fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques inclu ...

, a gaff is a handheld pole with a sharp hook or sideway spike on the distal end, which is used to swing and stab into the body of a large

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

like a pickaxe, and then pull the fish out of the water like using a

pike pole A pike pole is a long metal-topped wooden, aluminium or fiberglass pole used for reaching, hooking and/or pulling on another object. They are variously used in boating, construction, logging, rescue and recovery, power line maintenance, and fire ...

. Ideally, the tip of the hook/spike is placed under the fish's backbone. Gaffs are used when the weight of the target fish exceeds the breaking strength of the fishing line or the

fishing rod A fishing rod is a long, thin rod used by angling, anglers to fishing, catch fish by manipulating a fishing line, line ending in a fish hook, hook (formerly known as an ''angle'', hence the term "angling"). At its most basic form, a fishing ...

and thus typical angling retrieval would be problematic. A gaff cannot be used if it is intended to release the fish unharmed after capture, unless the fish is skillfully gaffed right in the lip,

jaw The jaw is any opposable articulated structure at the entrance of the mouth, typically used for grasping and manipulating food. The term ''jaws'' is also broadly applied to the whole of the structures constituting the vault of the mouth and serv ...

or lower

gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow respiration on land provided they are ...

using a thin hook. A "flying gaff" is a specialized type of gaff used for securing and controlling very large fish. The hook part of the gaff (the head) detaches when sufficient force is used, somewhat like a

harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument and tool used in fishing, whaling, seal hunting, sealing, and other marine hunting to catch and injure large fish or marine mammals such as seals and whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the t ...

's dart. The head is secured to the boat with a length of heavy rope or cable.

See also