Quote:

What happened to me this year was I used a plastic lip gripper and clamped a 40 inchers lip before it was ready and it started thrashing as I lifted it up.

So what I'm getting from this, is that the key to protecting the NP and yourself, is being sure the fish is "ready" to be handled.
The orange gripper isn't the problem but as OS said, if you grab one before it's ready, the gripper could cause the NP to break it's lower jaw while struggling.
Is this about right?

  IF you choose to use a "fishing" glove, is are you wearing it all the time your fishing for every species, just when targeting NP, or you try to put it on before you land fish, once you can see what you've hooked?
I don't like wearing gloves other than for keeping my hands warm. Seems to me wearing one when the weather is warm would be a pain. :-/