'd only do it if it was a big one that didn't want to turn up out of the hole... Most ice fishing gaffs are tiny and leave a smaller hole than a barbed hook. Yeah a bogas what you should be using and I'm not saying anyone should gaff and release but I didn't call him out on gaffing, I'm just giving him the benefit of the doubt that he was using it cautiously...

[Delawareriver]

I don't care how careful you are you are doing more harm then what is needed. Take a look at the pictures you can see blood in every picture on Zach fingers and coming out of gills.

[Mikey topaz]

All i know is if u know where evreyone has been puttin the smackdown on all these pinner pike as me and the boyz call em, and you whack a mid thirty outta there it should be handledwith extra care. Not to many big fish left in there it seems anymore. On the other hand maybe he wanted to eat it who knows he is allowed to harvest so can bust the guys chops. As far as landing method no need to gaff anything through the ice all big pike myself jigmans monster few years back after a few trial and error we found the best and easiest way to get these big boys was get the head through the hole reach ur hands in and grab em by the tail and slide em through!

[stevejordan]

maybe he was trying to weed out the smaller ones lol

[Jigman13]

Birdman confirmed that my monster was caught again later that year during open water, too. So that beautiful 42+" dragon had a nice safe release!

[jimmythegreek]

no reason to gaff anything in freshwater unless you are definitely keeping it without question. Id hope by now guys start being men and not worry about a scratch on their finger or wet hands to avoid handling a fish.....if thats the case dont go ice fishing.....and I agree that you can gaff a fish and not cause harm but its in a certain area and when they come thru the hole you are not giving a damn, just reach in and grab the sucker when his head comes thru like we all do, or do the MikeyTopaz and reach waaaayyyyyy in and grab the pigs by the tail and slide em thru the hole......dont forget to yank on the initial strike extremely hard if Rocco is in sight of you lol

[Esox Luciano]

Soo, after reading more proper handling threads and responses given, had to come back here. This guy is a veteran, so there is NO EXCUSE!!

Originally Posted by Mikey topaz

maybe he wanted to eat it who knows he is allowed to harvest so can bust the guys chops.

True Mikey...but he was seen releasing these fish after gaffing them out. How many more went belly up is a good question. As Mr. Delawareriver stated,there is blood in all these pics! If the numbers given by Mr. Merchant are correct,(hope they're not for the lake's sake), than a lot of pike died that day.
I search the Web a lot and seen more than a few pics of Mr. Merchant with fish in hand. With no ownership being shown...are we to expect every fish eligible for "that glory shot" was mishandled & possibly dead? With no response from o.p., I have to say yes.
You got caught out there dude. Pull up on your fishing etiquette!

[UglyStick]

Originally Posted by Esox Luciano

You got caught out there dude. Pull up on your fishing etiquette!