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In fishing, 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 like a pickaxe (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 or the fishing rod and thus typical angling 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, jaw or lower gill 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'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.
In fishing, 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...
called the gaff. Because of the size and shape of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays. The gaff enables a...
A hakapik (Norwegian: gaff) is a club, of Norwegian design, similar to a fishinggaff, used for killing and moving seals. The hakapik is a multipurpose...
sleek build and had a tall gaff rig, which gave the vessel sufficient speed to make long-distance trips out to the fishing grounds in the ocean. They...
sleek build and had a tall gaff rig, which gave the vessel sufficient speed to make long-distance trips out to the fishing grounds in the ocean. They...
officer, impaling Ralph with a flounder gig, and gutting Sue with a large fishinggaff, storing their bodies in the condominium's basement. When Ed and Pam...
net) or a hooked pole called a gaff. Trolling is a technique where one or more lines, each with at least one hooked fishing lure at the end, is dragged through...
landed by using a landing net or a hooked pole called a gaff. Trolling is a technique in which a fishing lure on a line is drawn through the water. Snagging...
Recreational fishing, also called sport fishing or game fishing, is fishing for leisure, exercise or competition. It can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which...
sleek build and had a tall gaff rig, which gave the vessel sufficient speed to make long-distance trips out to the fishing grounds in the ocean. They...
Jonathan Edwards College team attempted to capture the ball using a fishinggaff which predictably popped the ball, inciting enraged chants of "J.E. sucks...
drawings of seals which appear to have been harpooned. Pike pole fishing and gafffishing - Use handheld poles with sharp spikes to hit and impale fish....
Adventure. The following varieties were built: Grand Banks fishing schooner: includes a gaff topsail on the main mast and a fisherman's staysail; in winter...
he was 15, another one of his mother's boyfriends attacked him with a fishinggaff and gouged a huge hole in his hip. He quit school before the 10th grade...
motion made with a fishing rod in order to "set" a fish hook into the mouth of a fish once it has bitten a fishing lure or bait. Fishinggaff – a pole with...
sleek build and had a tall gaff rig, which gave the vessel sufficient speed to make long-distance trips out to the fishing grounds in the ocean. They...
Bermuda rig with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a gaff-rig with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged mainsail. In naval terminology, "sloop-of-war"...
Bluenose was a fishing and racing gaff rig schooner built in 1921 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada. A celebrated racing ship and fishing vessel, Bluenose...
using helium balloons and haul their catch up uses specially designed fishinggaffs, however it is very common that a shark steals the fisher's catch before...
a tall gaff rig, often ketch rigged though also simply a large sloop, that was powerful enough to carry them quickly to and from the fishing grounds...
catching and handling pike that are now frowned upon are the gaff and the gag. The gaff is a metal hook on the end of a pole used to hook through the...
foremast and at least two sails on the main mast: a square topsail and a gaff sail mainsail (behind the mast). The main mast is the second and taller of...
traditional sailing craft that evolved for fishing in the waters of Falmouth, Cornwall. Falmouth working boats have a gaff cutter rig and a long keel hull. As...