Don't Forget the Gaff

Many years ago my brother Tim and I decided to sneak out for a little king mackerel fishing after church one Sunday. We were having a great day with plenty of strikes and had landed several fish including a bonus cobia. The calm conditions gave our baits plenty of notice of the attacking fish and they would get nervous several seconds before the strike allowing us to watch the fish come in and hit the baits. When the bait we had just set out became nervous our eyes were on it and we both saw a very large king come flying across the water and nail our bait. We could tell by the glimpse of the fish and by the amount of line now screaming off the reel that this was a nice fish. I picked up the rod and Tim quickly released the anchor and began to follow the fish. We finally worked the fish along side the boat and Tim gaffed the fish. As he went to lift the gaff he suddenly stumbled back with a surprised look on his face. I was ready to give him a hard time because I thought he had missed the fish. Before I could start the ribbing Tim said, “The gaff broke!” Sure enough he was standing there holding a gaff handle with no hook. I quickly handed him the hand gaff and in my best “it will work” voice assured him it would be ok. Tim looked at me like I was crazy, but he leaned over the side and gaffed the king and brought it into the boat. Afterward, I looked at him and said, “man that was crazy, I would never try to gaff that fish with a hand gaff!”. We had a good chuckle and went home with a story to tell.

 With all of the high-tech equipment on the market these days, it is easy to understand why anglers can get wrapped up in baits, rods and reels and forget about making sure they take the time to buy a good gaff. The truth of the matter is, a gaff is one of the most important pieces of equipment on your boat when fishing offshore and it pays to take the time to buy a good gaff that meets your needs. In our case, the gaff we were using was a good quality gaff, but was probably as old as me and had served us well f