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.