Best Fishing Pliers of 2026

A locking plier sounds like a small feature until a spring-loaded pair pops open inside a vest and puts a jaw through the pocket lining. The TRUSCEND's sliding lock is the best of the ones we handled: it moves with a thumb, holds the jaws shut in the sheath, and releases into a self-opening tool you can run with one hand, which is what you want when the other hand is holding a fish.

The handle is the other reason it is on this list. It is cast aluminum with a Teflon coating and shaped like a pistol grip, which puts the squeeze closer to the strongest part of your hand and gave us more control on a hook buried past the bend of a treble. At 4.9 ounces it hangs from a lanyard without dragging your belt sideways, and the tungsten carbide blades go through braid and heavy mono without complaint.

Two things to know before you commit. The pivot is the wear point, and pieces coming apart at the joint is the failure to watch for, so grip a hook with the jaws rather than levering it out of a throat. The holster's belt clip also works loose; run the lanyard to a belt loop and the clip stops mattering.

Eight inches of plier is a lot of tool until a fish has swallowed a hook past the bend and you need to get behind it without putting your knuckles near the teeth. The extra length is why the FLISSA is here: the jaws reach where a 6 1/2-inch pair simply cannot, and the hooked nose gives you a lever for opening split rings without hunting for a second tool.

The build is the part we rate most highly. The jaw is titanium 6Al-4V, the body is anodized aluminum, and the blades are tungsten carbide, so the jaw and body are not the parts you will find corroding after a week of tidal fishing. On braid the blades leave a clean end rather than the fuzzy one you get from a chewed cut, and the safety lock keeps the jaws closed in the sheath between fish.

It is also the easiest of these to use with cold, wet hands: the handles are broad and the lock tab is big enough to find by feel. What you trade is size. Eight inches takes up real room in a vest pocket, and on a kayak it is more tool than you need for small fish. If your fishing is saltwater and your hooks run deep, that is a trade worth making every time.

Most pliers in this guide are spring-loaded. The SAMSFX is not, and that is the whole idea: a thumb switch lets you open and close the jaws freely, park them at any width, and lock them shut, with no spring to fatigue and nothing snapping at your fingers while you thread a knot. We found the switch easy to work one-handed, and it is the reason this pair suits fly anglers and anyone who ties leaders on the water.

The cutter is replaceable, which no other plier here offers: when the tungsten carbide blade dulls you swap it instead of retiring the tool. The package adds a knot-tying tool and a steel-wire coiled lanyard with a molded sheath, and the anodized aluminum body keeps the weight down. Serrated jaws and the hooked nose cover hook removal and split rings.

Where it gives ground is the sheath. The pliers can slide free of it, so use the coiled lanyard rather than trusting the holster alone. Buy this one for the lock and the replaceable blade, and keep a spare cutter on hand if you trim braid every trip.

The Rapala is the cheapest pair here, and the savings come out of the cutter. As a hook remover it is hard to fault: nickel-plated carbon steel, co-molded grips, and a slim 6 1/2-inch body that slides into a bluegill's mouth without a fight. Mono and fluorocarbon it cuts cleanly, and the grips stay comfortable through a long afternoon of unhooking fish.

Braid is where it stops. The blades skate and fray instead of slicing, which on a bass lake is most of the day, so plan on carrying a small braid cutter alongside it. If you already do, this is a lot of hook-removing tool for the least money in this group, and the slim profile is easier on small fish than the broad-jawed pliers most of us default to.

Changing a treble on a crankbait without a split-ring tool is a thumbnail-losing job. The X1 puts a small upturned hook at the jaw tip for exactly that, and it works: you catch the ring, spread it, roll the new hook on, and get back to casting. For lure tuners, that one detail is worth more than the cutter.

The aluminum handle hides its spring inside rather than running it along the outside of the pivot, which keeps the mechanism clear of line and grit, and the jaws open on their own between squeezes. The braid cutters are set into the handle, the stainless jaws are serrated, and the package includes a coiled lanyard and a sheath. It rides light enough on a vest that you forget it is there until a hook needs moving.

What keeps it out of the runner-up group is the money: it costs about what the SAMSFX and the Cutthroat do, and both of those bring something this one does not. Fish freshwater, swap trebles often, and want a genuine split-ring nose on a light pair, and it still earns its spot in the box.

If the Cutthroat is the all-rounder, the UTA II is the small-hook specialist. The jaw opening is listed at 1.3 inches and the nose is narrow, so it slides into a trout's mouth or works a size-10 hook without the jaws crowding each other, and the hooked tip still handles split rings when you need to change a lure.

The build is unusual for the money: a 2CR13 stainless jaw with a Teflon coating, an aluminum handle, and a return spring paired with a safety lock, so it opens on its own and still stays shut in the sheath. At 4.8 ounces it hangs from a vest all day without notice, and the lanyard is a PVC-sheathed steel wire rather than the elastic cord most of these use.

In the hand it feels the most compact of the group despite its length. The handle is slim, the spring is light, and the lock tab falls under your thumb without a look, which is the sort of thing you notice at dusk with a fish flopping in the net.

Our reservation is leverage, not fit. This is a light plier with a narrow jaw, and prying a deep hook instead of gripping the shank is how jaws like these twist. Use it for what it is built for, meaning small hooks, light line, and fish you can lift with one hand, and it is a pleasure. Hand it to someone winching a hook out of a big fish's throat and you are asking for a bent jaw.