High 5

When you take someone fishing, there are many advantages. Not only is there the added benefit of safety (you can watch each other’s backs!), but there is also an assistant for the tricky landing of that big fish.

The line and knot have to hold, the net deployed skillfully, and the fish has to cooperate. Then, two anglers suddenly are going to share a moment, hopefully of jubilation. But how?

A handshake is too formal.

Head butts or chest bumps should be avoided to keep one or both anglers from falling in the water.

On an episode of Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show, Bassmaster Elite angler Kelly Jordan broke a rod, and lost a bass so large that he and Mark Zona were forced to “hug it out.”

The single “fist bump” has become acceptable, as long as it isn’t extended with fist opening and the little explosion sound.

A stinging hand slap of a “high 5” is a quick, effective vehicle to express gratitude and mutual respect.

But my favorite, I learned 15 years ago in Hawaii from my angling neighbor: “The Fisherman’s Handshake.” Hands cross and slap each other’s forearm like the tail of a fish. Judging by the fishing shows, it doesn’t seem to have caught on. Yet.

Andy Whitcomb

Andy is an outdoor writer (http://www.justkeepreeling.com/) and stressed-out Dad has contributed over 380 blogs to takemefishing.org since 2011. Born in Florida, but raised on banks of Oklahoma farm ponds, he now chases pike, smallmouth bass, and steelhead in Pennsylvania. After earning a B.S. in Zoology from OSU, he worked in fish hatcheries and as a fisheries research technician at OSU, Iowa State, and Michigan State.