Does anybody use...

The plastic ones don't swivel so when the fish thrashes you are tearing their mouth apart. I loved my boga grips. Lost them bank fishing on the John day last year after many hundreds of fish were gripped.

These are almost a necessity for releasing a lingcod that has swallowed a hook.  They fight and twist so much otherwise that with conventional lip grippers they will rip themselves up.

I realize I mention this several times a week... sorry if it gets annoying, BUT... the cheap plastic lip grippers work fine and don't hurt fish if you put the wrist strap on. You clamp, the fish thrashes, you let go, it spins around for a while on your wrist strap, once it's tired you grab the grips again and go to work.

I'm not saying the Boga-style grip isn't better, I'm just saying that using the plastic grips does not necessarily hurt thrashing fish.

Again, not saying the plastic ones are better than the metal, swiveling style, but I'll point out that I've personally landed a 28" 15lb. cabezon and lings up to 30" without any issues, still on my first pair. Also there's plenty of videos online of people landing much larger fish than that.

There's also a few videos of them getting busted in bigger, green, thrashing fish.

I'm not comfortable having a lanyard wrap around my wrist like a tourniquet, which is what happened on the last occasion I used the wrist strap on the orange grips on a lingcod.

YMMV

Again, not saying the plastic ones are better than the metal, swiveling style, but I'll point out that I've personally landed a 28" 15lb. cabezon and lings up to 30" without any issues, still on my first pair. Also there's plenty of videos online of people landing much larger fish than that.

There's also a few videos of them getting busted in bigger, green, thrashing fish.

Never had a problem with the plastic ones.  As Redbeard said, use the wrist strap.  I  have never had a fish spin it enough to tighten the strap.  If it is big enough that I can't control it right away, its mouth getting torn up is the least of its worries.  It should be more worried about the club that will be crashing down on its head soon after the gripper is attached.

I'm curious - what do you lip gripper experts think about the plastic lip grippers, as compared the Boga Grip style of lip grippers?  The plastic grippers are way cheaper than Boga Grips, but which do you think is easier to use?  Which do you think works better?

I can say for certain these plastic guys don't work for beans on a big Halibut. I could feel them bending this way and that when I squeezed them closed.  Although they did release right before my arm was going to part from my body.  I had to try.  Good thing they were not attached to anything.

But most importantly you got my gripper back from the halibut. 

Ditch the wrist strap and add a 18"-24" length of 1/4" bungee through the hole in the handle. 
Then tie on a brass clip to the other end of the bungee that has a swivel base (NOT the caribiner style clip). 

This allows you to connect the lip gripper to a pad eye, seat ring, or other and then let the fish thrash around on his own, while you just hold onto the bungee somewhere, if you want. 

I've never broke a lip gripper yet, but lost one to a 37" ling well after I pulled it into my lap to measure it.  I then let it back down in the water to chill while I secure my rod/sharp hook and hawg trough.  Damn thing did a gator roll and wound it up tight.  It was attached to my anchor trolley with the incorrect type of brass clip.  No swivel base, and had the spring closure like a caribiner.  Damn ling loaded up the bungee and popped that clip just right and slowly drifted away and sunk away into the deep with my lip gripper firmly attached to the lower lip. 

No issue lipping a wild 43" Bull Redfish in Louisiana.

I don't think I would attempt to lip a big halibut with any lip gripper until it is dead or near dead.  I think it would certainly break a plastic one, and steal the metal one in a rodeo rampage.

If you're going to release big fish use a lip gripper that rotates like the Boga or something else like pair of gloves. I think the Boga is too expensive though. Big lings can and sometimes will rip their mouths into pieces with those non rotating lip grippers (happened to me last month but I didn't lose the fish). If a fish tears it's mouth up it could cause you to lose it... I think the gaff should be legal in WA state on lingcod..

Little late to the conversation.  I love my boca grips.  I use it too land halibut to about 40 pounds.  But they have proved to be invaluable in helping to secure a bigger halibut once its been bled out.  Also it serves as a pretty good hook remover for salmon.  Slide the boca grips onto the line, try to hold the line at water level, slightly lift up on the boca grips as the metal gripping part is at the bend of the hook, and the fish pops off. 

What I tell people is to NEVER EVER secure the grips to your wrist or the kayak if you intend to latch onto anything bigger than say 10 pounds. 

I think the Boga is too expensive though.

Another question for you lip gripper experts - do you have any recommendations for a metal lip gripper which is similar to the Boga Grip, but less expensive?

Lucids. They're quality-made, inexpensive, rotate, and it just so happens to be my buddy's company, though I'd recommend them regardless.

Lucids. They're quality-made, inexpensive, rotate, and it just so happens to be my buddy's company, though I'd recommend them regardless.

I own 3 Bogas and they are the gold standard and I tried all of the other imitators. I was highly skeptical of the Lucid grip and put it through the torture test last year and can say that they perform close enough to a Boga to save your money and buy one. It has a little more corrosion issues but nothing major. I wear my Lucid on my PFD on a tethered leash and like the lighter weight compared to a Boga. The plastic grips are pretty inferior to a Lucid so save another $20 and get a grip that won't let you down or break the jaw of some poor fish.

I lost a ling and a pair of fish grips once when she rolled. Now I put a stout little split ring around both bungees and hook to the Scotty Downrigger Weight Swivel Snap. Problem solved. They can roll and twist up my line all they want now, they aren't going anywhere.

Been using the plastic "The Fish Grip" grippers for about 8 years now like their low key approach. I retired the pair that I used for the last 7 years recently when I won a new pair at a tournament.

IMO both work great for average rockfish, lingcod, and similarly sized fish. I think the difference in which to choose is how you want to restrain big fish. If you want to go the full rodeo and hold on to your fish while it freaks out than I think the metal grippers will suit you best. I am a little more zen and wait for the fish to tire a little and then grab them. I clamp on the grippers and try keep them under control. If they do happen to "wake up" and freak, I'll just let go of the grips and play it on the line. The grips have always stayed on and I'll grab the fish by its new handle. Altho that's only happened once or twice.

This pic is a 40"+ ling I wrestled with the plastic grips so they do stand up to some big fish.