fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment (Freshwater ecosystem, freshwater or Marine ecosystem, marine), but may also be caught from Fish stocking, stocked Body of water, ...

, a gaff is a handheld pole with a sharp

hook A hook is a tool consisting of a length of material, typically metal, that contains a portion that is curved/bent back or has a deeply grooved indentation, which serves to grab, latch or in any way attach itself onto another object. The hook's d ...

or sideway spike on the distal end, which is used to swing and stab into the body of a large

fish A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...

like a

pickaxe A pickaxe, pick-axe, or pick is a generally T-shaped hand tool used for Leverage (mechanics), prying. Its head is typically metal, attached perpendicularly to a longer handle, traditionally made of wood, occasionally metal, and increasingly ...

(ideally, the tip of the hook/spike is placed under the fish's backbone) and then pull the fish out of the water like using a pike pole. Fishing activities that are solely done with gaffs are known as gaffing. Gaffs are used when the weight of the target fish exceeds the breaking strength of the

fishing line A fishing line is any flexible, high-tensile cord used in angling to tether and pull in fish, in conjunction with at least one hook. Fishing lines are usually pulled by and stored in a reel, but can also be retrieved by hand, with a fixed att ...

or the

fishing rod A fishing rod or fishing pole 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 ...

and thus typical

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

retrieval would be problematic. Like spearfishing, gaffs cannot be used if it is intended to release the fish unharmed after capture, unless the fish is skillfully gaffed right in a non-vital part such as the

lip The lips are a horizontal pair of soft appendages attached to the jaws and are the most visible part of the mouth of many animals, including humans. Mammal lips are soft, movable and serve to facilitate the ingestion of food (e.g. sucklin ...

jaw The jaws are a pair of opposable articulated structures 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 ...

or lower

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, 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 r ...

using a thin hook (though very difficult to perform and thus unlikely). A flying gaff is a specialized type of gaff used for securing and controlling very large, feisty fish. The hook part of the gaff (the head) detaches when excessive force is used, somewhat like a

harpoon A harpoon is a long, spear-like projectile used in fishing, whaling, sealing, and other hunting to shoot, kill, and capture large fish or marine mammals such as seals, sea cows, and whales. It impales the target and secures it with barb or ...

's dart. The head is secured to the boat with a length of heavy rope or cable, allowing the fish to remain tethered and get fatigued out before eventually retrieved.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fishing Gaff Recreational fishing Fishing equipment Nautical terminology

See also

References