Your opinion on using cradles?

[OneWay]

I am thinking I would like to purchase a cradle for a Canada pike fishing trip later this summer. It looks like there are lots of advantages in using a cradle in creating less stress on the pike. It does to be a 2 person operation, but my wife will be fishing with me and would be able to assist. I would really like to hear your opinions on using a cradle and perhaps a recommendation on what cradle to purchase. Thanks in advance!

[cjac]

Hey OneWay,

Not for the assumed reasons, but the word "wife" caught my attention.

Problem with cradles is that the one with the cradle in hand is over the side, head close to the water level. Do you want her beloved face inches away from your 45" pike with a lightly hooked lure with three sets of trebles inches from her face? Does she?

Little extreme....but you get the point. A nice longer handled net is a win-win situation, both for you and the fish. Little more spendy, and takes up more room, likely why you were thinking cradle, but for me they're simply not worth the risk. Show this post to your wife and she'll likely agree, and you'll get a sweet net out of it!

[polarsusd81]

Yeah, I was considering a cradle for some time but my buddy and I fish together all the time and the thought of one of us being over the side of the boat with all those hooks in our faces didn't really seem like a great idea. I have a smaller net in my boat, but we are trying to find the right net for his boat. We will probably use his more for muskie fishing and mine gets out for early season river runs and pan fishing adventures.

[OneWay]

I really appreciate your input and I understand the multitude of hooks problem. But I never fish with anything more than a single hook on my lures and I think that getting a lure thrown back in someone's face could be minimalized by reading the pike's body language. When he coils his back he is going to make a run and when he flares his gills he is going to shake his head. I think by being observant of those two things the cradle could be pulled together on the top and eliminate a "flying spoon". I still keep coming back to the thought about being able to land the fish sooner without haveing to wear it out to catch it by hand would be a good thing for the fish as well as it couold be weighed and measured with a minimally invasive lift of the cradle. I don't like using a dip net as they seem to get tangled up badly in them and I think it removes a lot of the protective slime. So I guess my real question is to those who have used cradles are they more hassle than they are worth. The benefits to not stresssing the fish I believe has to be a good thing, but I'm not sure about having to have two people to use the cradle and how dificult would it be to get the jaw spreaders and the hookouts into the cradle to remove a hook?

[Rebel9921]

It may be pricey... but google this: Frabill Kwik Kradle... it pretty much would be what you are looking for... Its a net and a cradle in one...

Myself, I would definitely go for a net... as today's muskie nets are better constructed with quality components so losing slime would be minimal along with splitting fins...

[cjac]

Here's the Thorne Brothers page with their nets and cradles.

Thorne Bros Nets

Cumings makes a cradle, but I'm not at all familiar with it.

Frabill has the Kwik Kradle, but at $70 you're over half way towards a net. Depends on how much you'll fish, but the Frabill Big Game net at $120 is a great net. In the long run, I'd recommend the net, especially if you do any other "big fish" angling. The bags on today's nets are really fish friendly, not the eye rubbing, slime removing bags of old. Coated and knotless these days.... Beckman has some nice products too.

If you're set on the cradle, cool! I've just seen many that have gone before you that are looking to sell cradles in favor of a net.....

Quick story: Hit the neighborhood lake last summer the Mrs for some floating sun and a cocktail on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Sure enough, I hook into a nice tiger, and she's on the net. She grabs the net, extends the handle, scoops the fish, and just holds the net, fish in the water as the deep bag is keeps the fish in the water. She looks and says "That was easy!" I don't think I would have heard the same had I asked her to go 1/2 way over the gunnel in other boat's wakes!

[Muskiefool]

Get a good net, Cradles were great before the nets were the size we need for these fish but they are a 2 man project and also arguably dangerous for the operator.

[whitewolf6647]

I have a cradle and a net and have only used my cradle 1 time and that was only before I wised up and got a net. With the nets nowadays the bags are so heavy on them very very few fish get wrapped up and if for some reason they do all it takes is 2 seconds to cut the hooks and the net straightens itself back out. If you're thinking about getting a cradle take the money you're putting towards the cradle and get a good big net. I use the Frabil Powercatch Big Game and bought it about 3 years ago and it was around $80.00 here's the link: http://www.frabill.com/cgi-bin/frabill/8425?store=spring

and I know you can find them for under the MSRP. I just looked and Rollie and Helen's has them for $85 and Pastikas has them for $70-$73. http://www.pastikas.com/acatalog/Nets.html