OCdockskipper

That's the first thing I thought. I'm surprised someone didn't roll up & start flippin' a jig on it...

That is what I did as a teenager, yanked a River Runt out of a tree into my upper arm.

A couple of weeks ago, I hooked myself for only the second time ever (the first was over 35 years ago). I typically am pretty cautious when handling fish caught with lures featuring multiple treble hooks, but I must have been a little sleepy when the 4th cast of the morning resulted in a bass inhaling my Pop-R. I brought him to the boat, I reached down & lipped him and started to lift him. As I did, he shook and drove one of the trebles into my left thumb. I pinned him down to stop him from moving, unbuttoned him & released him (I could swear I heard him giggling as he hit the water). I looked at my thumb expecting to see a bloody mess, but instead found the treble had slid between my thumbnail and the cuticle, past the barb of the hook. No blood and as I suddenly realized, no pain. I removed the treble hook from the lure and attempted to manipulate the hook back out. Unfortunately, the nail bed prohibited me from the "hook pop" trick for removing hooks embedded in more meaty parts. I could turn the hook 90 degrees in either direction, so that the point was either under the nail bed or pressed up against the outside of the thumb. I figured the best bet was to create an exit hole & pop it back through. As I thought about it more, I guessed popping it back through would make it bleed and cause some pain where I thumb the spool on my baitcaster. It wasn't even 6 am yet and I didn't want to ruin a whole day of fishing, so I made an executive decision. I cut the treble so that about a 1/2" of the hook was exposed through the nail. With that done, I had complete mobility with my thumb, no pain and a way to still remove the hook later. I stayed out on the water until about 3 pm with no effect on my casting or reeling, although I did land the rest of my fish left handed. When I got home, I started to manipulate what was left of the hook to poke it through, but chickened out. I drove over to an urgent care center, they numbed the thumb up and backed the hook out without damaging the nail bed. Once the hook was out, you couldn't tell one was ever in there. No blood, no entry mark, it was as if nothing had ever happened. There was a little swelling that evening from the trauma of backing the hook out, but by morning it was as good as new. The positive was that it renewed my focus to pay attention when landing fish with multiple trebles hanging out of their mouth. I know some folks look at this as a reason to smash barbs or not use trebles, but once every 35 years is a pretty fair track record, especially considering it was completely avoidable and only happened due to a moment of carelessness. Any one else have an interesting self hooking story? Here is what it looked like after I cut it and continued to fish.

I use the P-Line 100% Fluorocarbon as leaders on my spinning gear, 8lb on most and 15lb on my skipping rod. I haven't had any problems with knot strength at either the lure or connecting to the mainline (I use both Palomar & improved clinch knots for the lures with a Crazy Alberto to tie to the main line). I do add a drop of superglue to the latter, but it passes through the guides with no issues and doesn't get beat up at all in a days fishing. Then again, I am probably in the minority because I also use Berkley Nanofil as a mainline, a line that a lot of people hate. The lakes I fish don't have much heavy cover, so I am able to sacrifice supposed durability for castability

It sounds as if your grandparents will be staying with someone. If so, take a shot in the dark & ask that person if he has any friends or acquaintances who live in Canyon Lake. It is a private, gated community, but maybe they have a contact who would be willing to let you & your grandfather visit and fish. Who knows, they may even be willing to lend you a boat for the day. It isn't that large of a lake that you need a full sized bass boat and the place is loaded with docks, so even those unfamiliar with the lake can get action by focusing on this cover.

I used to keep track mentally during the day, broken down by lure. On days when junk fishing was the best method it was a pain - as I'm casting I'm repeating in my head "4,3,12,9,1,1,3". I found it distracting and I felt like I had OCD. So, I stopped by Staples & bought a small, cheap dry erase board that has a magnet on the back. I keep it next to me, stuck on something metal & just make a slash for every fish caught like a jail inmate keeping track of his days in the clink. Only problem was a windy day, when it blew out of the boat. With rain, I just put it in a zip-lock bag. Once I get home, I transfer the numbers along with other pertinent info to an Excel spreadsheet. It is indeed neat to look back after a few years to compare what worked and results.

Never caught a bullfrog on a hollow belly frog, but did catch one once on a Hula Popper, in frog pattern of course.

Hi everyone, I have visited this forum often over the past year and have decided to now join & participate. I live in Lake Forest, California, which is about 20 miles away from Disneyland from those of you unfamiliar with Southern California. I have fished my entire life and began focusing specifically on bass fishing when I was about 10. To give you an idea how long ago that was, when I joined B.A.S.S., the first issue of BASSMASTER magazine I received had Rick Clunn on the cover after winning his first Classic. I am able to get out once or twice a week, stay local for the most part and despite my competitive nature, don't have any interest in tournament fishing. I enjoy watching & learning from tournaments, but prefer the other benefits of being outdoors. Most of my fishing is done alone, but I do take my daughter or nephews out occasionally when they want to go. Thanks for having me, I look forward to interacting with everyone.