daryl bauer , NebraskalandI have been hearing some "chatter" in a variety of places about the handling of black bass, largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass, especially concerning the way they are held. I want to chime in with some comments:
First of all, black bass conveniently have relatively large mouths, large enough that an angler can grip those fish by the bottom lip. Yes, they have teeth, but those teeth are nothing more than very rough abrasive paper. You know the grip I am talking about, "lipping" a bass. You have seen every bass tournament jock do this:
No doubt lipping a bass is a great way to get a grip on and control those fish. Every bass handled by every angler should be handled in this way. But is that enough, is that the BEST way to handle those fish?
That is where the debate starts.
Years ago Texas and its Share a Lunker Program suggested that beyond the lip grip, those fish should be supported in a horizontal position with their weight supported using both hands.
HorizontalHold
If you think about it, horizontal holds while handling bass, and all fish for that matter, make sense. It may have taken me 6 1/2 years of college, but one thing I learned was that fish are made for living in the water. Their anatomy and bodies are not the same as ours, and the buoyancy they have in the water helps to support their body weight. Take a fish out of water, which they can tolerate for a short time, and they do not have the skeletal structure to support their weight in the air. Thus, the extra support of a landing net, cradle, or horizontal hold is a good idea.
This is true for bass, especially big bass where the entire weight of the fish is supported by that grip on the lower lip. Even when being held straight up and down there is a lot of stress on the jaw of a lipped bass, and that can be exacerbated, made worse, if the fish is torqued into a position that is not completely straight up and down. Injuries can occur to the jaws of improperly handled fish.
Is that a serious problem? Depends on who you talk to, but I have heard some bass anglers claim that care in fish handling is getting carried away–lip 'em, grip 'em, don't worry about it.
How about applying some science?
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