fish with spikes and teeth

I am new to fishing, I am intimidated by fish with spikes and teeth. I
was struck by pointy fin of a cat fish and it hurt for about 5 days. I
caught a nice saugeye, but a friend of mine took it off the hook. I
thought to myself, "I am not taken this thing off". I can see myself
getting my hand ripped open trying to hold and handle these fish. Does
anyone have basic advice on how to handle fish with spikes and teeth?


Thanks

Each fish has a different "best" method for handling and those methods
vary from person to person.
For myself, small Walleyes, Northern Pike, etc are handled easiest by
sliding my hand up their bodies and resting my fingers behind their
gill plates as they open their gills. This can injure large fish so
then I use one of the gripping fish scales made by Rapala and leave the
fish in the water while unhooking and only lift it for a picture. Make
sure you help support their weight with your off hand so you don't
injure them if you lift them up for a picture.

Just my $.02 worth. Hope it helps.

Gary

Just thought of another thing, buy yourself a good pair of needle-nose
pliers or forceps to assist in removing the hooks from the mouth of
toothy critters....