Last Christmas, my fishing buddy, Tim Tigner, gave me one of the neatest accessories of all – a pair of rubber fishing gloves, Latex actually. They are a must-have item on fishing trips and extremely useful around the house.
I once went croaker fishing with Courtney Craft and we caught about a hundred fish. I didn’t have my fishing gloves with me and took the fish off the hooks with my bare hands. If you’ve ever handled a croaker, you will understand that they are not called “hard heads” for no good reason. Their heads are like body armor and their gills and jaws are sharp. After I had handled all those fish – including cleaning them – my thumbs and fingers looked like I had stuffed them in a garbage disposable and turned it on. They were shredded.
Last week, I had my gloves with me and when we caught a nasty oyster toad, but no problem taking it off the hook. Also, when I cleaned my catch at the fish cleaning station, it was much easier, mostly because I could hold on to them and not have to worry about an errant filet knife.
The gloves are useful for anything when protecting your hands is important. But they are truly are a godsend on a fishing boat.
There are a number of brands available and most are under $5 a pair.
Latex gloves make terrific gifts and they will always have a special place in my tackle box.