View Full Version : getting stabbed by dorsal fin spike


american spirit
09-17-2012, 03:17 PM
striper stabbed my finger yesterday. i've seen these really bad mycobacerium marinum infections in my hospital by fish spike injuries. surgical debridement needed and iv antibiotics. anyone get spiked when cleaning a fish and have it resolve on it's own?

Piscator
09-17-2012, 03:20 PM
striper stabbed my finger yesterday. i've seen these really bad mycobacerium marinum infections in my hospital by fish spike injuries. surgical debridement needed and iv antibiotics. anyone get spiked when cleaning a fish and have it resolve on it's own?

Keepereeper had a nice deep one stick him in the meat of the palm this spring while we fished one weekend. It got swollen instantly and he said it hurt like hell. A bunch of beers and a few hours sleep and he was fine the next day. Every case is different though
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numbskull
09-17-2012, 03:27 PM
I've been stabbed numerous times and except for memory loss and general ugliness I'm fine.

The classic is putting one through your boot into your foot and ending up with a boot full of blood. Done that a few times using the foot to slide a fish deeper in the surf.

zacs
09-17-2012, 03:29 PM
s anyone get spiked when cleaning a fish and have it resolve on it's own?

many times... in fact, i've been stuck several times and never had any issue other than some pain for a day or two.

now i got stuck with a bull briar on the eye lid and that infected like a son of a bitch and my eyelid blew up to epic proportions....

so who knows how these infections take hold...

Nebe
09-17-2012, 03:42 PM
Have your girlfriend pee on it
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Justfishin'
09-17-2012, 03:46 PM
If you flushed it well (hard to do with a puncture) and applied some antibacterial right away you should be good. I've been stuck lots of times too, but the only one that got moderately infected was one that broke off and I had it in my hand over a day.

rizzo
09-17-2012, 03:46 PM
Had it happen, no issues. One time got stuck by a rotten bunker bone piece and still okay, except it got a little infected. I heard that people that get the wierd flesh eating bacteria dont have an immunity to it - can anyone confirm this?

PRBuzz
09-17-2012, 03:51 PM
It's the scup dorsal fins that you have to be careful of!:rotf2:

WoodyCT
09-17-2012, 04:13 PM
Working on the charter boat 20 years ago I had one slide across the deck and stick a spine through the toe of my white Red Ball boot, right under my big toe nail.

Ouch, but no fish poisoning.
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Sea Dangles
09-17-2012, 07:57 PM
Got a nasty infection from a black sea bass this year.Tried home surgery multiple times,I was squeezing rotten smelling mashed potatoes out of it. Meds worked....

WESTPORTMAFIA
09-17-2012, 08:14 PM
Have been spiked a bunch with no problems except 2 years ago when a spine broke off in the top of my foot and disappeared. Had to have it surgically removed weeks later but no infection. I had to ask for an x-ray because the ER nurse didn't think the spine was in my foot. She said it (probably won't show up in the x-ray) I said too bad I know it's there and I want it x-rayed. Sure as Shhit it showed up. She still couldn't dig it out. They set me up with an appointment to see a ortho surgeon 6 weeks later? I said WTF? That's it? No antibiotics? Have you heard about fish poison? I couldn't believe it. She was going to send me packing with a spine in my foot with no x-ray and no antibiotics. I ended up leaving (after bitching and complaining) with heavy antibiotics and a same week appointment. Ended up with a full blown under anesthesia surgery for a FRIGGIN SPINE! My dad got a treble in his hand with a fish on and his hand was the size of a boxing glove the next day with a red line going up his arm. He got straightened out, but the infection spreads quick.

Jackbass
09-18-2012, 02:54 AM
Have been spiked a bunch with no problems except 2 years ago when a spine broke off in the top of my foot and disappeared. Had to have it surgically removed weeks later but no infection. I had to ask for an x-ray because the ER nurse didn't think the spine was in my foot. She said it (probably won't show up in the x-ray) I said too bad I know it's there and I want it x-rayed. Sure as Shhit it showed up. She still couldn't dig it out. They set me up with an appointment to see a ortho surgeon 6 weeks later? I said WTF? That's it? No antibiotics? Have you heard about fish poison? I couldn't believe it. She was going to send me packing with a spine in my foot with no x-ray and no antibiotics. I ended up leaving (after bitching and complaining) with heavy antibiotics and a same week appointment. Ended up with a full blown under anesthesia surgery for a FRIGGIN SPINE! My dad got a treble in his hand with a fish on and his hand was the size of a boxing glove the next day with a red line going up his arm. He got straightened out, but the infection spreads quick.

Same exact thing happened to a buddy of mine in the palm of his hand. He went to the ER once and his primary care doctor twice and they insisted there was no spine in his hand. First time he went his hand look like a balloon and they gave him antibiotics which brought down the swelling and eliminated infection. Eventually spine pushed its way back to the surface and he pulled it out with a razor knife.
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piemma
09-18-2012, 04:08 AM
My dad got a treble in his hand with a fish on and his hand was the size of a boxing glove the next day with a red line going up his arm. He got straightened out, but the infection spreads quick.

Same thing happened to He-Who-Cannot-be-mentioned. He went from a little puncture from a bass to the red line up his arm to the ER and 4 days in the hospital. Had a bad time with it.

Clammer
09-18-2012, 09:05 AM
I,ve been stabbed so many times I don,t even thing about it [[NOT SMART]
One of my fishing partners got spined in her finger over two weeks ago ..........
Not as bad as MR NO NAME > but two trips to the medic & now has another infection that doesn,t want to clear up & the doctor said that maybe because of the of the fish posion ..:confused:

SBASS1
09-18-2012, 10:48 AM
bleach it you'll be fine

FishermanTim
09-18-2012, 11:15 AM
I've been lucky that I don't get spined......of course I don't catch fish either, but that's not important. :biglaugh:

Seriously, if you remove the spine, flush the puncture with water or even just squeeze it so that it bleeds a little, you can clean out most infectious material.
Most cases of infection and blood poisoning occur when the wound is not treated properly from the start.

I haven't had the fortune of having a large hook find its mark on me, but I did have a size 8 treble hook find my pinky this spring.
Damn, that hook was sharp. Buried up to the bend!
I did a little field surgery (pliers and quick yank) and I was free!
I did remember to press the hook down to allow the barb to come out more easily, and I pack a first aid kit and after a couple of bandaids and some neosporin I was good to go.

Isn't it funny how we remember how to do things, like remove a hook, even if it hasn't been needed in decades?

bloocrab
09-18-2012, 06:17 PM
Got stabbed in the leg as well.

Got a tetanus shot just in case.

Healed fine though.

Backbeach Jake
09-18-2012, 07:52 PM
Mine are the through the boot , too. Most times I don't feel a thing . I know when I see a spot of blood on my sock.

Finaddict
09-18-2012, 09:34 PM
I have been spiked a few times, but no real issues, albeit once my hand swelled the the size of a softball in the soft tissue around the thumb.

A fishing buddy of mine down in Florida, when I lived down there - he got a catfish spine broke off into his finger while we were in the Everglades ... he is a dentist ... his finger swelled up so much that he couldn't bend it and it started to interfere with his work, so his father who is a dentist as well, and a fisherman, runs the practice that my friend is in ... his dad sat him down and cut open his finger to remove it, stitched it up and sent him back to work. No anesthesia or anything.