An addition to your boat tools

[whichwaysup]

From time to time, we talk about things to add to your boat equipment.   Always great discussion.   This a.m., I had a little reminder of something to make sure you might want to add to your list.   

I caught a nice big bluefish this a.m. on topwater, and in my annoyance, I decided to just hoist him over the gunnel using the rod.   He was heavy enough to double the rod over, but not big enough to put it at risk of breaking.   Done it a thousand times.   Except, being a bluefish, the thing went nuts once it was above the water.    It spit the lure, which my doubled-over rod turned into a missile.   

Not sure how I got so lucky, but the hook of my (big) topwater found its way into my wrist and went in deep.   I mean, up to the bend in the hook, and the hooks on this thing are stout.   There was no way to remove it, so I got the joy of having to push the point back out of my skin.   No problem, being the tough guy I am, I only cried like a little girl for an hour or so, begging God to miraculously intervene from having to execute the mission.   There might have been a few expletives embedded in the prayer, which I understand probably made it less efficacious.

Getting the dull, rusty, fishy hook through my skin was only half the fun.   Turns out, none of the pliers we had on the boat were stout enough to cut through that hook shank.   You can probably imagine the joy of being the patient as your not-a-surgeon-for-a-good-reason buddy tries several pairs of pliers with all his shaky might see if one could finally cut the hook.    Don't feel badly for me, after another hour or two of sobbing and begging God to kill me I was fine.   

I'll probably contract tetanus, a flesh eating microbe, and a brain eating disease, and that's fine, but if I don't, next time I am on a boat, I'm gonna be bringing some serious wire cutters with me.   I mean, the kind that cut through thick-shanked hooks like buttah. 

 

[johnd]

Ouch.  had a little Ladyfish go crazy on me one morning.  Drove the boat home with left hand switching between wheel and throttle.  My bride refused to assist getting two sets of sharp treble hooks out of my right hand, though she was kind enough to drive me to ER.  A couple shots of Lidocane,  a big pair of rusty side cutters, a tetanus shot and an invoice.  Probably a good idea to put a set of real wire cutters on board.    

I didn't get tetanus or a flesh eating microbe.. though my wife suggests I already have a brain disease  (something about fishing).  

[MuddyBottomBluz]

If ya haven't been hooked then you haven't thrown enough of them!

  I still remember my first, 5th grade fishing at the canal. Had a big ol'e bread ball on going for that big ol'e oscar, put that rod behind my head and cast as hard as I could! The only problem was my right ear stopped the bread ball cold and I immediately felt a tug on my ear. As I am looking around everyone is staring at me, because I had a hook clean through my ear lobe. Went home and Mom was on the phone so she had to hang up to call dad and deal with the situation at hand. Well dad being an aircraft mechanic and a WWII vet he had the proper tools to address this situation only after he was able to focus after laughing so hard and get it cut and pull it through. 

  After all that my mom looks at me and said, good timing! I said what do you mean and she replied, and I'm sure many of you heard this growing up: That was your principle who called to talk about a few problems your having at school! Gulp  What did she say? Not much you came home with a fish hook in your ear so we didn't get a chance to talk! At that moment I realized there had to be a God! 

[whichwaysup]

Thats awesome!

[Big Dave]

Yikes!  Yes, I learned the hard way too (hard lesson are best, aren't they?).  Fishing solo in the Everglades National Park (100 miles from my house to the ramp at Flamingo, so that means getting out of bed at 0300., leaving at 0400, launching at 0600).  First cast of a top water lure with two sets of 4X treble hooks a big mangrove snapper eats the bait.  I reached over the gunnel to grab the fish when, of course, he went nuts and the treble hook went through my left index finger.  The fish is still hooked and so is my finger.   I couldn't reach my pliers, the fish is flapping all over the deck (embedding the hook even deeper in my finger), slinging blood all over me and the boat.  I finally ripped the lure from its mouth and threw the fish overboard.  I did not have wire cutters on board, so my only thought was to remove the hook from the lure and then cable tie it to my hand so I could continue fishing (after all, I had gotten out of bed at 0300, driven 100 miles to the Park, etc.).  I made a cast or two before realizing I could not continue and had to call it a day.  Stopped in Homestead at the ER and spent a couple of hours (and a couple thousand $'s).  Two young doc's almost killed me (had a reaction to morphine, which they injected for some reason) before a "seasoned" physician was able to remove it. What a day! Needless to say, I bought a high quality pair of cutters the next day and keep them on board.   

[Bamaskeet]

I’ve had similar experiences and carry a big pair of wire cutters in my go everywhere bag with my rain gear, Inreach, handheld radio and fish cleaning knives.

[Northfl]

Fishing a bass tournament when i was younger, we were throwing rattle traps at schooling bass. Buddy hooks one and right at the boat it threw the trap. Both hooks hung in my buddies calf. He calmly clipped the line and tied on another. 

I said you gonna do something with that??? He replied. We are on the fish and they are biting, will get to it when they quit biting. Fortunately they werent in deep so it was pretty simple removal. 

[bkh]

I added these to my boat for this very reason. My only prior need was from a three prong barracuda lure, and my cutters I had at the time couldn’t even get through that. I tested these on some heavy hooks and they work very well. Hope I never need them for that reason but I have them just in case. Good luck and add a bottle of bleach to the list too for cleaning the wound ASAP. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005EXO81K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[knotthereelworld]

Watch this video and learn the proper way to remove a fishing hook. Yes, it works, I've buried hooks in me and had them removed this way. 

Hook Removal

 

[Hutch03]

True that. When I was a kid accidentally hooked all three trebles in the back of my brothers head on the back cast while in a school of stripers. My old man pulled out a ball of string and weaved loops around hooks and pulled off the cleat. One yank and all came loose.  I was amazed at the time. 

[whichwaysup]

16 hours ago, knotthereelworld said:

Watch this video and learn the proper way to remove a fishing hook. Yes, it works, I've buried hooks in me and had them removed this way. 

Hook Removal

 

wow.  i am impressed with this video for so many reasons

[F1sh0n]

So no hook for me, however, my partner was trying to leader and gaff a tarpon in the keys.  The gaff ended up about a cm from his femur artery.  The good news is as he said at the mariners hospital the gaff was “never used”.

[triplec]

If you need another reason to carry a pair of cutters....sometimes it aint the hooks that getcha 👇🏼