Funny that this came up...…….
I bought a pair of Dr. Slick Pisces design pliers about 5 or 6 years ago. I've finally taken to leaving them on my wader belt constantly and yesterday used them often to pluck hooks from the very toothy jaws of salmon while I desperately searched for some trout.
I can't say how they would hold up to salt water use but they have been fine for me here. I believe I paid a Princely sum of $20.00 for them and they appear to be worth 20 bucks. I avoid cutting anything that could damage the (removeable / replaceable) cutting edges like hook shanks and so forth so mine remain sharp enough to cut mono if I want to.
I could no doubt buy whatever I chose in the high end fishing pliers market place but seriously? My nippers are as far into the realm of super high priced accessories as I will venture. And by the way, I like the Simms better than the Abel nipper
I did however use the Abel cutters yesterday after leaving the Simms on my tying bench at home.
I can appreciate the fancy high end pliers, they do look cool and I'm sure they work just fine but me? I'm the kind of guy who may be able to own the Dr. Slicks until I can't wade anymore but would probably find an ingenious way to lose a $200.00 pair in no time at all
BTW. Gotta love those trout, I'd say that about 75% of those I catch somehow unhook themselves as soon as I get them into my net. I don't have an explanation for how it happens other than maybe the net bag. I use one of those Fishpond / Nomad boat nets with the clear rubber bag. A bunch of the trout shed the hook in the net, weird huh?
But what about the 25% that don't shed the hook in the net bag you wonder? I have to physically remove about 3/4's of them but the truly big ones seem to find a way to lose the hook while they are still 30 feet away