Common Fish Handling Mistakes - Got Some?

[Goose]

Keeping a short leash on fish so that the next wave doesn't send the bass and trebles to stick you.

[Rockport24]

Thanks Joe!
I agree that we don't discuss this kind of thing enough...
I like to think that I have a clue, but I have made my share of mistakes.
To land a bass in the surf, I usually end up sliding it into the wash, shining a light on it to see where the hooks are, then carefully lip the fish, I've found that you really need to lip a bass firmly, especially if you horsed it in as Joe says and it's not tired. Then I bring it up out of the wash to unhook it with pliers and/or my hook remover, which works great by the way. It's really the lipping part that I think is the most dangerous, do you guys use bogas or something to try to avoid getting impaled or how do you handle it?

[Christian]

see a guy pull in a schoolie. he cant get the hook out, so he puts a knee on it and is struggleing. i walk over and ask if i can help, see hook, pop it out...begin to walk away, and the guys in awe. but dead bass cause hes been friggen kneeling on the thing.

[Krispy]

Good point Goose. When deep wading, I often take a wrap around the fore arm, in case I drop the fish I can quickly regain control of the leader. The arm wrap allows both hands to be free to handle release duties, and keeps the leader away from the hook area where it can get tangled

[Clammer]

I see people release Bluefish ALIVE --It evened happened in my own boat this year //a member on this site . netted a blue [MISTAKE] & the hook fell out = he just flipped it over & it was gone =that will never /ever happen again