Berkley Lip Grip - Striper Talk Striped Bass Fishing, Surfcasting, Boating

bart · 05-25-2005, 08:20 AM

sometimes its not so easy to grab a thrashing bass full of trebles while wading in 3 ft. of water. i have a berkely lip grip and i use it in these situations. i made the mistake of not carrying mine the other day and a fish drove the hooks through my waders

kippy · 05-25-2005, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bart

sometimes its not so easy to grab a thrashing bass full of trebles while wading in 3 ft. of water. i have a berkely lip grip and i use it in these situations. i made the mistake of not carrying mine the other day and a fish drove the hooks through my waders

Good reason to have it Rob. I'm lucky the fish from Friday didnt do the same thing.

Goose · 05-25-2005, 03:02 PM

I been useing the Berky lip grip this year and realy haven't gotten a hang of it. I find its more time spent griping and unhooking when I could be fishing. I was almost going with the Boga for the qaulity and scale. There's alway a bit a doubt when I hear reports about guys who don't use scales and by the time hear it, who knows. IMO, few are consistant.
I agree with MikeP, a firm grip behind the head is the way to go, even I've been stuck a couple times it wasn't because of that technique.

Homerun04 · 05-25-2005, 07:43 PM

Bought one two years ago.........got in the way more then anything else.......I found on bigger fish the clamp couldn't open wide enough to easily get the fish's lower lip on it....and getting it off was even harder. Very hard to use if by yourself.

I use my hand now....much easier, quicker and less traumatic on the fish.

Just my $0.02 worth....

Notaro · 05-25-2005, 09:23 PM

just rinse it off with a fresh water and spray WD40 on it. I own a 30 lbs test boga grip and it has served me well for three years.

ragfly · 05-26-2005, 06:02 AM

The reason I went to a gripper is having one trebble hook implailed in my hand and the other still in the fish and everytime the fish flopped the hook went deeper into my hand. I have use the Cabelas gripper for 4 years and haven't had a hook in my hand since.

doyle007 · 05-26-2005, 11:10 AM

i have the berkley gripper, and i really like it. i don't use it when i fish the surf, but i do use it all of the time on my kayak. the gripper is secured to my kayak with some cord that is rated to 100 lbs. so, what i do is when i get a fish up to the side of my kayak, i use the gripper to secure the fish, and then i let it go. the cord holds the gripper and the fish against the kayak, but still in the water. i then secure my rod. at that point, i grab the gripper, grab my fly or plug, and unhook the fish.

all in all, i am very happy with the gripper. it makes unhooking a big fish pretty easy, and it has held up nicely. mine is always wet (it sits in the bottom of my kayak, and the water comes thru the scupper holes), but a rinse with fresh water and a spray of wd-40 every now and again works great. it's going on its third year of service.

Skip N · 05-26-2005, 12:55 PM

Save for a Boga grip if you can. They are fantastic.

BuckShot · 05-26-2005, 06:37 PM

I have been using the berkley lip grips for the past 2 years and the have worked great.
I wanted a scale so I got the rapala lock'n weigh... big mistake, any good size bass lip is too big for it. They do make a wide jaw version now but I'm sticking with the berkleys.or maybe the new XTool gripNweigh