View Full Version : Be Carefull handling fish


eelman
05-13-2007, 07:17 PM
I caught so many the past few days:hihi: I ended up with fish poisning..Nasty, they had to slice my finger wide open in the Er , the swelling was intense! I will now wear gloves to handle all my fish..You dont want this! I was lucky I went in time for them to stop the progress (I hope), if it wasnt for my wife, I would have done nothing and figure it would have gone away on its own..Stupid but lucky I guess. Go back wednsday to see a plastic surgeon who will sew up the open wound...Hurts like hell...Be carefull...


http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y219/#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&/finger003.jpg

justplugit
05-13-2007, 07:25 PM
Ouch!

Bill, did you have an open cut on your hand while handling, or cleaning?

Goose
05-13-2007, 08:35 PM
That sux. Funny you mentioned gloves I'm thinking the same thing. I've tried but never been able to get the feel for using gloves, maybe I just haven't tried enough of them. My hands are all jacked up too, my hands have many cuts & pricks by spins and hooks and they are red and swollen and my palms are a little clammy & sticky even after washing'um,,,because I go through this once in a while I don't think its fish poisoning though but it is unpleasant. Funny I was about to start a thread on gloves. What kinda gloves you have in mind?

Nothin like a good wife huh?

jim sylvester
05-13-2007, 09:02 PM
bill

you should be thankful your nails are well manicured:usd:

sorry to hear about your finger...I guess its good in a way because you were on fish

good luck with the plastic surgeon

thanks ;)

fishaholic18
05-13-2007, 09:14 PM
Guess it's my turn to bring you ice coffee's now huh?:scream:
I told you that you should have just had it amputated, you never use that finger anyway...:rotf3:
I'll be over in the morning to see the gash.
Get well :soon:

eelman
05-13-2007, 09:18 PM
That sux. Funny you mentioned gloves I'm thinking the same thing. I've tried but never been able to get the feel for using gloves, maybe I just haven't tried enough of them. My hands are all jacked up too, my hands have many cuts & pricks by spins and hooks and they are red and swollen and my palms are a little clammy & sticky even after washing'um,,,because I go through this once in a while I don't think its fish poisoning though but it is unpleasant. Funny I was about to start a thread on gloves. What kinda gloves you have in mind?

Nothin like a good wife huh?

I dont know on the gloves yet tony, I am going to look around, one thing is for sure, I think myself and others have dodged a bullet for a long time...I will never handle fish without them again...I get all kinds of cuts and nicks and spines in my hands, never had a problem before...Not this time...I may use what the mechanics use. Doc said if all goes well I may be back to fishing by Friday..with gloved hands of course!

eelman
05-13-2007, 09:23 PM
bill

you should be thankful your nails are well manicured:usd:

sorry to hear about your finger...I guess its good in a way because you were on fish

good luck with the plastic surgeon

thanks ;)


Jim I was surprised at having to see a plastic surgeon? to be honest I could care less what my finger ends up looking like...my main concern is this infection going away, they were confident that it will and that I caught it in time...Anyway, to everyone, Just be carefull it could happen at anytime !

fishaholic18
05-13-2007, 09:25 PM
Was this the fish that did it?

eelman
05-13-2007, 09:30 PM
Was this the fish that did it?

Thats the one dave! Medium Coffee Coolata...with whiped cream....around 9am..I have to take a ride to Gansett to get some stuff for my lobster traps...If your up for the ride...ok see you tommorow:kewl:

Joe
05-13-2007, 09:48 PM
Dat's a lot a fish...

Clammer
05-13-2007, 09:49 PM
take up GOLF ya f #$%^&*() wimp :fishslap:

fishaholic18
05-13-2007, 09:58 PM
take up GOLF ya f #$%^&*() wimp :fishslap:
E/M & F18 RULE!!

eelman
05-13-2007, 10:21 PM
take up GOLF ya f #$%^&*() wimp :fishslap:

why, why, why...do you always pick on the ones you love.........:whackin: :whackin:

Go get a water pump already.....

Clammer
05-13-2007, 10:32 PM
And to think I was nice to you //last night F-18 >>>>>>> even went into hard labor to get you the freshest from the bay ;;

when Are {WE} gonna repair ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL my minor problems >?????????????????? :uhuh:

fishaholic18
05-13-2007, 10:51 PM
And to think I was nice to you //last night F-18 >>>>>>> even went into hard labor to get you the freshest from the bay ;;

when Are {WE} gonna repair ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL my minor problems >?????????????????? :uhuh:

Pull the ^%$#@ boat already, my brain and Billy's one hand and we'll get it done...You may have to actually do some work too though..:fishslap:

Clammer
05-13-2007, 11:12 PM
I,ll f $%^&*( that up ><>


getting closer to pay time :fishslap:

fishaholic18
05-15-2007, 07:02 AM
I,ll f $%^&*( that up ><>


getting closer to pay time :fishslap:

SW to 40 today..Sloppy tomorrow...Pull it.....

BaitNtackle
05-15-2007, 08:43 AM
I had a similar situation, but mine required surgery!
A piece of the striped ones dorsal/ punctured my wrist, was killing for a week. Finally went to the ER and got an X Ray piece of dorsal had punctured and broken off in my wrist , couldn't dig it out after an hour of digging, so needed to go in for surgery with special light to find it...gimme a break! They couldn't believe that after a week it was not infected. Guess I have a good imune system. :)

Swimmer
05-15-2007, 09:36 AM
You hear this story quite often, but the picture kind of drives it home. Hope all is well Bill.

parker23
05-15-2007, 06:20 PM
Sh#$%t,
I got a stuck a by a little dorsal fin on Sat.am. Still hurts and is ooooozing stuff. Going for a yearly physical on Thursday, ask Doc what's up?

Joe
05-15-2007, 06:27 PM
Nah....don't mention it...what's the worst that could happen?
It's like the major equiptment failures ya read about on the web...Sure things blow up, and sure people get fish poisioning...especially when the guy is a psycho (nothing personal #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&) who spends 16 hours a day fishing....Anything that can go wrong will go wrong when you are fishing as much as ten men...

Raven
05-15-2007, 07:32 PM
i got dorsal finned in the wrist and did nothing about it for 3 weeks....
then my neighbor who was a fish cutter saw a purple vein on my arm
as the poison marched it's way to my heart...
and zoom !!!! off i went to the doc's...
just in the nick of time....


pays to slow down and be careful...

RIJIMMY
05-15-2007, 09:39 PM
sometimes I think Im better off not coming to this site....now another thing to worry about....

get well sooon #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&

Slingah
05-15-2007, 10:20 PM
icky:yak6:
good thing u got it right away bill

Flaptail
05-16-2007, 05:28 AM
In my youth as a dedicated eel and bait fisherman I discovered that icky things can happen by getting scraped going down a basses mouth for the hook and eel or whatever and/or getting sliced opened as I was trying to dislodge a hook while the bass wiggles and shimmys to get free itself.

I use a simple solution. You have to have a touch of sado-masichism in your blood but it works. In season I keep a large (I mean LARGE) bottle of hydrogen peroxide by the kitchen sink with a small scrub brush with stiff bristles.

Upon returning home I go to the sink and under luke warm water I scrub any wound until it is open and bleeding again. Sometimes this is many abrasions and cuts if the fishing was good. Then I pour the HP all over it and let it foam away. The pain goes away ( actually just kind of subsides a little) in about 20 minutes and voila, no sh!t growing in there.

I also keep a real good first aid kit in the truck and skiff and if the bleeding is good I treat it right away. After being spined in the hands, knees and leg and having to deal with that infection I take no chances and yes I wear fingerless gloves.:uhuh:

MrHunters
05-16-2007, 07:05 AM
back to the what kind of gloves question.

do you need waterproof gloves or just something that will stop the puncture?

fishaholic18
05-16-2007, 07:22 AM
back to the what kind of gloves question.

do you need waterproof gloves or just something that will stop the puncture?Chain Mail..:rotf2:

Ed B
05-16-2007, 08:27 AM
Back in college I used to spend the summers working and fishing on the Cape. Somewhere between fishing and my job as a fish-packer I stuck myself with a striped bass spine which I didn't even notice and got the fish poisoning infection. The infection like #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^& says hurts like hell and on me after it festered on one of my fingers for a couple of days, a red line and the pain traveled in a short time from my finger all the way up my arm and to my torso. I could not even lift my arm. I went to the local health clinic and the doctor said I was about an hour or two away from needing a blood transfusion. He gave me a prescription for penicillin and told me to immediately walk right across the street to the pharmacy and get it filled and take the prescribed dosage.

The penicillin worked and about two days later I was back to what passes for normal. But this is what I learned.

- The slime on the striped bass is one of the more infectious of all the fishes that we handle in the normal course of fishing around here. (That may be a little anecdotal but it is what I have been told by people in the fish business)

-Like Flap says you should clean and disinfect your hands after every time you do a lot of fish handling. Make the cuts and punctures bleed and clean them is what we used to say in the packing room. It's common practice amoungst fish cutters and packers. I learned the hard way.

-Keep an eye on any infection that may crop up. They do hurt so there tough to ignore, but when fish poisoning starts to spread it happens fast so watch them.

- When your catching and unhooking fish it is better to take a little extra time and control what your doing than to be going nuts trying to go fast and count how many fish you can catch.

- Most importantly, the most essential piece of gear in my plug bag is a heavy leather work glove.

Ed

MakoMike
05-16-2007, 11:25 AM
Bill,
Speedy recovery. Was it anything out of the ordinary that caused it?

SirWinston
05-16-2007, 12:00 PM
Hope it's getting better, #^&#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&. That sucks...

Thinking about gloves as well - talked to Jim White earlier this year and also trying to get my head around what little info there is about mycobacteriosis (been seeing a number of the schoolies I've caught with lesions and nodules). I'm wondering if the slice/puncture resistant glove that is used in the food industry (and good for filleting) would work. If may be a lot of grief either trying to wear it all the time or put it on when landing a fish.....

At the moment I'm leaning toward using my (Berkley) lip gripper and pliers a lot more, and I have that large bottle of hydrogen peroxide in the car for a prelim wash-down when I stop fishing. Washing hands when home as well.

All the best and hope that you're back to fishing soon.

MarshCappa
05-16-2007, 12:27 PM
This is an interesting thread. Very educational. This season new in my bag is a boga grip and hook remover. I busted it out this season on my buddies boat and he was kidding me about it. He had his hand lodged in the bass's mouth and strugling to get the hook out. I lip griped him and took the hook out in about 5 seconds. A quick measure and then back in the drink. He was amazed and said he needed to get those items in his bag. With these 2 items I shouldn't really need gloves on the boat but I always use them when I fillet.

MrHunters
05-16-2007, 12:52 PM
what's kind of sad about all this is, to me it takes away some of the experience. I like holding the fish in my hands, getting stuck every now and again etc etc, feeling the fish revive right before i let it go.Its all part of the experience to me that seems like it might one day be more dangerous than what its worth.

Pete_G
05-16-2007, 01:05 PM
Bill,
Speedy recovery. Was it anything out of the ordinary that caused it?

Maybe the fact that I've seen cleaner water in a sewage treatment plant then what is currently in the Bay is issue...

eelman
05-20-2007, 05:43 PM
For the most part its all better now, I will wear gloves from now on! Thanks Guys

parker23
05-20-2007, 06:22 PM
Doctor put me antibiotics on Thursday. 15 days due to a dorsal fin in the leg. Still hurts, but the oozing has stopped. I think I got mad-striped disease. Makes me crazy, fish have taken over my brain.

eelman
05-21-2007, 06:53 AM
Its nothing to fool around with bruce!

zimmy
05-21-2007, 09:43 AM
Put alcohol wipes in your bag and use them immediately on every nick and scrape. Definately nothing to mess with.