Lipping Channels?

[Tyler Holm]

Watched an InFish video and they nearly always lip held the fish when handling it. Stuck their thumb in the mouth kinda like you would a bass(sorry for the curse word in this forum), only they kept their thumb to the extreme corner of the mouth (I suppose just missing the the teeth strip).

I know those channels got a pretty good clamp jaw and if they catch you off guard their bite hurts.

Have you ever handled channels in this fashion or have any insight? I might test this out.

PS The fish in the video were all 20+ pounders out of the Red... Gettin itchy.

[HuskerBen]

I thumbed a cat of about 12 pounds a couple summers ago. That was the last time I lipped a channel cat.

I suppose, if one was careful about it, they could get off to the side and away from the wood rasp in their mouths and escape relatively unharmed. But I will continue to use a net on fish I can't grasp with one hand.

[Bassman55]

My friend would, but any cat over 5 pounds would leave him bleeding. Never stopped him and he was great at landing the ones I would be catching.

[Tyler Holm]

The fish were netted into the boat, but then handled, held to the camera, and released while thumbed.

[Shack]

I always have been handling the channels and (some) flats by the mouth. I have been clamped before and gotten a bloody knuckle or two, but I feel it is the best way to handle the fish, to protect both the fish and my self. I am not sure if it hurts their jaw, but it got to better than the gills.

It will be interesting to hear what others think.

Good luck..

[Shack]

Note on above, I picked out some bloody knuckle shots

[Larry FlatCaster]

If you watch them closely, they are using a little bit of leverage on the Cats Jaw Pulling the thumb while levering the index finger against the throat of the cat, so it can't clamp down. Its not Lipping as we define and would a bass.

I don't think it hurts the fish and I have done it that way.

They might scuff the pad of the thumb a little bit, but no more so than you would lipping the other fish, and you will not get bit using this method.

[CatManLee]

I have and do occasionally lip Channel Cats. It actually works pretty good if you keep leverage on the fish, so they can't close their mouth...BUT, as soon as you set the fish in the water or in anyway let up on the leverage...clamp! Youch! I once had "sandpaper" marks on my thumb all summer from one fish!

If you want to know what it feels like before you actually do it, try this...

Wrap a couple fat sticks in Light/medium grit sand paper, then have someone squeeze them together on your finger or thumb. There you go. If anything it'll get your buddies laughing really hard...

[Steve Foss]

I always did it the way LFC describes when I lipped them, which wasn't all the time. Did it that way for 20 years along the Red by GF/EGF with many cats up to 20 lbs or so and only got a couple raw thumbs. Well those coupla times WERE memorable.

[hanson]

I keep my thumbs out of their mouths at all costs.

[hanson]

Hey Steve-

You've been spending a little bit of time in the Catfish Forum lately... is someone getting the "bug" again?

[Lunker]

I have, and will never do it again. Between the jaw strength and the sandpaper teeth, it did a number on my thumb. I won't even lip bullheads now.

[Steve Foss]

Chris, the bug has never left. And I've never gotten rid of my cat gear even after moving to the boreal forest. Cat gear can make mighty nice musky trolling gear.

And there's a possibility I'll be getting back into newspapers and moving to a small city south of the metro, so I'm revisiting my cat roots partly out of nostalgia and partly because it may be I will be in flathead country by sometime this summer.

[hanson]

 Originally Posted By: stfcatfish

...so I'm revisiting my cat roots partly out of nostalgia and partly because it may be I will be in flathead country by sometime this summer.

I think we all hope to be in Flathead country sometime this summer. Shoot... I wish I was there right now.

The Minnesota River is unbelievably similar to the Red River IMO as far as size of the river is concerned. Where the Red is predominantly mud, mud, mud, mud... the MN River has a lot of sand in it and the inside bend sandbars that form with the dropping river are phenomenal! Depth variations are similar. I also think the Red has fairly predictable patterns where the MN has a pretty diverse range of structures and patterns.

All I can tell ya Steve is I hated living in the Cities after my move from NW MN. Had to follow the jobs. Once I found the MN River, that was it. I've thought about moving back outstate many, many times. I'm just not sure I'm ready to leave the river that I've found behind.

[Johnny_Da_Der]

i have lipped them before and haven't had a problem... yet. i thought a channel cat was gonna break my thumb it bit down so hard but it didn't happen, so i haven't learned my lesson.

[Steve Foss]

Chris, thanks for the info. After all those years living in GF/EGF and fishing the muddy Red, it was nice to get up into the Red Lake. As you well know, it doesn't take a very long drive upstream into the Red Lake before the mud changes to sand.

If it happens, I'd be about an hour south of the metro, so that would be better than living in the Cities. I worked in Minneapolis for a year awhile back, and that was QUITE long enough.

[Ketch]

I have lipped channels up to about 20 lbs. with my thumb in their mouth, never tried putting it off to the side. As long as the rest of your hand applies pressure to the rest of their body, very seldom will you get bit in my experience.

[Shack]

I guess I have "man hands", because I am a man . Some other fisherman have baby smooth hands and do not want to mess them up.

Here is how a sissy cat man holds his fish :

I wished I video'ed this one. You should have heard the scream:

This one shows ya how most hold channels:

I think it comes down what you have done all your life. I have had the battle scares, but it get them from the nights I see a good channel bite. When you handle a couple of channels, I do not see many battle scares, but you get a night where you pulling 10-20 fish or more, then the sand paper upper jaw wears your knuckles. Still nothing like a snake bite or something to scream at

I also think lip holding put the fish at ease a little more so than squeezing it belly. When the belly is squeezed or the gills are grabbed, I think the fish is going to struggle more so than having a firm pinch (to the side) of the lower lip and a placing the other hand on the bottom of the belly. Just thinking out loud.

[Grant]

funny..

[DTro]

Recommending someone to lip a channel is like recommending them to clear out a garbage disposal with their hand.

Most, if not all the time you’ll be fine, but it just takes that one time for the power to trip and your hand is hamburger.

Don’t underestimate the power of their jaws/teeth. They crush clams for a pastime.

[Shack]

Dtro,

Do you use Palm Olive or the other leading brands ?

I think it is something you have to to learn (like the many other things us cat fisherman learn) and when done correct can be an effective way to handle fish. I think its a healthy way to handle a fish, so it makes its way back into the river with the less impact on the fish. Other ways I have found can lead into the fish being dropped a couple times during image taking process. That can not be good for the fish.

I could be wrong though.

Now to lip a turtle, thats another thing .

Anyone know the pressure range of a cats (channel or flat) jaw power?

[crazyice]

Don't know pressure poundage, but it's gotta be right up there when one sees and feels what they can do.

[BigWadeS]

I grew up fishing the red and I have to say that I use to handle them like in picture 3 almost always, those dang barbs always seem to find my hands though....does the clamp down hurt worse?

[markkstanley]

Take a pliers in one hand insert thumb and press hard. My thumbnail turned black last time I tried to lip a 10lb channel. And it took a long time to get it to let go.

[ec30_06]

I usually like to keep anything I value(fingers included) out the mouth of a good sized channel's mouth. I have no problem with putting my fingers in a flats mouth. When handled right a big flat seems a lot more docile than a channel.