[coachlaw]

Seeing poor kraymond's post here has me seeing red. Seriously folks, please listen up here. If you fish with any sort of bait that attracts catfish, please read on. I don't want to read any more posts about people getting finned.

Ok, why don't y'all use catfish flippers? I've posted about this many times. Perhaps it needs to be a sticky I even imported a case of these and offered to sell them to 2coolers at cost, but ended up giving most of them away because most people here just don't seem to get it until they see me use one and they are like, "Oh, can I have one of those?" I'm not importing them by the case myself anymore because that whole thing was a pain to try to get them to everyone. Most people who ordered one never sent me money. It didn't break me, but it was annoying. Now you can buy them direct without driving to La.

http://hhlure.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=8

I grew up fishing and one of the first things Dad taught me was how dangerous hardheads were. I've never touched a live one in my life. I never had to. We used to make these until some edumacated Coonarse began mass producing them. It's called a catfish flipper. Every Texan I've ever had on my boat begged me to give them one. Do yourselves a favor and just order one. If you wade, keep it on a lanyard. I have several littering the floor of my boat at any given time. Here are the instructions.

1. Hold the flipper in your dominant hand
2. Grab the leader in your off hand so that the hooked fish dangles
3. Hook the flipper around the hook
4. Pull tight so that the leader makes a straight line between your hands
5. Flip the catfish over the leader and out using a brisk wrist motion your dominant hand.

Result? Catfish gone and you never touched it. It's sooooooo simple and easy you won't believe it. It's also a useful tool for re-bending hooks and removing hooks from sting rays. Just don't try to flip a ray! Lay him upside down on the deck and cover him with a cooler or tackle box while you carefully use the flipper to twist the hook loose.

Click the link to H&H lures in Baton Rouge. They'll ship you as many as you want. I don't know why people here don't seem to want to use them. Maybe it's a macho thing. I don't know why they don't sell them in stores here. I just hope this can help y'all stay away from getting finned. Please just order one and when you flip one off, think kindly of Coonarse engineering.

If you are a do it yourself kind of person, by all means make one. For less than $3 though, you can save the trouble. I really hope all this helps. - Coach

 

[frank n texas]

Those little devices have been around for over 60 years that I know of...

Dad and I used to make them out of wire coat hangers, welding rods, etc..

They do work extremely well and safely once you get the hang of using them correctly.

Guess us New Orleans coonarses were way ahead of our time with high tech gadgets.....lol

 

[Leemo]

What happens when you flip the fish and it flies off and lands on your foot, or hits you in the cohonees, what if the fish swallows the hook, the principle is there, when I use to commercial trot line we used something similar to take drum off our lines using the circle hooks, maybe somebody will benefit from it, being a shrimpboat captain most of my life I've been stuck by everything, hardheads are the worst, especially when they hit you right under the kneecap and you have to pull them off with a pliers and a big chunk of your leg comes out with it, I still have a bump on my thumb where a stingray went through, ouch, the only pain I've felt worst in my life was when they raised the price of George Dickle!

 

[coachlaw]

Perhaps I'm just incredibly coordinated, but I've never flipped one anywhere near my cajones or foot. I've never even gotten close. You just need to flip it up and out and keep the fish at arms length. Everyone I've taught to use them picked it up immediately. YOU CAN DO EEEEEET.

It even works if the fish swallows the hook. I'm telling you folks. It's just plain easy. It's so easy I've even taught Yankees how to do it in less than a minute.

 

[Fish-a-mon]

How to handle a Hardhead. First take a pair of pliers and breakoff all fins. Then you grab the fish and remove from hook and throw it back it the water

 

[Dani California]

I'm glad to see a pic of that thing...I always thought it was a spatula.

Biggie

 

[Terry G.]

ok so i'll play dummie, just how does one use this (xz$#@) thing?

 

[coachlaw]

Terry, I'll PM you my number and 'splain it to you if the above instructions are unclear, I do apologize. Maybe you could do a sketch to illustrate the method. With your artwork, people could really see how it's done. We could work together to stamp out finnings west of the Sabine.

 

[Aggieangler]

We used to use them on guide boats a lot. Now we fish mostly arties, so rarely get hardheads, but when we do, I use the same flip technique with my wading pliers.

 

[twitch-twitch-reel]

SIGH........ Look, I have been fishing for well over 28 years. I have been stuck only a had full of times. I don't use a flipper and don't plan to start. I just pick them up like a catfish or any other fish with fins and, take out the hook. I love to watch big manly men reel in a little hardhead and then spend the next 10 min. trying to get it off the hook. I have only had 1 bad stick, I was helping someone get one off and they were acting a fool, trying to stay away from the fish and , ended up getting me stuck twice on the same hand. the second stick went between the bones on the top of my hand and, I had to cut the fin off and pull it out. no lie, that hurt. It is a toss up between the pulling out and the toxin. just spit some chaw on it, rub some dirt on it and get your arss back to fishing!

 

[tinman]

I am kinda with you Twitch. If I had to carry all the tools and gadgets that are available to make everything safer and easier, I would weigh another 250 pounds.
I just be as careful as I can, and get the job done. If you get stuck, rub it on the fishes belly real good, cuss for about 30 minutes, spit some Copenhagen on it, take a good hard pull on the Chivas jar, and go catch another fish.

 

[luna nueva]

has anybody used the X Tools flippers? do they work as good?

 

[twitch-twitch-reel]

I am kinda with you Twitch. If I had to carry all the tools and gadgets that are available to make everything safer and easier, I would weigh another 250 pounds.
I just be as careful as I can, and get the job done. If you get stuck, rub it on the fishes belly real good, cuss for about 30 minutes, spit some Copenhagen on it, take a good hard pull on the Chivas jar, and go catch another fish.

I need a pocket knife and a good set of pliers and I am good. as for the X flipper thing, I try to stay away from the **** sites but... to each his own...

LOL.... that there was funny!

 

[Jake]

has anybody used the X Tools flippers? do they work as good?

Yeah they work great. I got my dad the whole X-Tools lineup for his birthday. The only thing I didn't like about the tungsten tip pliers is that the blade in the pliers that cuts line will get loose over time. It's not held in by anything except a little glue. The flipper tool is definitely a must have for anyone fishing live bait. Pliers work good too, but the flipper = more convenient.

 

[rat-twins]

I fished with a guide once and he used a bat to take care of the hardheads

 

[gatortrout]

Ahh hardheads, one of the many reasons I quit fishing with bait............

 

[gatorbait]

flipper

Glad you posted this Sandy. Im gonna link this to my Dad. He still likes to do the ol Babe Ruth on Hardheads. If he catches one its wind up and swing and slam that poor lil fish into the water. lol Looks like he is trying to shake off nuclear waste or something. He swings that rod around and smacks that sucker on the water like it was the plague. lol Christmas is now complete. lol Thanks my friend.

Z

 

[NVUS2]

Does anyone have a video to post to show us how it works?

 

[SPECtackle]

I'm with NVUS2, this would make a great You Tube movie! Some you edumacated coonarses should undertake this and wow us with your use of technology!

 

[coachlaw]

If you got a camera, I'll show ya. It's fast and beyond simple. It takes a lot more time to gingerly try to unhook the sucker.

I'll try again to explain it.

Hold the leader end in your left hand with the fish dangling on the hook. Hold the flipper in your right. Hook the end of the flipper onto the hook and pull tight so the line is taught and completely straight between your hands. The fish should be dangling in the middle at arms length. Now in one quick motion, using wrist action only, flip it up over the line and away from you. Fish comes off and flies amusingly away into the water.

IF you didn't keep the line taught, you may experience a flop instead of a flip. The fish will have gone over the line without coming off the hook. This is why you keep it at arms length. Try again. I have never had a fish hooked so that it took more than 2 flips to get it off. Even if the hook is buried deep in it's throat, just pull real tight and flip it again. I have never seen anyone that had to try it more than a couple of times to get it right. It's just that easy.

If you want to practice, go get a leader and a hook. Put a hunk of anything that will stay on the hook on there and try it. The object will fly off. I'd say if the fish is really huge, over 5 lbs or so, you're better off using pliers if you're inexperienced because you could break the hook if you're not careful. - Coach