Don't unbutton prematurely!!!!!

So not my story but I was there to witness it (pics so it DID happen)
A group of us made it out at Pacific City yesterday for some bottom fishing one of the guys who will remain anonymous (except for his picture) hooked a nice lingcod with a smaller one on the other hook... no net, fish grippers are on his hatch, smaller lings spits the hook so he reaches into the big boys mouth wearing NRS heavy gloves and drags it into his lap... landed!!! I took a couple of photos and he removes the 10 inch jig that he was holding it up with and sticks his rope up the back of the gills.... as he let's go of the mouth to grab the rope the lingcod lights up and proceeds to swim right off his lap and back into the Pacific.  boy was he cursing loudly!!!

So just remember lip grippers or big game clip BEFORE YOU UNBUTTON that big old delicious fish.

I like to think that the fish is not mine until it's on the game clip.

Anything can (and will) happen before that.

And even then, I know of a few occurrences in which a fish managed to thrash hard enough to unclip a game clip and slip back into the ocean ...

-Allen

As soon as I land a fish I'm keeping, I bonk it and bleed it before I do anything else.  Preferably, the fish is still in a net while I do this.  If it's on lip grippers, it'll go into my lap in the "leg lock" for the ensuing bonk and cut.  Lingcod and halibut are notorious for long periods of silence interrupted by furious fits of thrashing.  IMO, a fish bonker is one of the most important tools to have with you OTW when handling these species.

And don't go posing for pictures until after the fish is secure...

I shudder to think about what those hooks were going to poke first if that ling had wriggled out of his hands while posing.

I like to think that the fish is not mine until it's on the game clip.

Anything can (and will) happen before that.

And even then, I know of a few occurrences in which a fish managed to thrash hard enough to unclip a game clip and slip back into the ocean ...

-Allen

Yup happened to me on a nice 10-12 lb halibut off of Muir beach. I had gaffed clipped and cut the gills and it thrashed so hard it popped the clip and swam off. It's a crap feeling watching a gaffed fish sink out.

-Eliot

I don't consider it mine until I am home with a fish.  To many things can and have went wrong. 

I have had seals, birds and who knows what else mess with my catch. 

I even ran the clip through a lings gill and out his mouth to find out when they spin they can rip that apart and get off without opening the clip. 

Once I had the clip hanging in the water and my float line wrapped around the clip and it compressed the clip and let my catch go. 

I clip, then bonk.  This with a gaff.  With a net I would likely bonk then clip. 

But, I do not net halibut.  Polepole will now provide an educational video illustrating the "Northern Lab" work I've accomplished that serves as support for this practice.

Bushy

I usually toss my lings into a live well before un hooking my bar

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If it's a big one I net, boga grip (tethered to yak) then bonk, big game clip, and bleed. Fortunately (now I am jinxing it) haven't lost a good one yet.