There's a Right and a Wrong Way to Hold a Bass

Graphic by Les Booth

That's the gist of some information I came across on the Internet yesterday while researching an entirely different matter.

As reported by Phil Monahan of Orvis News, Indiana angler Les Booth, for more than a decade, has made it his mission to get anglers to stop using the horizontal-one-hand-lip-grip hold when they show off their bass. "Even the world's most famous bass anglers do this," said Monahan, "which then promotes the practice among members of the amateur-angling community."

The problem, as explained by Booth, "is a muscle thing. Bass (and all sunfish) eat by sucking prey into their buccal cavity (mouth). It's a five-step process that works like this: 1. Open jaw; 2. suck in water and prey; 3. close jaw; 4. expel water out gills; and 5. swallow prey (food). It's that simple.

"However,  the force required to generate the suction is considerable and requires a great deal of muscle strength. The muscles needed to do this are all jointly connected to the operculum fulcrum point (OFP). This is the same point where, in an improperly held fish, all the pressure of the fish's body weight--suspended without support--is focused. When those muscles are strained or injured, let alone torn, the fish's ability to generate the necessary suction to capture prey is greatly reduced or possibly eliminated."

Rob Woodruff of Woodruff Guide Service
shows how to properly support a bass's body.
(Photo by Jenny Mayrell-Woodruff)

Booth goes on to offer the following solutions to this pervasive problem:

     * Simply holding the fish with two hands...in a horizontal position...works best.

     * A purely vertical hold by the lower lip is OK for smaller fish only. Large bass...those fish over 3  pounds, though...suffer an elevated potential for internal damage when held this way.

     * The best solution for handling any fish you plan to release is to use what Booth calls the Lite-  Touch method, which involves minimal contact with the fish; horizontal, two-handed support; and  short duration of handling.

     For anyone interested in reading Les Booth's complete discussion of the problems associated with the lip-grip method, click on the following link: https://ofieldstream.blogspot.com/2009/06/lip-grip-is-out.html.