On 3/10/2020 at 8:15 PM, MN Fisher said:

Or some type of pliers - one short and one long. These are what I have.

Good advice. I have regular pliers and I am thinking of getting pliers similar to the one on the right.

On 3/10/2020 at 8:17 PM, A-Jay said:

Long pliers and Jaw Spreaders are requirements for this guy.

A-Jay

Nice muskies, pike, and trout. On one of my fishing trips up north I used a jaw spreader on a muskie I caught and it made removing the hook much easier.

On 3/10/2020 at 8:13 PM, flyfisher said:

snakehead

Snakehead is another freshwater fish you do not want to lip. You can add clown knifefish to the list as well.

On 3/12/2020 at 10:03 PM, Russ E said:

I don't lip any toothy critter.

 

After 2 years ago I am very careful how I lip flathead catfish. Up until this point I have caught numerous catfish without incident

I caught a 15 pounder on a bass outing. My neighbor likes catfish ,so I threw it in the live well.

When I went to remove it from the well, I instinctively lipped him. With my thumb in his mouth.

He clamped down and started thrashing. It shredded the skin and dislocated my thumb.

I now have a lot more respect for catfish

There’s a reason they can approach 100lbs!!

A friend I fish with has no problem lipping walleye. I've witnessed him lipping them, up to 30", right out of the water. Crazy. He says he knows exactly where to position his thumb. He tried to show me and explain how, but I just averted my eyes and said no thanks! I have zero interest. Anyway, this guy is kind of famous on some of the Walleye FB pages for this practice. Also, he catches a ton of them on big bass lures like glide and wake baits, including big rat baits. If you frequent those pages you've probably caught some of his posts.

 

 

 

 

Piranha?

Parana 

Around here, of course you don't lip Pike or Muskies. I personally don't lip Walleye, but have seen people do it. With Pike..it's not the large canine teeth that get you, it's the 2 million razor blades on the roof of their mouth.

 

I made the mistake of trying to lip a bullhead when I was a kid. I don't know how something so small can have such tremendous clamping power. I had to practically beat it off my finger. I have refrained from ever doing that again.

Sadly I've never caught a catfish.  It's on my list.  But up here we have bullhead which are a lot smaller and even their jaws can exert a lot of pressure.  And of course there are the spines.

 

On 3/10/2020 at 1:04 PM, skekoam said:

Luckily, or unlucky we don't really see those species at all around here.

 

How about Carp or Talapia?

You cant lip a carp. They don't have teeth like pike, etc. but its like the physiology of the jaw makes it impossible to have any leverage and support the whole fish by holding the jaw. Gotta either gill em or, preferably, cradle them gently with two hands.