Hands On Review
No fisherman is a stranger to pinching splitshot with their teeth, wrestling with split rings until a hook finds its way into their fingers, or gnawing at mono and braid like a rabid beaver, but one piece of gear can make sure you never have to do those things again.
A good set of
However, not all pliers are built equal, so I’ve found the best set of affordable pliers for you to get the job done in style. Here is a review of all the features that come packed into the Piscifun
Features and How They Hold Up
Ergonomics and Handle Material
First, let’s get the handle material and ergonomics out of the way. They’re typically the first thing you notice when handling a set of pliers, and they set the tone for your initial impression.
The handles are made from a high-grade aluminum, and they feel slick, yet impressively sturdy, when you first touch them. Aluminum construction does a couple of things. It makes the pliers lightweight, which is a good thing since you’ll likely be carrying a rod and a full set of tackle along with them, and it makes them practically impervious to rust and corrosion. In fact,
However, the aluminum isn’t as strong as steel. That’s not a problem since you’re highly unlikely to apply the amount of pressure necessary to bend or break the handles while fishing, but I’d try to stay away from using them for heavy-duty plier tasks just to stay on the safe side.
As for the ergonomics, I was surprised by just how well these pliers sunk into my hand. When I first noticed there weren’t any rubberized grips on them, I expected them to be too slick to hold onto with wet hands. However, they’re designed with deep finger choils that prevent your hands from slipping while you use them. When I grabbed the pliers for the first time, my hand immediately locked onto them and didn’t move until I purposely let go of them.
Jaws
The jaws are the meat and potatoes of any set of pliers. Whether you’re talking about multitools, shop pliers, or
There are a lot of features designed to help you manipulate your tackle, so I’ll break each one down in its own section.
Alignment
Jaw alignment isn’t the most important thing. Small tolerances and a little bit of wiggle won’t affect your fishing. However, Piscifun didn’t settle for good enough. My pliers arrived with jaws that aligned perfectly, and they didn’t wiggle at all. That small feature shows just how much care and attention to detail went into manufacturing these pliers.
Hooked Tip
The jaws are slender like needle-nose pliers, but they come with a small hook on the tip that allows you to open up splitshot, remove or install splitrings, and wrap around stubborn hooks that your catch might have gutted.
While the hook is small, it’s not weak or likely to break off. I used it to open up all the old splitshot and rusty splitrings in my tacklebox, and the only wear I’ve noticed is a tiny surface scratch.
However, I noticed that you have to be a little careful when working on tiny weights. The hook may be small, but it still has trouble sneaking between the tiny crevices of some specialty weights. I accidentally smashed a fly fishing splitshot while testing them, but that would have happened with the multitool I used to use, too.
As far as splitrings go, the hook worked like a charm. I was able to keep my fingers far away from the attached treble hooks, and I was able to remove them within a fraction of the time it takes me with my multitool or my fingers.
Crimping Slots
Some weights, such as splitshots, need to be crimped onto your fishing line. A lot of people, such as myself, usually just bite them on, but that’s bad for your teeth, and it means you’re putting lead in your mouth.
The circular crimping slots on these pliers make crimping easy, and they can actually save you a little money. When you bite on crimped weights, your teeth contort the lead, and that usually makes it difficult or even impossible to reuse them. Even normal multitool pliers tend to mess up weights.
With the crimping tools on these pliers, your splitshots and other crimp-style weights are put on properly every time, and you can properly remove them, too. That allows you to chuck your old splitshots back into your tacklebox instead of chucking them in the trash.
Replaceable Jaws
Finally, the jaws of the pliers are replaceable. Each jaw has two hex screws holding it on, and a small wrench is included with the pliers in case you ever have to remove them.
I don’t anticipate ever having to replace the jaws on mine. The steel used for the jaws is incredibly hard, and they don’t show any wear at all as of the time of this writing. However, they may need to be cleaned after a few years of gathering dirt, fish slime, and other disgusting bits of nature on them, and being able to remove them ensures that cleaning is an easy process.
Cutting Teeth
Fishing line is a pain to cut. We all know that. Braided line is designed to resist sharp objects, and even some of the higher-end mono lines can require a little elbow grease to slice them cleanly with a pocket knife. If you’ve ever used 30-pound mono for catfishing, you know what I’m talking about.
Luckily, there is a set of cutting teeth right below the jaws on these pliers. They’re not the rounded wire cutters you see on normal pliers and multitools. One blade is as sharp as a razor, and the other works as a 90-degree guide to ensure that your cuts are clean.
The cutting blades make short work of
Like the jaws, both cutting blades can be removed via the included hex wrench. Unlike the jaws, they will probably have to be replaced a few years down the road. Since they’re sharpened, they’ll eventually go dull. I don’t recommend sharpening them very much, either. You might get away with it once or twice, but the more metal you remove, the less they’ll align, and they’ll stop cutting effectively.
That leads to my final point about the cutting blades. If you remove them for cleaning or sharpening, pay attention to how they’re installed out of the package. I accidentally removed mine without taking note of their original positions, and I had to remove them and reinstall them twice to make them align properly.
Sheath
The sheath that comes with the pliers isn’t anything fancy, but it’s built well, and it has a couple extra features that I like.
First, it’s made out of nylon. I hate nylon when it comes to knife sheaths or multitool sheaths, but it’s a godsend on these.
A carabiner clip and stretchy cord comes with the pliers, and they can be used to connect the pliers to a hole in the sheath. The system works like a leash for your
Finally, the sheath can be strapped to your belt in either a horizontal or vertical position. I prefer to use it horizontally. It’s easier to pull the pliers out quickly, and it makes it easier to sit without the handles poking into my side.
- Aircraft-grade aluminum
- Titanium-coated stainless steel jaws (replaceable)
- Tungsten carbide cutters (replaceable)
- Includes Lanyard and Sheath
Hands On (Abusive) Testing | How Do They Hold Up In Real Life?
This wouldn’t be much of a review if I didn’t do a little abusive testing. After all, fishermen have to improvise a lot, and you might end up having to use these in an unintended way. I don’t recommend doing this test yourself, but I think this test shows how durable and reliable these pliers are.
The Cutting Test
My first two tests weren’t really abusive. They were just little tests on everyday items to show the efficiency of the cutting blades.
Twine
First, I used jute twine. Since jute twine is extremely fibrous, I usually don’t get clean cuts unless I use a sharp knife. Scissors tend to make it fray, too. However, the Piscifun pliers cut through several pieces of bundled jute twine in a single attempt, and they were cut cleanly without any fraying on the ends.
550 Paracord
Jute twine is child’s play, so I used the cutting blades to cut 550 paracord. They cut one piece with a buttery smoothness, and only a light amount of pressure was needed to cut two at the same time. However, it took a bit of work to cut through four pieces at once. The paracord was just wider than the cutting blades, and it kept snagging on the jaws of the pliers. There is no practical reason for you to cut four pieces of 550 paracord at once with a set of
Finishing Nail
My final cutting test was one that I truly recommend staying away from. I wanted to make sure these pliers get the job done, so I tried to cut a hardened finishing nail in half. My multitool would have no problem with that task, but it’s designed to do that. As expected, the sharpened, knife-like, blade on the Piscifun pliers couldn’t make it through the nail.
The nail left a small chip in the portion of the blade that was used, and it only had a shallow indent where I was cutting.
Results of The Abusive Cutting Test
While that’s a complete failure, I gained quite a bit of positive information from that test. Yes, the cutting blade was slightly chipped, but it’s barely noticeable. In fact, I don’t think you can even see it in the attached photograph. That means the steel used for the cutting blades is harder than I expected, and there’s no way it’ll go dull quickly just from cutting fishing line.
You should also consider how much pressure it takes to cut a nail in half with pliers. I put all my hand strength behind my attempt, and the handles didn’t bend or break. At the end of the attempt, I heard the cutting blade shift and I immediately stopped. Luckily, I just had to take it off and realign it.
That proves that these pliers are constructed with durability in mind, and normal fishing tasks shouldn’t require anywhere near the same amount of force as cutting a hardened nail. Therefore, I wouldn’t be surprised if these pliers have a lifelong spot in my tacklebox.
The Drop Test
Finally, I decided to see how well they’d hold up to drops. If you take the leash off, it’s possible that you can drop the pliers off a pier or down a rocky bank. So, I dropped the pliers from shoulder height onto my concrete garage floor multiple times. There were a few light scratches in the paint job, but the pliers were intact, and they were functionally the same as they were before.
Results of The Drop Test
No issues here. These
Piscifun’s Customer Service
These pliers have to be ordered online, and that means that customer service is an important part of this product review. Luckily, Piscifun backs up their products with the same amount of diligence that they put into making them.
The Buying Process
The buying process was easy. I was able to use PayPal since I was unfamiliar with their site and didn’t want to give them my credit card number directly. Then, I received a short email confirming my purchase, and the email told me that I’d be supplied with shipping information shortly.
Once I got my shipping information, I had brand-new
Piscifun Return Policy
While I haven’t used the return policy, and I don’t intend on ever using it, it is generous on paper. If you buy the pliers through my link or the company’s website, you have sixty days to return them without any questions asked. You can chuck them off a pier or break the jaws using them as tent stakes, and Piscifun will replace them for free.
After that sixty days, you can return the pliers whenever you want, but they will inspect the pliers before granting a refund or replacement. After all, its not fair for you to use the pliers for ten years, notice the paint job is ruined, and then run them over with a car for a refund.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I think this set of Piscifun
I highly recommend these to all anglers, and I know mine will come along on every fishing trip I make for the foreseeable future.
- Aircraft-grade aluminum
- Titanium-coated stainless steel jaws (replaceable)
- Tungsten carbide cutters (replaceable)
- Includes Lanyard and Sheath
