Florida Bass Fishing Forum
Smallmouth, Largemouth, We're All About Bass!

How to hold a Largemouth Bass properly?

So I've been meaning to ask this for awhile now, but never got around to it.
I know how to hold smaller fish such as sunfish and crappie, but I have trouble holding larger fish, such as Largemouth Bass, and striped Bass. They always tend to flop right out of my grip, onto the ground, or into the water. And this has happened several times with fish I would like to have a picture with before I released it.

Can anyone help me? I'm 14, but I have large hands.

Thanks--
Kaleb

Public Comments

1. do a lip grab. just take your thumb and forefinger and grab the bottom of its lip..this gives you a good hold on it as well as temporally paralyzing it so you can get our hook out without hooking yourself.

2. Brett is correct.
in addition, on particularly large specimens, support the belly of the fish with your other hand so his entire weight is not lifted by only his jaw. it will decrease the chances of possibly dislocating or otherwise damaging the jaw of the fish.

3. Most people grab them by the bottom lip and kind-of pry the fish's mouth up, I'm not a big fan of this. You get a good grip but it makes the fish's being caught experience suck. When I go to land them, I find it much easier to grab them on top of the head just behind the gills. When I get it unhooked, i grab it by the lip, but I don't hold it up like that, I use the lip as a grip so I don't lose the fish. When you grab the mouth, make sure your hands are wet and put your other hand below the stomach or just in-front of the tail, so you're holding it horizontally.