There has been a little too much drama in my fishing life the last month. About 3 weeks back I was down on the Chattahoochee in Suwanee, GA having a really good afternoon [for me anyway] with 7 or 8 trout landed, most of a size 14 Adams and a black ant underneath. I have start carrying two rods on this little ? mile float one with nymphs and one with dry flies. Coming through small rapids in my float tube the line got tangle on the rods. In the process of untangling the rod the Adams somehow ended up in my right thumb. Being on my on and right handed and simply not tough or dumb enough just to yank it out I got out my wire cutters (lesson number 1 ? always have wire cutters) cut off the hook at the end of the shaft, leaving enough for the Dr. to get hold of the following day; got out my first aid kit and put a band aid over the hook (lesson number 2 ? always have a first aid kit with band aids). Float on down to my pickup catching another fish on the way.
The following week fishing with a couple of friends on a longer float I stopped about a ? mile about the scene of the above story to talk with Mother Nature about a bird dog. After the discussion about the pointer I was easing back into the river using a 2 ? in. limb for a balance point when it snapped. I lost my balance went head first backward over my tuber into the river with my feet caught in the float tube. Obviously, I survived with no real personal damage; don’t count the Blackberry and Camera. Had it been necessary I was wearing a manual inflation PFD, but got my head above my feet without pulling the activation cord, although it crossed my mind. Lesson here is the PFD, good idea to have it on. I dumped the water out of my waders, wrung out my wool and silk socks, put on a rain jacket to retain upper body heat. I was pretty comfortable for another 3 hours and caught 6 or 7 trout.
, I am 62 years young and only had 1 other fish hook in my hand, I was due, and luckily I was also prepared. I could have been in a remote area with the band aid over the hook I could have made it a few days. Without the PFD I may have had a tendency to panic. Just because you have gone for years without an incident just means you are due. Be careful and be prepared.
I caught a hook in my thumb once in the back country of New Mexico. I had hiked in about 5 miles off the nearest road and down into a canyon about 2000 ft deep. I didn’t want to cut my trip short so I decided to just pull it back out (at the time it seemed like a better idea than pushing it on through to expose the barb and then cutting it off) Any way I pushed back on the hook to disengage as much of the barb as possible and then yanked backward with a big grunt and yelp. The hook came out but i nearly fainted. I had to sit down and compose myself for about ten minutes before i could continue fishing. (I had some antibiotic in my pack and doused the woud and it didn’t give me any trouble).
Two very good posts outlining why you should go barbless and take your safety gear with you.
I went to my first fish in without a life preserver , didn’t need one cause I didn’t intend to wade. Jumped off a very large flat rock down about a foot onto another very flat rock that went down to the rivers edge 10 feet away and near the rapids. I tripped during the jump. There I was, heading for the rapids and off balance. I did the only thing I could do. I let go of my rod and my fishin gear, then dropped onto the rock. Banged up my knee and scraped the skin off of my hands. I Missed going in by about a foot or so. My bag with at least $300. worth of gear skidded to the waters edge and I barely save it.
I would have been in very serious trouble In that ice cold rushing water. Its a toss up whether or not I’d have made it.
Now I go no where without my trusty Inflatable fishing vest on. The new suspender types are comfortable to wear and afford a good deal of safety.
I Didn’t bother to take my wading staff with me last year, fell and broke my arm. Ruined the last 3 days of the fish in by being too lazy to take it with me. Also wasn’t wearing the proper boots on the wet slippery rocks.
Your gear does you no good if it is sitting at home while you are out there drowning on the river.
I do safety consulting for a living; I start off at lot of training with the question “what usually happens when you do something unsafe?” The usual answer is “You get hurt”, the correct answer is “You usually get away with it”, which reinforces the belief you can do it again. But if you repeat the same act often enough you eventually have an accident. We all do them intentionally or accidentally, just not thinking. Be as safe as possible as often as you can.
Just a thought if I ever get a hook in the same position and have someone with me, they are going to have to quickly poke it through. The shot to kill the pain hurt as much as pushing it through quickly would have. I tried the line around the bend of the hook, push down and pull back trick. It doesn’t work with just one hand. I have been giving that barbless hook idea some thought.
Some of my friend suggested a video of me going head first backwards into the "Hooch might have been worth $10,000 of the AFV TV show.
Hey Uncle Jess, glad you made it out O.K., it could have been much worse, you could have caught no fish!
Just as an aside, I recently read that if you get a hook in you the LAST thing to try is to push it through and break the barb off. This is because you have no idea what may be in the way of pushing it through. There could easily be a nerve in the way and you do not want to hook a nerve.
Sounds like the best option is the push down on the eye and pull back on the bend with a loop of line, or if you cant do that break the hook and go see the doc.
All the best.
Mike.
Yep, twice had barbed hooks in my fingers, first time was a treble hook on a bass lure and had to have it pushed thru and the barb cut off, this was excruciatingly painful. Second time I was on my own fly fishing and the hook went into the tip of my left index finger. I used my forceps to push the point thru and then sqash the barb this time not as painfull but lesson learn’t always flatten the barb, either completely or enough to leave a hump without a sharp edge.
