Thread: Home Made Gaff

Here is the gaff i made. All stanless steel so no rust. Weight comes in around 4 or 5lbs. Let me know what you think.

Points need to be parallel with the body of the gaff. just like a treble hook. But the gaff looks great....

Like James said,the tines must be parallel or even bent inward a little. The tine length is marginal and could be longer and tie your rope strait to the gaff,the more knots you have the greater the chance of a line getting caught up. Look at ironman's design,it's perfect.

Thanks for the input on the angle.

Should work good once you straighten up the tines. I've always been paranoid about big knots in the rope thinking that as you come up fast to the fish the knot will tend to push the gaff away from the fish. Here's a pic of the one I made before Ironman set the new standards for gaffs.

Gaff.jpg

I cut the rope with a hot knife at a long angle, made a simple loop, then sewed the tag end to the rope with 80 lb. braid before binding it up with heavy nylon thread and varnish. It will never fail.

If I had it to do over I would use the round points like you did.

I haven't made a gaff, but I agree on how it should be attached to the rope. I used 1/2 inch braided rope, no knot, but sewed the loop closed with 80# dacron, then used a clove hitch whipping to finish. The rope will break long before the fastening will give, and even if the dacron is cut, it will not unravel---no knots to get in the way, much like sandflea's.

Originally Posted by john g

Like James said,the tines must be parallel or even bent inward a little. The tine length is marginal and could be longer and tie your rope strait to the gaff,the more knots you have the greater the chance of a line getting caught up. Look at ironman's design,it's perfect.

I made a small spanish gaff and used the anchor knot. First couple tries, It knocked the fish loose from the hook, bent tines slightly inward as John suggested, now it gets 'em every time!