One thing I see a lot in catch and release photos is the high percentage of them I see with people hanging the fish by the gill covers, or using the region as a hand hold. I for one try to avoid touching the fish under the gill covers if at all possible.

What do you guys think? Maybe I'm just an idiot and I'm overthinking it.

First off... you're not an idiot for thinking about the fish. No sense in purposefully harming a fish that you're planning to release.

With that said, hooking a finger in the gill area is not a big deal unless you're sticking your fingers deep down into the gill area. By hooking a finger just inside, you're catching cartilage that is fine. If it's a bigger fish, use your other hand to support the main body of the fish so the pressure is off the gill area.

I'm not anal about it and certainly don't mourn and plan a memorial service if a fish dies that I had intended to release, but if done right, hooking a fish just inside the gill plate is harmless.

If hand-landing, lipping them is probably the best for the fish. This can be accomplished with a toothy fish by using a landing glove. But otherwise, gently sliding a hand into the slot of the gill plate right under the "chin" is a good option.

Depends on the species. I fish trout and you would never want to do that. Cradle the fish gently under the belly and tail.

I won't be sticking any part of my hands into the mouth of a northern pike, glove or no glove. He's getting "the claw" behind the head or a finger just inside the gill cover.

Yep just do the best to avoid the actual gills and absolutely support the larger fish. There are many other factors like depth they coming from, exhaustion of fight, and water quality when recovering.

It is hard on the fish to have light gear for catching larger fish and hence a long fight to net it. Too much handling and removel of the protective slim is also not good.

You can skip using the gloves and try a fish grabber as well. There are many different styles to chose from.

This is actually one of the best ways to handle large fish such as pike. Many studies have been done to compare survival rates and this method when done right always comes out on top. Never hold extremely heavy fish by their mouth as this can strain cartilage and keep the fish from feeding for a long time. Never use the eye sockets and never grab the actual gills. You are grabbing the gill PLATE as close to the head as possible and supporting the body with your other hand. Lip bass carefully without bending their mouth too far back and try to hold trout from underneath if possible. Trout are tricky but gills are ok if you are VERY careful and they are very large.

I try to use the Virgil Ward method of cranking a bass' lower jaw at a 110 degree angle then flip it into the water so it does a few summersaults.

Seriously- I've never had an issue holding a larger fish inside the gill cover as long as you avoid the gills themselves. Maybe I've contributed to fish mortality and not known it but if someone has a better way to handle large pike, I'm game.

I'll add this too- I always try to hold my fish vertically as opposed to horizontally. I always cringe when I see big pike/muskies held with the weight of the fish supported by one hand right in the sow's belly. Always looked painful to me...

quote Ingvald:

I'll add this too- I always try to hold my fish vertically as opposed to horizontally. I always cringe when I see big pike/muskies held with the weight of the fish supported by one hand right in the sow's belly. Always looked painful to me..."

Actually, it is worse for the fish to hold it vertically using just the gill plate. That could be as much as 50 lbs of pressure directly on the gill plate. By supporting it horizontally while holding under the gill plate, you spread out the stress.
I should add that time out of the water is probably the biggest factor in using proper catch and release tactics. So be sure to snap a bunch of really quick photos of that lunker and let her go!

Another note... the boga style grips you see people using have been shown to increase mortality rates and deformities in larger species of fish (again, all of the weight is held by that one contact point).

I agree that most fish should be released boatside without ever leaving the water, particularly large fish. I hadn't heard that about the single-pressure point, I'll have to check it out.

Yeah, the gill plate hold freaked me out at first too, but after a bunch of reading on the subject the consensus was clear that it was actually a good idea. I'll admit that most of the fish I catch are small enough that I don't have to think about things like that...but when I do it's good to know. I pretty much only would use it for pike - everything else I stumble across normally can just be grabbed by the lower lip just fine.