Hooking Yourself

[OCdockskipper]

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.

[scaleface]

I only did it once. Crankbait came flying back after an attempt to unsnag it . I was able to push it through and clip it.

[Bankbeater]

 

[Ski]

4 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

Pop-R

Mine was a Pop-R also

[frogflogger]

Part of the job - you fish with lures you're gonna get hooked

[the reel ess]

Knock wood, I have never driven a hook all the way past the bard into my flesh. I'm 45 and have been fishing since I was maybe 8. I count my lucky stars and I'm sure it can still happen though.

[WIGuide]

Not self hooking story, but I was fishing with a few friends when one of them landed a bass and when he lipped it to unhook it, he just picked it straight up without applying any pressure to the jaw basically inviting the bass to flop. Anyway within a few seconds he was attached to the bass. One of the treble hooks had 1 point embedded in his thumb, and another point of the same hook in his middle finger. Both were in way past the barb. With us all being in our teens and not knowing how to get both out, we brought the boat back to the cabin hoping my dad could get it out. He knew the hook trick, but didn't think he could make it work since the same hook had multiple points in, and we didn't have anything to cut it with. 

My friend ended up taking a trip to urgent care. Remember he is only a teenager and already uncomfortable and freaking out because we didn't know how to get it out. When he gets to see the DR. he takes one look at it, looks my friend in the face and says "I can't get that out" and walks out of the room. Absolutely freaked my friend out. Apparently the DR was only joking, but it obviously didn't help the situation! haha They had to cut the hooks out of him and he ended up with stitches. 

[Ski]

Back in the day, I guess about 30 years ago, my wife was in the back of our Ranger and she hit me in the back of the head so hard with a 1/2 oz Rattle trap that it knocked me in the friggin lake and was attached to my scalp through my cap. Had to get that one surgically removed.

R/ Chris

[Jtrout]

My brother hooked me twice once in the calf with a spinnerbait and another in the back of my arm with a 5 inch swimbait it was thru my shirt and stuck in my arm past the barb my dad was freaking out lol he put pressure on the lure and cut my skin with a knife and it popped out luckily

[BassMaster17]

Never a self hook, but when i was younger and first getting into fishing, i was on the shoreline and wasn't paying attention to my surrounding all too well, my friend passed behind me at the same time that i was casting and SNAP! i thought i had snapped my 20 lb test and crankbait on the picnic table behind me, but instead it was the head of my friend. he had to get rushed to the hospital and have it removed, three hooks all past the barb, they had to make exit holes to push them out. i gave him a bunch of my lures as a "im sorry i hooked you in the head" but i still feel like crap about it to this day.

[OCdockskipper]

4 hours ago, scaleface said:

I only did it once. Crankbait came flying back after an attempt to unsnag it . I was able to push it through and clip it.

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

[awohlwend]

Attempting to tie on a squarebill in rough water last summer resulted in a treble hook in my shoulder. Worst part was it was through my shirt so I couldn't see what I was working with. Grabbed it with pliers and yanked. As you can see mine was a bit messy. Had to go home and get my tetanus shot updated since I hadn't had one since I was little. 

[fishwizzard]

About a month ago my little pair of cutting pliers went overboard and were lost.  I guess this is a good reminder to replace them asap!

I have never hooked myself past the barb yet, but I know it is coming. 

[cpvenom]

I was tying a bucktail Jig last summer, and managed to bury a heavy wire jig hook DEEP (almost to the hook bend) in the base of my pinky, while it was still in the vice. I was pinned to the table for a good 15 seconds as i quickly weighed my options. Using my free hand, I smacked my hooked hand, popping it free. The wound healed quickly, however, I was left with some nerve damage for about 6 months. 

[S. Sass]

  Not a hook story but I was cleaning fish with a nice razor sharp fillet knife about 7 or so years ago. Wife called me to come to the kitchen for something. So me covered in fish made a rash decision to stab the knife into the board I was cleaning the fish on.  

Bad bad idea. My hand covered in fish slid down the handle and blade. Cut my pinky right at the last joint where it bends to the bone. Anyway it barely bled and when opening my hand you could see the bone so plain. 

It apparently cut what ever pulls to make your finger bend because my pinky doesn't bend there anymore unless I grab it and bend it with my other hand. It has been this way now so long all the normal wrinkles in skin on my knuckles have disappeared. It's just smooth. 

[OCdockskipper]

43 minutes ago, S. Sass said:

  ...It has been this way now so long all the normal wrinkles in skin on my knuckles have disappeared. It's just smooth. 

It looks like you have inadvertently discovered an alternate to Botox.  If you can patent stabbing women in the forehead as a medical procedure, you will be rich!!

[Raul]

13 hours ago, OCdockskipper said:

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.

Hmmmmm, not impressed at all, try that one with a lively, feisty & jumpy 2 lber hanging from the other treble hook of the crank bait.

[OCdockskipper]

3 hours ago, Raul said:

Hmmmmm, not impressed at all, try that one with a lively, feisty & jumpy 2 lber hanging from the other treble hook of the crank bait.

That was what happened, his thrashing is what drove the hook down my nail.  He was on one treble & I was on the other, but fortunately I was able to pin him on the deck of the boat pretty quick to get him to stop moving.  These pictures were after the fact, I wasn't really interested in any photography while I was still attached to the fish.

[GetBent]

Not a fan of crankbaits lol had to cut the hook because the bass was flopping around too much. I pulled as hard as I could with pliers but stopped after I almost puked lol you can see the progress I made from the 2 pics. Dr tried pulling also and ended up cutting my finger enough for the hook to pop out. 

[frosty]

I got to cut a number 6 out of my nephews head when he was about 7, I must have told him a 100 times to stop walking with the hook swinging... I haven't seen him do it since, and he's 16 now. 

[FirstnameLastname]

Last year i was caught a rooster tail  in a tree branch. To get it I had to pull the tree branch down and bend it. The branch slipped from my hand and the two hook points I had in my hand sprung back up with it. Needless to say it hurt 

[BassThumb]

Last summer my dad had a flopping northern pike put a KVD 2.5 treble right in his thumb knuckle. He couldn't even bend his finger. No way that was coming out. It cost him an urgency care clinic visit to get it surgically removed. $200 bill.

I've hooked myself a few times grabbing fish with Crankbaits in their mouths, and I was always able to easily rip them out with a needle nose, but his case was different. That was ugly. 

Interestingly, I've never been hooked by a bass, only a walleye, northern and channel cat, and I fish for bass 95% of the time. 

[Bluebasser86]

I've done it too many times, last time was a rattle trap in the side after I missed a fish and it came screaming back at me and stuck just back and below my armpit. Gardnerjigman was with me and he was able to push it through and cut the hook point so it could be backed out, you can see the threads from my shirt still stuck in the hook.

My dad got a good one the very first fish he ever caught with a Vision 110 last spring, which happened to be a flopping, slimy trout.

[Jaderose]

Yep...last year.  Rat-L-Trap with a 2 lb'er hooked on the other treble.  Couldn't get it out and had to go to the ER.  Now I wear I wear a Kevlar Knife glove on my left hand when I'm throwing trebles.  A buddy made fun of me but I couldn't care less.  That was an expensive, painful bass.

[Jar11591]

Last year, I had a rod leaning on the side of the boat with a senko dangling in the water while I tied a crankbait on to another rod. Rapala DT-6 to be exact. A bass came up and grabbed the dangling senko and almost took the rod with it. I panicked and reached to save the rod, and somehow ended up with a hook from the DT-6 in my thumb.  


I gave it a few tugs, realized it was going to take some work and decided to ignore it and keep fishing, as the previous 2 days had been ON FIRE. After a few minutes I started to get dizzy, and I knew I couldn't fish through it so we decided to head in to take care of the hook in my thumb. My buddy and I wrenched on that hook for an hour with no luck. We tried to push it through to cut the barb, we tried to rip it out....nothing was working and it hurt like hell! I finally relented and went to urgent care. It even took the nurse about 20 minutes of working on my numbed-up thumb before it came loose. The worst part of the whole ordeal for me was the missed fishing day. It was the start of day 3 of what had been an incredible stretch of fishing. What could have been....