Well friends, it’s confession Time. I have reached another milestone of fly fishing. Tuesday afternoon I had to have a hook cut out by a doctor. Don’t get squeamish on me. Feel free to giggle &/or guffaw. My family and co-workers certainly have…
Last week I was tying a bunch of flies while wearing a pair of old tennis shoes. I bobbled a box of Mustad 3906b size 12s. (That detail proving my credentials as a fly-tyer. I didn’t just say, “Hooks”.) I thought that I had picked all of them up, but there was a Toe Terrorist lurking in my shoe. With guile and cunning, it didn’t strike right away. No, it waited until I put those shoes back on the next week. It had fallen to the toe of my shoe and got me on the big toe. Like “Ouchies”, man. Still, I am lucky. I STILL have the massive calluses on my big toes that were put there decades ago by combat boots. All that the hook could do was to perforate the skin and callous, even though it sank in as deep as the bend of the hook. (It stuck in parallel to the bottom of my foot.) Actually, it really didn’t hurt much, until I got all curious and started wiggling it around and trying to yank it out.
I got smart, secured it with a band-aid, and went to see my doctor. My doc is a fine man and fellow fly fisherman. I have put him on good water close to his house. He looked at my afflicted toe, and laughed. He sent me downstairs to see a podiatrist. The podiatrist laughed.
The podiatrist numbed my toe with 3 shots of pain killer. My feet, not being used to such drugs, went numb almost back to the heel. Better safe than sorry. The doc then cut through the callous and pulled the point of the hook out. He got a pair of surgical dikes and tried to cut the barb off of the hook. Now the podiatrist looks like an ex-(American)football player He is a big, burly man. He could NOT cut through the wire on that hook. He had to cut the darned hook out. (Note that it still doesn’t hurt, except when I step normally.)
So Dr. Fish, when somebody wants to tell you that Mustad hooks are too weak, direct them to me. I have ways of changing their minds… :twisted:
That would be funny except I have done it too. Luckily I stuck a barbless #14 all the way into the bottom of my foot. I gritted my teeth and easily pulled it out. Go barbless my man and then your credentials as a fly-tyer fly-fisher will have more credence.
OUCH, I know this is in my future, just hope I take the barb off before I drop it. I also keep a large magnet from a sewing shop around to sweep with when I drop hooks,
You can thank the good Lord that the hook went into your toe. If your wife had stepped on it or it had dropped into her shoe (stranger things have happened), we would be reading your post in another section of this site. Fly tying material for sale—Must Sell!. I’m glad that the pain only occurs when you walk normally. 8T
Maybe you could work out an endorsement deal with Mustad…
I’ve had luck removing hooks by “snatching”… doubling and looping a heavy piece of tippet around the shank, (or fly line for saltwater hooks), slipping it down to the bend, and yanking the doubled line with one hand while pressing down on the top of the shank.
The hook backs out of the hole it went in, and pressing down on the shank helps the barb stay in the original “wound channel”. So far it’s worked very well about 10 times over the years, yanking hooks out of arms, bellies, legs, feet, and one ear (don’t ask…).
It beats leaving the water for a hospital waiting room…especially if it’s only in your buddy.
Glad to hear you’re OK. And as 8thumbs observed, glad the marriage is intact.
I’ve had to self administer the ‘doubled tippet press the shank’ removal method twice over the years and each time in spite of the barb not being pinched down, the hooks backed right on out, no problem. It works. Debarbed or pinched down are so easy those impalements usually fall out.
8T, I’m a bachelor. That said, I am very glad that nobody else got stuck by me hook. That would have bothered me more than getting stuck myself.
Peregrine, I tried to yank it out. The callous seems to have yielded enough to let the hook in, but then closed back around it. The podiatrist tried several tricks before cutting it out. I didn’t go to the ER, just to see my GP. He sent me downstairs in his building to see the podiatrist.
Normally I mash down the barbs on hooks that I use. This one snuck (sneaked?) out of the box and avoided a rendezvous with the pliers. I wish that Mustad mde a barbless version of the 3906b, and several other models of their hooks.
Oh well. The doctor was very pleased with how well my toe was doing. He said that the stitches might come out early.
Like I said, feel free to laugh about it. I have certainly done so. But I have a new mantra now: 94845 (Mustad’s barbless hook).
BTW, I didn’t put this in the “Things Learned” area because I already knew better than to put hooks in my shoes… :oops:
EdD,
I have a VERY large magnet, with handle, that I bought at JoAnns Fabrics. It’s able to find even the little 28’s I like to use, amid the hair and feathers on my tying room floor. (I only vacuum when I can’t remember the color of the carpet)
That thing has saved many more days than I care to remember! Wish it worked for removing hooks from fingers, hands, foreheads (don’t ask), and trees!
Betty
Thanks for sharing the story Ed and I’m glad it wasn’t anything serious. Did the same thing last year but my hook was a size 22 so I just yanked it out.
A couple years back I had a guy sent me his needlenose pliers. They were broken in 2 and enclosed in a ziplock. The nore read that he got one of our hooks stuck in his vest and when he tried to cut it to remove it, the hook instead broke the pliers in half!
Ha ha! Three years ago i was fishing with a buddy and, sorry to say, i wasn’t much into fly fishing at the time. But one of my treble hooks went straight into my finger and i had to do the same thing at the hospital. Last year at camp i once again got a hook stuck in my finger after trying to pull it uot of the carpet. Beleive it or not it was the same exacat lure i hooked myself with two years earlier!
Clayton
P.S. Nothing has happened yet so i am off to a good start!
I feel your pain. Been stuck before too. :shock:
Have you seen the photo that was going under the heading " Why to go barbless?" or along that line.
There is some poor fellow lying on a gurney, anesthasized AND with what looks like a Luer Jensen salmon hook( about a #4) stuck in his eye.
Im tellin ya that it just flat freaked me out. Seven years as a combat engineer and Ive seen some realativly yucky stuff, eye injuries just really do me in!!
So what Im gettin at is ,
“It coulda been worse”.
(Like was mentioned earlier, your bride could have been involved .)
Just before Christmas last year, I did the same thing with a #6 Mustad 3665A. It had gone in my big toe and stuck IN THE BONE! There was no way I could pull it put, despite many painful attempts. I swallowed my pride (my wife woke up and freaked!) and I let the Mrs. take me to the Emergency Room (unnecesary, but it kept her happy). The attending physician attempted to cut the hook, but was unable to. He had to physically cut the entire hook free from the tissue and remove the point manually from my toe bone. I still get ribbed when see any of my friends on staff there. The whole county heard about it!
Not only are Mustads tough, they are super SHARP!!!
Been stuck before too. :shock: