DIY Gaff (FREE PLANS)

[ranald]

My first one I made was under supervision/demand from my big brother (who wasn't handy at all). I purchased (with MY pocket money) a very large fish hook (for sharks I think) .I had to straighten the eye which with porta gas type bunsen burner and claw hammer & was not a great success. So i had to chisel a hollow/wedge notch into the broom handle and tack it in before binding. This kid about 7 was not the best with a chisel, as a neighbour could testify, as he previously had to remove one from my foot (fortunately I had missed all bones etc and the chisel went right through till a couple of inches of it were sticking from my sole fascia: it didn't hurt as much giong in as it did coming out.Funny now.
My dad had shown me binding on split cane so it was bound with twine also, but not neatly if my grey matter serves me right but it was the" ants pants". It was a couple of years till we actually used it to grab the giant(to us kids, about 5' )eel. As usual my brother instructed me to jump in the creek with the gaff and a heshion bag to retrieve the monster. So much adrelin that I didn't have to change my pants but just dry them of creek water.