Boga Grip’s Patent Ran Out
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Andrew Wright had one of these the other day. It’s extremely adequate and it costs less than 10% of a Boga Grip.
It’s called the Lipper Econoscale. It’s basically a straight knock off in high density plastic.
Boga’s probably hosed but this is sure nice for the average angler.
Zach
I actually started looking for a knock off Boga after seeing the one that Adam Mcdowell has (which is made by Cabela’s). Apparently Cabela’s is no longer making their version, but there seems to be no shortage of similar products at a very low cost.
There is no question that a real Boga is a higher quality product but when the difference in cost is considered, this is kind of a no-brainer. I really did not want to pay upwards of $120 to get an accurate weight on a fish but $14.95 is a little easier to stomach…
I wonder why those good ole boys from Esataboga Alabama would let their patent run out? Seems like they had a good thing going?
Is it possible that they made money from other companies wanting to get into this line of products?I tested it out by weighing a few objects first on another scale that I know to be accurate. It seems to be spot on.
I wonder why those good ole boys from Esataboga Alabama would let their patent run out? Seems like they had a good thing going?
Is it possible that they made money from other companies wanting to get into this line of products?Patents have a 20 year life cycle – which after the legal garbage, usually only last about 15 years.
Boga’s patent is at the 20 year mark – so they may have run out but what’s more likely is the company figured out a way around it. Not too hard to do to be honest – I did it once for the boga design in a class in grad school. Check it out yourself:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=hEgnAAAAEBAJ&zoom=4&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=falseI still dont understand the point of a boga though. Isnt it proven that holding a fish vertically is the worst thing you can do to it aside from shoving your hands in its gills? And isnt that the way you get a weight reading with a boga?
Boga grips generally promote poor fish handling, it’s true. Hanging just about any fish by the lip for an extended period is a bad idea. I think you can do it for a moment but you need to immediately get the fish back level or you can screw up its internal organs.
Where Bogas win out for me is on larger fish like stripers that like to barrel roll in the net. I’ve seen big stripers just foam up a net with their mucous membrane thrashing around. The first thing I checked on Andrew’s knock off was to make sure it would still allow a fish to roll (it will but only when it’s got some weight on it; not sure if that’s necessarily good or not). A boga’ed striper can thrash all day and not do any more damage to itself, which is not true in just about any net.
To me the ideal way to use a boga to weigh a fish is with one of those net cradles, or even just a laundry-style mesh bag. Drop the fish in the bag, then clip the boga on and lift. The bag itself won’t weigh enough to matter (and you can always “tare” the scale later by weighing just the bag). For IGFA purposes this is probably not kosher but unless you’re going to turn in a world record, it’s better to protect the fish.
Zach
I use a Boga Grip and really like it. It is far and away the best quality gripping device around. It is particularly well suited to saltwater. I have used a Berkley Grip and it worked fine until a redfish jerked it out of my hand (my Boga is tied to the boat). I also think they are made in the USA, which is a major +. As far as the patent is concerned, I don’t see it as an issue. Berkley and Rapala have had competing grips out for years. If you want to go cheap, there is even a plastic one that looks like a big pair of pliers.
http://www.nortonbrassrattler.com/
The only design flaw in the Boga is the scale (which is IGFA certifiable). It shouldn’t have one. As others have observed, it promotes mishandleing of fish. On the other hand, if properly used, you can unhook and release a fish without ever touching it or taking it out of the water.
Something to keep in mind when using the Boga on a Striper or Hybrid is that they have a propensity to snap their head away from you when something touches their mouth. More then once I’ve had my Bogas pulled out of my hands and lost in the darkness. Luckily I keep mine tied to a large section from a round foam pool float. It floats the fish and the grip unless the fish was too green, but even then eventually the foam float is going to win the tug of war.
I’ll say that my purchase of a boga seemed like bad idea at the time. After eight years of being rolled around in a boat and wet most all of it’s life it still works and looks just as well as it did when brand new and I have no doubt it’ll still be working for 20 more years. I wouldn’t even consider anything less if I were in need of that type of accessory.
Mike, you’re in the enviable position of catching a hell of a lot of big fish in the course of a year.
To me the ideal way to use a boga to weigh a fish is with one of those net cradles, or even just a laundry-style mesh bag.
Tim,
You raise a very valid point. I can certainly agree with the fact that holding a fish vertical is not the desired method, but it had never occurred to me that doing so for a few seconds to take weight measurement might be harmful to the fish. I would be curious to hear if any of the folks who use these tools on a regular basis have seen any negative results.Andrew –
More likely, they would not have seen any problems as the fish’s injuries would not affect it immediately.
I will post a picture of my Cabel-oga Grip tonight. I believe that it was $29 when I purchased it. I have not used it in the salt but it has been used on a number of bass with success (which is why i bought the 15lb model).
After comparing mine to a real boga, they look nearly identical. I am not sure how corrosive resistant it would be in the salt but again, I have mainly used it for bass.
My father in law had arguably the best private trophy managed bass lake in the state and he used to always say “that boga grip will break your heart!”
Mine has been checked on two occasions against my digital postal scale at my office and has been dead on both times.
Either way, I am a huge fan of boga style grippers but I would never use one on a soft mouthed species like a bonefish or trout.
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