Manley 6.5-inch Teflon Super Pliers

My friend, Oliver White, turned me onto these made-in-England pliers a number of years ago, when we were fishing for arapaima in the jungle in Guyana. I’m pretty sure Flip Pallot is who turned Oliver onto them before then, but I’m not 100% sure on that.

The bottom line is that I went out and bought a pair for less than a hundred bucks, and I’ve fished with them pretty much everywhere–shark fishing off California, redfish flats in Louisiana and South Carolina, Baja, Belize, Alaska, B.C., Saskatchewan for pike, Christmas Island and the South American jungle–for 10 years since, and I’m still using the same cutting blades.

Not one element has failed, and that’s after a decade of 40-pound fluorocarbon, wire leaders, shock tippets, smashing down barbs, dislodging hooks–all of it. I also carry them in my drift boat when I’m not on a saltwater trip, just in case I need pliers with some real purchase (grip) and smash power.

They’re teflon-coated, salt-resistant, with vinyl grips (optional), and they are spring loaded, at this size (6.5-inches), so they snap back into form. 

I had to noodle around to customize them a bit for what I wanted: The little sheath they come with is pretty basic, so my pal John Perizzolo, who invented the “Hemo Holster,” and makes high end pistol holsters, made me a perfect leather sheath. I also added a tether.

The true appeal of the Manley pliers is that they have parallel jaws–not “V-pinching,” like a pair of scissors–so they smash evenly, and the contact area, for holding lines, etc. is longer than most. They also have a jaw groove that makes it easy to seat hooks for bending gaps, or anything else you can think of.

The cutters are robust and powerful, easy to see and simple to operate on the fly. They work great on heavy-duty fluorocarbon, wire leaders, even saltwater hooks.

The drawbacks are they aren’t “needle-nosed,” so if you need to probe deep into the gullet of a toothy fish to dislodge a fly, or lure, watch your fingers. I also bought a smaller size without the spring in the grips, thinking the mini version would be good for trout fishing, but without a bounce-back spring, they’re virtually useless. 

Go with the large size (6.5-inches), but stick with the basic original design, and don’t shove them down the mouth of a shark, barracuda, pike or payara, and you’ll be fine. And you’ll save about $200 on some designer pliers that won’t last as long, or at least you’ll have to replace the cutting blades after a few seasons in the salt.