lip gripper preference?

I'll be picking up a new lip gripper device before ling season.  What has worked best for you?

This will sound bias due to affiliation, but Lucid all the way!

The plastic vice grip style are popular because they're cheap. They also break jaws if you're not quick to drop them when a fish rolls, and the roll pin that holds them together will occasionally self destruct under sheering tension.

Boga grips are great, but too $pendy!

Lucid grips have a rotating head, and a spring scale built into the handle just like Boga for less than half the cost.




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Agreed. Boga or lucid. Basically, lingcod like to spin. A lot. They will rip their own heads off spinning off a gaff. Boga and Lucid solve the problem. Boga are made in the USA from USA sourced materials, which is probably why they cost twice as much as lucid.

Boga are made in the USA from USA sourced materials, which is probably why they cost twice as much as lucid.

Not a fact. Lucid are as well. Teddy Wozny (owner/operator) has his hands in some other industry and can source materials at a reduced cost. All American made in Illinois.


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Boga are made in the USA from USA sourced materials, which is probably why they cost twice as much as lucid.

Not a fact. Lucid are as well. Teddy Wozny (owner/operator) has his hands in some other industry and can source materials at a reduced cost. All American made in Illinois.


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Good to hear that has changed since this thread 3 years ago:

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=53794.msg606802#msg606802

[emoji106] [emoji106]

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here's the 60 pound version for both.  I have NOT tried the Lucid grips yet. I got them for my son to try out.   The lucid grips are considerably smaller than the Boga grips even at the same 60 pound rating.  The gap is also considerably smaller.  Having said that, we use them on halibut a lot and anything too big for the lucid grips would probably require a harpoon anyways...unless you are Bill, lol. 

Aside from size, the major difference seems to be the handle.  Both rotate but you can see on the Boga grips, the handle is stainless steel covered in foam.  On the lucid grips it is a thin layer of plastic covered by a layer of foam.  Once again, having not used the lucid yet, I have no clue if its negative because it is weaker or a positive because its strong enough and a lot lighter.

I understand the high props for the metal grippers, especially those that have additional features like swivel head, and weight scale built in.  Heck Poly A. has weighed my fish for me with is on occasion. 

Being the type that tends to run a product until it fails, I have found that the original plastic "Fish Grip" units fit my needs for gripping fish and even bleeding them out alongside the kayak. 

One thing that I find to be missing on pretty much any kind/brand of lip grippers is a tether.  I remove the small wrist strap that comes on the plastic fish grips, and add a 2 foot length of 1/4" bungee and a brass clip on the end.  Granted some folks are more into floats attached theirs, but I tried dangling floats and they got in my way more than a bungee tether.

With the bungee tether I can clip it to my seat strap and tuck the grips under my leg, or just behind me with no worries of it getting away from me when I'm not paying attention.  When I lip a fish and it goes bananas, I can drop the lip gripper and just hang onto the bungee until it calms down. It can thrash and spin as much as it likes, and haven't had one get loose to date. 

If I do ever break or lose one, I have 6 or 7 spares already from winning them in raffles and other fishing tourneys. 

I remove the small wrist strap that comes on the plastic fish grips, and add a 2 foot length of 1/4" bungee and a brass clip on the end.

I leave the wrist strap. It's there to protect rolling fish. You put the wrist strap on, land the fish, and if it goes into a death roll, you just let go of the locked-in-place grip and let it pivot on the wrist strap. I have never broken a ling's jaw doing this and I've never lost a ling doing this either.

There's two examples of this in my recent video. At 3:25 I deal with a baby ling, at 10:06 I deal with an eating-size ling.

I think the metal, rotating units are great. But you can ethically handle fish with the plastic ones as well.

I have a Lucid grip and a plastic Fishgrip.

I pulled an angry 40-pound king up and into a drift boat with the Lucid grips (assuming the scale on the grips is accurate) without a problem when the net collapsed.  They are definitely strong enough for anything that doesn't need to be harpooned.

I tend to grab the plastic grips the way the Captain uses them, strap around my wrist, on big, toothy fish.  Not a ding against the Lucid grips, but a surprising experience suggested I should keep my fingers a bit further away from those teeth.

They both work.

I have a pair of orange plastic grippers at the bottom of the ocean, still attached to a lingcod, off of Brookings.  If you find them could you get them back to me?

So yeah, don't cut off the wrist strap.  Bad idea.

I remove the small wrist strap that comes on the plastic fish grips, and add a 2 foot length of 1/4" bungee and a brass clip on the end.

I leave the wrist strap. It's there to protect rolling fish. You put the wrist strap on, land the fish, and if it goes into a death roll, you just leg go of the locked-in-place grip and let it pivot on the wrist strap. I have never broken a ling's jaw doing this and I've never lost a ling doing this either.

There's two examples of this in my recent video. At 3:25 I deal with a baby ling, at 10:06 I deal with an eating-size ling.

I think the metal, rotating units are great. But you can ethically handle fish with the plastic ones as well.

I put extra shock cord on and a brass swivel clipped to the yak, just let go and let him tire him self dizzy 

I have a pair of orange plastic grippers at the bottom of the ocean, still attached to a lingcod, off of Brookings.  If you find them could you get them back to me?

So yeah, don't cut off the wrist strap.  Bad idea.

I mostly would agree, not to remove the wrist strap unless you are replacing it with a better connection point. 
With a 2 foot length of bungee attached better than that of the wrist strap and a solid brass swiveling clip attached to the boat, I can let go of the grips and just hang onto the bungee letting the fish do it's thing.  He's not going anywhere. 

With just the wrist strap, you either have to keep tabs on it so it doesn't fall over board and drift away, or secure it anyways.  May as well reduce the odds of losing it with an upgraded attachment process.

I successfully lipped a 36.5 lb bull redfish in Grand Isle, Louisiana with no issues with my plastic Fish Grips, as well as a spunky ocean fall Chinook (no net on board).  Many, many 30+ inch toothy lings, and huge cabbies have had their day in court with these grips as well.

With a 2 foot length of bungee attached better than that of the wrist strap and a solid brass swiveling clip attached to the boat, I can let go of the grips and just hang onto the bungee letting the fish do it's thing.  He's not going anywhere. 

I still don't get why more people don't do this. I use a pair of Bogas and also have them on a bungee that's clipped onto the kayak. It really makes handling fish easy and I don't have to worry about a fish swimming away with my lip grippers like a Portland hipster with a big ass piercing. 

I have my Lucid lip gripper on a cord leash.  What's the theory about using bungie cord rather than just cord?  To provide shock absorption if the fish is thrashing around so much that you drop the lip gripper?