Last year I was introducing chum fishing to my youngest son. I was trying not to get into his fishing too much (he was 14 and knew everything, of course). I hear a yell and look over to see him set the hook really hard. He pulls and POP, the hook comes back like it's on a mission. Whack! right next to his eye. My heart sank because it looked just like it hit him in the eyeball. Needless to say he wasn't quite so arrogant after that. He didn't appreciate the humor when I brought out the goggles next time we went.............

A few years ago while backtrolling Kwiks in the Hanford Reach I got a jet diver and K15 snagged on an underwater ledge. The line broke, and I told my buddy to watch for the diver to float up while I threw the kicker in reverse and backed down to it. Sure enough, up floated the jet diver. Then I saw it... bonus! The K15 had floated free also. I backed down to it, gripped the Kwikfish around the middle, and held it up to show it off. Suddenly I felt a huge yank and then the 25lb Maxima leader snapped (thankfully before my hand got pulled all the way down into the 8hp prop, still in reverse, which had sucked in the leader!) It took me a moment to notice that one tine of the front treble hook was now firmly planted into the base knuckle of my right index finger. Luckily there must not be many nerves there, since it didn't hurt as much as I expected... but it was still kind of disconcerting to see the ghost-white faces on my buddies. I was able to pull the hook straight back out partway, but the barb was stuck under the skin. There was no way it was going to push all the way through the other side; it had stopped when it hit bone. So I tried to talk my buddies into cutting the skin. No takers, so I had them sterilize a pocket knife with my lighter, and I left-handed cut a tiny "X" to get the barb out. A bandaid and one last pass backtrolling to settle my nerves, and we headed home fine. It healed in less than a week.

Lets just say my bro caught a large mouthed ass last year.... snagged it in the back of the head.

Curtis

Let me just say watch out for rampaging little kids. This was back when we still had the barn, so I was in kinder4garten or first grade. Dad was loading the boat for our upcoming trip. I had a rod to carry and I cranked down putting a large bend in the rod, andDad yelled out that the bend was bad for the rod! So I pulled out the chartreuse trebled plug from the ferrule and let go in order to take the pressure off the rod. My rod happened to be pointing at my Dad and when the plug came catapulting at his noggin he reached out and lined it right in the crutch between his thumb and pointer. I thought I was in for it as I could tell I caused him alot of pain, but he coolly snipped the hook and drove the barb the rest of the way through the meat of his hand with the scalely needlenose from his tackle box. I didn't tag him after that until he gave me my first bb gun. [Miss you Dad]

Let's just say my favorite "hooked"story involved 3 slightly (or more than slightly) inebriated fishermen, a nice warm summer day, a pair of gym shorts, a large triple-treble Rapala left on a boat seat, and one of the afore-mentioned actually sitting on it.

Glad it wasn't me either way; but I'm not sure who had it worse, the guy with hooks in his rear and his shorts down in the middle of the lake, or the one elected to do the up-close and personal removal!

Is that "Relentless"?...or maybe we should call him "Sits-on-Rapalas"!

In forty some years of fishing I've only impaled myself once. Last year at Neah bay we were jigging for bottom fish around Tatoosh island. We were catching a lot of smaller rockfish and I was getting tired of taking so much time getting the hooks out that I stopped and pinched the barbs and when I went to toss the jig over the side I managed to catch the meaty part of my thumb and the palm of my hand. The hook in the thumb went all the way thru along side the nail. Got very lucky cause they came right out but then if I had'nt stopped to pinch I probaly would'nt have impaled myself

Oh man. You folks have me in stitches (pun intended). Some funny storries - at your expense!

I've never been seriously impailed by a hook, but I did drive a fly through the back of my Grandpa's hand when I was about 11 years old. All the way through the meat.

Man, I felt horrible.

He didn't get upset, but he had me take out his pocket knife (razor sharp), and as he pulled up on the fly, he had me cut the back of his hand until the hook came out.

Man, feeling horrible doesn't even remotely describe what I felt at this point. Even though he passed away many years ago, I still can vividly recall that feeling.

To this day, I will almost always look to see what is behind me before casting.

Oh, and after doing some combat fishing for Reds on the Kenai, I am a firm believer in always wearing some impact resistant shades, if at all possible, while fishing. I never got hit, but came darn close 3 times!

This one happen a number of years ago at the mouth of the Lewis. We got a late start and arrived at the launch at 8:00am. We thought that we had missed the early bite but decided to go for it anyway we started to motor to our spot I saw Clancey to ask how the fishing was
and he said it was a bit slow that morning. I let my line out a started to work it back behind the boat and I felt the tap of a springer them bam fish on!! I cranked it to the boat fast to avoid Mr sealion got it in the net and put it the boat. The fish start to thrash and I told my fried to put his foot on the fish. Well he didn't use his foot he used his hand and the fish thrashed and he looked at me and turned pail and said look at this!!! It was a 3/0 Gami barried in the pad below his thumb all you could see was the eyelet. I asked him if he wanted to quit and go get it taken care of and he told me that he wanted me to do it !! So we beached the boat ot the sandy point Igot the needle nose pliers out and told him to gritt his teeth.I had to force the point and barb all the way. By the time I got the point and barb to stick out he was not looking to good!! I told him to gritt his teeth one last time then I cut thepoint and barb off the hook and pulled the hook out before he new it!! Then he said hand me a beer to keep the swelling down!! That day we made 3 more passes and limited and we wre on our way home by noon!!!!

I ve seen more than my fair share of horrifying hook ups of the human kind as a guide but there are two that stick with me most. Once on the salmon river in NY State I watched a gentleman reach down tail a fairly fresh run great lakes King only to hear an ear peircing scream and see the gentleman had apparently grabbed a rusted size 2 hook that someone had left in the kings tail. A common occurence in alot of great lakes rivers. The gentleman had picked the king of about 30 lbs up and then felt the hook in his hand at which he released his grip on the king which now was wildly thrashing about attached to the man by the hook buried in his hand. Not a pretty site. Ripped a large portion out of the gentlemans hand.
Another one occured while guiding clients on the delaware river a client in the front of the boat threw an errant cast and the line proceeded to cross my face and his buddies in the back of the boat. The line unbelievably wrapped around his head and the fly found its way between his glasses hooking him in the eyelid and coming back out the other side remarkably missing his eyeball.

Fish Hook

Description:
A fish hook can often be removed at home, if it's not in a tricky area. After removing the hook, it can be treated as you would any other puncture wound.

To remove a hook at home it must be:
AWAY from eyes, lips, ears, and fingernails and on a smooth flat area of skin

Treble (3-pronged) fish hook in the neck.




To remove the hook, wrap a strong twine around the curve of hook, right where it enters the skin. Make one loop around the hook (so the hook won't fly away when it's pulled out). Hold the string back in the direction OPPOSITE the fish line.

Push down on the shaft of the hook with your finger (this disengages the barb). Keep your finger pressing down firmly over the entire hook while you pull the string back quickly and strongly. The hook should pop right out.




After removal:
Clean the area with Betadine and bandage.

Watch for:
See the doctor if there is redness around the wound, red streaks, swelling, drainage, fever, tender bumps in the groin or armpit upsteam from the wound, or an unexplained increase in pain or tenderness.


Learn lession, and don't do it again!

Nice post CFM!

Excellent technique, and well illustrated.

Your photos also show exactly how and why a quick-release de-hooker (the kind we use on fish) works so well. Same principle and mechanics at work there.

As a kid, I was always drawn to the water and into it. We were fishing the Columbia in Canada right below the mountain. The last thing my mom said to me was " whatever you do, don't go on those logs!" She had a friend drown there and never really like me going. I had no intention of going onto those logs, 1/4 way out the river until I saw Grandpa on them. He wasn't falling off them and he was old so why would I? When he moved off the spot, I moved in. I was sure I'd get a nice Dolly in this prime spot. I go to make a huge cast and apparently forgot to open the bail. The hook hooked the log behing the one I was standing on and my huge cast propelled me into the icy fast Columbia. I must have yelled going down as when I bobbed up gasping at the cold, my dad and uncles were pulling me out. I knew I was busted, but it got worse. My dads fishing rod was in the river. I was more afraid of his rath over losing a rod than I was of that freezing water. I told him I'd jump back in and get it. Lucky for me, the hook was still in the log and they just pulled up on the line and the pole came in. They drove my freezing cold body back to the house and my mom took one look at me in disgust. "You went on those damn logs, didn't you?" I escaped my dads anger as he knew I'd get it from mom.

So, not a hooking me story, just hooking the log story.

That would truly be a sick hobby! :p

Long ago in a faraway place, well OK 35 years ago on Banks lake, my younger brother and I were fishing for catfish in the Devils Punchbowl or one of those other side ponds. I baited up the #4 Eagle Claw and set it near the can, picked up my rod and made what I though would be a cast of about 30 yards. Unbenownst to me, my brother had picked up my hook to stuff a few more worms on there. He got stuck but good!

I've been hooked bad a couple of times but the worse one I ever saw was one at the Hoodsport hatchery. I saw a guy take a buzz bomb in the face sinking the treble hook deep. Profuse bleeding and a trip in the ambulance.

My worst (and last..knock on wood) self-hookup occurred at Twanoh State park when I was 10 years old. Every year we would head down with various family members for a week long camp. At night, my little brother and I would fish for sand shark at the end of the mooring dock in the park. THERE ARE SOME DAMN BIG SHARKS IN HOOD CANAL!

We would catch bullhead for an hour, cut them in half to chum the water up, then started fishing the halves about 1 hour after dusk.
The water would be brimming with 4-7 foot sand sharks, and the were alot of fun to catch.
My basic setup was a steel cable leader to a tandem pair of 2/0 trebles. One one occasion I had about a six footer on the dock, carefully removing a treble from his mouth when he thrashed and hooked me with the other hook on the leader. Now I am in a big pickle with a thrashing, well hooked shark held down by one hand and my other hand hooked in my thumb with a barbed treble. My little brother was scared by the whole situation and couldnt help me remove the hook, so I begged him to keep the shark steady while I figured out what to do. In retrospect, the smartest thing to do would have been to cut the leader to stop the agitation from the shark, but we didnt think about that at the time. After we attracted some more shark into the area with my own blood spilling into the water for 5 minutes, we got the shark released and went back to camp to show Mom and Dad what had happened. I ended up going into a clinic in Belfair the next morning to have the hook removed. I still have a nice scar on my thumb from the thrashing shark.

Note to other fisherman, if you get hooked while a fish is one the line, Cut the line first! then deal with the hook!

Hey Sky-Guy, what is a "sand shark", especially the ones that lurk in Hood Canal?

I'm familar with dogfish, and 6-gills in our area, but have never heard of (or seen, to my knowledge) a "sand shark".

What dat?

You got the Fish Degree side in me curious now.

Parker- I dont't know the exact name of these guys, we just always called them Sand sharks after one of the local guys down there called them by that name. They are certainly not dogfish because they are on average much longer and larger, but look similar. You can see them cruising the shallows by the Twanoh state park boat lauch at night with a good flashlight, thier eyes light right up when they pass by. Now I'm curious too, maybe someone who lives down that way can tell us?

Hey Sky Guy, I caught my first fish in washington state down at Twonoh state park. A sand shark!!! They are actually dog fish but just seem to get really big. There are some exceptionally large skates in the Canal also. I think the environment is or at least used to be optimal for them. I have also seen a sturgeon in an estuary that was two feet longer than the boat I was in, a 14 foot aluminum boat. That humungous fish was just swimming on the top of the water and we pulled up right next to it. The next day I went back and caught a 7 1/2 footer on an 8 weight fly rod. Wooohoooo fish on!!!!

Huge sharks, Monster Sturgeon, maybe thats why all the bottom fish are gone in Hood Canal