Proper Holding Technique?

[remi74]

I held this hefty big boy like this because of it's weight. Hope it's a proper hold because I really don't like to hold them too long. I've lost several photos because I snap a shot and put the phone in my shirt pocket and release the fish. I go back and try to finish the pics and post them on Intagram but they disappear. So, I do my best to let these guys go without inflicting too much discomfort.

[Al Agnew]

That's probably okay. What you don't want to do is bend their jaw so much that their body is tilted from the vertical. You want the body to stay vertical.

[Gavin]

Not the jaw breaker...but still a lousy picture...Its hard to get a good fish shot when you are alone. It works a heck of alot better if you have a friend along to take the picture.

[Guest]

  On 4/21/2013 at 1:58 AM, Gavin said:

Not the jaw breaker...but still a lousy picture...Its hard to get a good fish shot when you are alone. It works a heck of alot better if you have a friend along to take the picture.

no doubt.

I like to snap multiple shots as I release them, sometimes it works and most of the time its just blurr.

At least its different from the lip and grip shots.

I like to get a cool background on those kinda shots, or hide my prime spots by photographing the bank or grass.

[laker67]

You can watch them evin"rude" pros on tv, they can show you the proper way to bounce all your fish off different boat parts and still be alive and well for the next re capture.

[Chief Grey Bear]

If you roll your wrist more to the left to where it is facing down, instead of rolled up, it would be just fine. Have the back of your hand facing up and your wrist facing down.

I know it seems picky and probably pretty anal but it just helps to protect the resource we all cherish. And Laker is right on too. The "pros" could take some lessons from us little people. And don't even get me started on TV personalities!

[Al Agnew]

Yeah, Chief is right, ideal is like he said. There's a bit of a balancing act between holding them so that it puts strain on their jaws, and holding them with the jaw bent so little that it doesn't immobilize them.

I've taken pictures showing the fish as you did in that photo, but I agree it doesn't give you real good pictures. Showing a bit of background is nice, but the fish never looks as big as it really is when you take the picture like that. I've gotten to where, if I can quickly get to a gravel bar, I gently lay the fish in an inch or so of water at the edge of the gravel and put my rod in for scale when I'm wading. Of course, you don't want to lay the fish on dry gravel, or dirt or sand, or in a spot where it gets covered with algae or mud. In the canoe, I take it lying on my wet paddle blade, which not only gives scale but the slick, wet wood is going to be harmless to its slime coating. In the jetboat, I have a ruler on the front end of the boat where I lay the fish to snap the photo. But, I am careful if it's warm, sunny weather to make sure the aluminum in that spot is not hot, and I splash a little water on it to make it wet.

[RSBreth]

When wading by yourself it's a pain, but from a canoe or yak it's not very hard to rig up a mount and get a cheap point-and-shoot camera that has a timer.