Hook Removal - Safety Reminder

[Moses]

Back a week and a half, my brother and I are giving the boat a shakedown since I've been hitting the canal hard. We know there are pogies around so we snag a ton and start fishing them outside this harbor.

Its clear that we're making the bluefish quite happy. After tearing thru close to a dozen 'freshies', we start tossing some topwater. Put on a brand new lure, Rapala xrap, and let it fly. After the first twitch, instant explosion and I'm on.

As I get the fish to the boat I realize this lure has a front and rear hook and debate how to remove. Well, my hand was close and the damn fish freaked out. So at this point, I have an angry bluefish attached to the rear hook and the front hook is embedded within my hand.

My brother quickly subdues the fish and we remove it. Now what to do? Barb was not all the way thru so had to push/force it thru. Not fun and was amazed at how tough my hand/skin was. Needed to use my small pocket knife to work it through.

Once thru, couldn't locate my heavy duty pliers since last time out in the boat was family beach day. After getting back to fishing since they were working all around us, I finally located my pliers, cut the end and backed it out.

Surprisingly, it didn't bleed nor did it hurt too much.

Now lessons learned;
1. ALWAYS make sure you have pliers capable of cutting thru hooks.
2. Besides a first aid kit, make sure you have alcohol and a very sharp/sterilized knife/scalpel available.
3. Pay attention! In retrospect, I still don't know how this happened.

No long lasting damage and all is healed now.

[CanalGuy]

Ouch!

[jmonte45]

moses, that sucks, been there! I couldn't do nothing with mine, had to leave it in and go to the hospital, but I feel your pain. Mine hurt at first, but just ached after about 15 minutes. Was thinking of heading out into Plymouth myself, met you there once, pm mfinger.jpge how you did.

[JLH]

Ouch! Trebles and bluefish - bad combination

[JohnR]

Did that before , treble in one side of finger out other side, assisted by 5# bluefish still on plug at time

[saltfly]

good reason to grind off those barbs!OUCH!!

[Diggin Jiggin]

Mike, I knew I didn't want to read this thread, but something made me look anyways..

I hate to think about how many near misses I've had over the years. I've had hooks in me but nothing that had to be pushed thru and cut off....

[maddog2020]

OUCH - I hate looking at hook in body pictures. One of the reasons I never wanted to be a human doctor. I can butcher up game and not flinch ( it's dead and it is food). I can't remember where, but I saw one with hook in a guys EYE - freshwater so it wasn't as bad.

Manley Super Pliers (6.5" side cutters) - keep them heavily oiled. I can cut 5/0 VMC-4X w/ my weak hand. (I got my pair off Ebay few yrs ago - teflon coated, but handle rusts - remove the spring from handle) Those Knipex 8 inch LEVER ACTION MINI-BOLT CUTTER are great as well, but are longer and not made for saltwater environment (mail order only - no one local carries them).

Last time some fish got hooks into I was lucky it was just into my raincoat - no pliers with me and I had to cut myself free w/ pocket knife. Schoolie was fine and released. New coat with holes now - taught me to ALWAYS have pliers to bend down barbs. Heck - I should bend down ALL my barbs .... lol.

Remeber few yrs ago, a fisherman died from open due to a bluefish: flesh eating bacteria KILLS? That is scary stuff - don't ignore wounds when bluefish are involved! I can see why clammer hates bluefish now.

[Abodeon]

Had a hook in my hand a week ago. Went to hospital only a few blocks away. They didn't have a tool in the emergency room to cut a VMC hook. Had to call a friend to bring the proper cutting tool to the hospital. Still a headshaker to me.

[RI Swamp Yankee]

Similar story. About a month ago I managed to land a 5# bluefish that proceeded to imbed the front treble through my middle finger; but not quite all the way through. Just to add insult to injury, I hooked up on the infamous "last cast" as a thunderstorm rolled in just a little faster than anticipated. So there I am, firmly attached to a PO'd bluefish, lightning flashing all around when the bugger manages to take a bite out of a finger on my remaining good hand as I'm trying to get us both unhooked. With blood all over the place I finally got us unhooked and got back to the truck more or less in one piece. Got to the Westerly E/R feeling really dumb until I found out I was the third hook extraction of the day! For what it's worth, the Westerly Hospital E/R had a closet full of tools that would put most machine shops to shame! Small bolt cutters did the trick; quick irrigation and bandage and I was out of there in about 30 minutes tops.
All my bluefish poppers now have a single tail hook only; lesson learned.

[DaveS]

I love to catch fish with plugs, but trebles scare the crap outa me especially with a bluefish on the other end. Might sound mean, but I step on em to take the hooks out, I dont squash em, just a bit of pressure to hold em down. Barbless hooks are another way to go, and I have used them with success in the past.

[Jimmy Fee]

It is amazing how far that skin will stretch before the point actually makes it through. It looked like the scene from Alien when I had to get it pushed through in my palm. Had to push down on the sides to finally get it through.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

I always start the season by hoping that i dont get stuck with a blue attached. Its about the biggest fear i have while fishing.

[MikeToole]

On the list of things you make sure you do add keeping your tetanus shot up to date. Puncture wounds are the worse for tetanus, add in rust and fish guts to make it worse.

[flyben24]

had a similar incident a couple months ago.... surfcasting with no waders and just water shoes, hook up to a small striper and get it to the shore. Bend down to unhook it, and it starts flapping around... next thing i know the VMC treble is hooked good into my left ankle and the fish keeps flapping , after getting the hook off the plug, and releasing the fish, it was a 3/4 mile walk back to the truck with a new peircing, then straight to the E.R.