This FEB stuff and surf safety has a little extra meaning today to think about ways to improve the safety of how we fish and to lessen the likelyhood of something like that happening. Last night, Redlite and I were fishing in RI on some rocky bars (not saying any more than that
) when I was releasing a 5# bulefish caught on a Surf Howdy (caught several more bass with it though). As I popped one set of trebbles out of the fish and was working on the second, a wave came, the fish zigged instead of zagged and for the first time for me, I was seriously hooked in one of my fingers with the hook going deep inside one side of my finger and out the other. Fortunately the fish came off REAL quick. But Bernzy's Surf Howdy had probably caught its largest victim yet, me.
Neither Redlite or me had decent, hook cutting pliers with us and he hit up another guy and borrowed his. We cut off the hook and I pushed it back thru, cleaned the wound as much as I could and went fishing again.
I thought about several things, first, how well my Lip Grip works when its in the truck, second, what works better than a Lip Grip when not in the truck. Third, getting a decent pair of hook cutting pliers, And lastly, some kind of light, flexible but somewhat impenetrable gloves (are there such a thing?).
When you are ass deep on a rocky bar far from shore in some moderate wave action, it's easy to stick yourself with a plug.
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