Landing and unhooking equipment
Tackle · Last reviewed 2026-08-10
The equipment that decides whether a released fish survives — and the category most often treated as optional.
Precautions that always apply here
- Unhook fish on a wet mat or in the water, never on gravel, stone or a hard bank.
- Wet your hands before touching a fish. Dry hands strip the protective mucus layer that keeps infection out.
- Support the fish's weight along its body, keep it out of the water for as short a time as possible, and hold it over something soft.
- Check, clean and dry your kit between different waters — the published guidance is 48 hours’ drying, in sunlight where possible, because a number of invasive species survive over two weeks in damp conditions. Nets, boots and wet mats move invasive species and disease more effectively than anything else anglers do.
Everything else in a tackle bag exists to catch a fish. This category exists to make sure the fish is still alive afterwards, and it is the one anglers most often arrive without.
The items are simple. A landing net large enough that the fish is not folded or dragged. A soft, wet unhooking mat or cradle so that a fish put down is not put down on gravel. Forceps or long-nosed pliers to reach a hook without putting a hand into a mouth. A disgorger for hooks taken further back on small fish. Wire cutters capable of cutting through a treble — which is what lets an angler separate a fish from a hook, or a person from one, in seconds rather than minutes.
The argument for carrying all of it is not sentimental. A significant share of post-release mortality comes from handling rather than from hooking, and handling damage is almost entirely a function of what equipment was to hand at the moment the fish came in.
- Category
- Nets & landing gear
What it does
Brings a fish under control without dragging it up a bank, supports it on a soft wet surface while the hook is removed, allows a hook to be reached and removed without a hand entering the mouth, and — in the case of cutters — provides a fast way to separate a hook from either a fish or a person.
How to choose one
- Size the landing net so the largest fish you might catch fits without folding; a fish bent double in a small net is a damaged fish.
- Choose knotless, fish-friendly mesh — knotted mesh removes scales and mucus.
- The mat must be big enough for the fish to lie on entirely, and it must be wet before the fish touches it.
- Forceps long enough to reach the back of the mouth of the species you fish for, and cutters that will actually cut the hooks you use — test them at home, not on a fish.
- Carry all of it every session, including the sessions where you do not expect to need it.
What the numbers mean
NET SIZE is quoted as the width across the spreader block — 42-inch for carp, smaller for general coarse use. MESH is described as knotless or micromesh, both intended to reduce damage; micromesh also prevents small hooks passing through. MAT versus CRADLE: a mat is a padded surface, a cradle has raised sides and holds water, and a cradle is preferable for large fish. FORCEPS are quoted by length — 6 inch for general use, 10–12 inch for pike. CUTTERS need to be rated to cut hardened hook wire, which ordinary side cutters frequently will not.
Care, and how it fails
Nets rot and tear, and a mesh with a hole in it will let a fish through at the worst possible moment. Dry nets and mats before storing, and check them at the start of a season rather than at the moment of use. Forceps seize with rust, particularly after sea use — rinse and oil the pivot. Cutters go blunt and then crush rather than cut, which is worse than useless on a hook in a fish. Every item here is safety-critical for the fish and should be inspected like any other safety equipment.
What this is called elsewhere
FishingHQ’s headword is the term used in Britain & Ireland.
- Landing net — Global
- Universal, though the British specimen-fishing net — very large, deep, knotless, with a wide spreader block — is a distinct object from the small trout net used elsewhere.
- Unhooking mat — Britain & Ireland, Western Europe
- A padded mat for laying a fish on out of the water. The equipment and the expectation around it grew from British carp fishing and are far less standard elsewhere, which is a genuine cultural difference rather than a naming one.
- Lip grip / boga — North America, Australia, New Zealand, Caribbean
- A gripping tool clamped on the lower jaw. Common internationally and viewed with more suspicion in British coarse fishing, where the concern is the weight of a fish hanging on its jaw.
Where to go next
Understanding it
- Barbed and barbless hooksHow hard a hook is to remove — and therefore what tools are needed and how long the fish is held — is decided by the barb before it is decided by the equipment.
- Landing net or hand landing: what each costs the fishThe decisive variable turns out not to be net against hand but what the net is made of: knotted mesh abrades skin and strips mucus wherever it presses.
- Why a fish has a slime coatKnotless mesh exists for this reason and is required on many fisheries: a knotted net removes mucus and damages skin and fins over the whole contact area.
- Why fish are hooked deeply, and how to reduce itLine cutters are the tool that makes cutting the line a decision rather than a last resort after two minutes of trying.
- Why fish come off during the fightMore fish are lost at the net than anywhere else in the fight, because the line is short and the rod has little bend left to give.
- What actually happens to a released fishReleasing a fish is not the same as the fish surviving, and the difference is decided almost entirely by things the angler controls.
What these connections rest on (6)
Scientific evidence — 3 connections
Supported by peer-reviewed research or fisheries science. The sources are listed and can be checked.
Barbed and barbless hooks
The release literature connects hook type and handling time, which is what the equipment is trying to reduce.
- A review of catch-and-release angling mortality with implications for no-take reserves — Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 15:129–154, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Hook type, hooking location and handling in relation to release outcome.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why a fish has a slime coat
A mechanism edge between a record and the biology beneath it. The underlying claims are documented in the fisheries science and reference literature cited rather than restated from practice.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including physiological stress response, air exposure, handling and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of recreational angling effects on fish including physiological disturbance and the variables that dominate outcome.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Why fish are hooked deeply, and how to reduce it
The equipment record should say what each item is for, and cutters exist for this case.
- A review of catch-and-release angling mortality with implications for no-take reserves — Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries 15:129–154, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review establishing hooking location among the strongest determinants of catch-and-release mortality, and the gear and timing factors that influence it.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Practitioner consensus — 2 connections
Widely and independently recommended by experienced anglers and specialist sources. This is real angling knowledge, not proof: controlled evidence for it is limited, and FishingHQ records it as convention rather than as a demonstrated effect.
Landing net or hand landing: what each costs the fish
A mechanism edge from a record to the reasoning beneath it, resting on practice reported consistently across independent sources rather than on experiment.
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Review of catch-and-release science including hooking location, landing method, handling and post-release survival.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Do we need species-specific guidelines for catch-and-release recreational angling? — Biodiversity and Conservation 14:1195–1209, 2005 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: Synthesis of terminal tackle effects on hooking injury and post-release survival across recreational fisheries.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
What actually happens to a released fish
The equipment exists to serve the outcome the explainer describes.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Landing and unhooking equipment in fish care guidance.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Times — Bauer Media (Specialist angling publication)Relied on for: Contemporary fish care equipment practice.Citation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Authoritative guidance — 1 connection
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Why fish come off during the fight
The netting moment is where the mechanics are least forgiving.
- IGFA International Angling Rules and World Record Requirements — International Game Fish Association (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Tackle and terminal component definitions within which drag, line class and hook specification are described.States this directlyPassage read and verified
Safety reading
- Handling fish safelyThe equipment exists so that a fish can be controlled and unhooked with the least handling, which is the measure that most affects what happens after release.
- Hook injuriesForceps, disgorgers and cutters are the tools that keep a hook removal from becoming a second hook injury, in the fish or in the angler.
What these connections rest on (2)
Authoritative guidance — 2 connections
Stated by a fisheries authority, scientific institute or recognised angling body. Authoritative, but summarising rather than demonstrating.
Handling fish safely
Angling body guidance on handling and returning fish.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Guidance on handling, unhooking and returning fish.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Hook injuries
Angling body guidance on hook removal and injury avoidance.
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: Guidance to anglers on hook handling, removal and injury.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
Sources for this page
- Understanding the Complexity of Catch-and-Release in Recreational Fishing — Reviews in Fisheries Science 15:75–167, 2007 (Scientific literature)Relied on for: That handling practice and air exposure are among the strongest predictors of post-release mortality, independent of hooking.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
- Angling Trust guidance for anglers — Angling Trust (Angling or fisheries organisation)Relied on for: The fish-care practices recommended for landing, unhooking and returning fish.States this directlyCitation checked — the work exists and is described correctly
How FishingHQ labels evidence is explained in the evidence policy.