Never EVER forget your Pliers! KARMA stinks!

[WhiteMike1018]

If you would all take the time to read this post, I would like to share with you an interesting story about what has happened to me today, that might save you some time, frustration, and aggervation, and pain.

I would like to take you all back a few weeks ago, to when me and my friend Eddie were fishing a lake I sighted on Google Earth. Its actually a private lake, but we went numerous times anyway, just because this place is loaded to the gills with bass and all different types of species, including the ever present eastern chain pickerel. Crystal clear water due to the lake being about 1/2 covered with coontail.

When we were there the last time, the fish were on a feeding frenzy, in full pre-spawn mode, some were actually even on beds. To make a long story short we caught about 30 bass altogether including numerous other specied fish. But there was one fish I was determined to catch. Ive seen her all day sitting on her bed, she was about five pounds, maybe more. About 2 feet away from the bank protected by a little cove and an overhanging bush, I could see her perfectly through the crystal clear water, and with my polarized glasses. I tried for over an hour and a half. I threw every soft plastic I had at her and she wouldnt take it. In fact, not only wouldnt she take it, she didnt even look at it most of the time, not even a flare of the gills, or turn of the head. Its like this bass was almost a zombie.

Finally, I had enough. Something came over me, as if the New Jersey devil was walking nearby and I was under the effects of its Unholy Aura. I decided I was going to tie on a crankbait with a bullet weight, and snag hook this bass that ive been fishing for for almost 2 hours right in the lip. After about five tries I set the hook right into the bottom lip of the bass.  :-? trust me I felt bad, and it made a nice picture. The fish was only off bed for about 40 seconds if that, and was released in the same spot. She swam away,. But a half hour later she did return to bed.

Ok so, I made an unethical decesion..no biggie right? Believe me, I did feel bad, but I honestly didnt think I was hurting anything at all. In fact, that was the most cruel thing Ive ever done to any animal or things of that sort. Shows how much I love nature that even when I do somthing thats minorly unethical, I still feel down and in the blues.

So today, almost 2 weeks later. I decide to hit the spot of magic again. Before I left the house, i had everyhting checked off. My worm bag, phone, rod, wallet, tackle box, etc. OK. The only thing I didnt have were my pliers. I remembered Id lost them last time out, and couldnt find them. So iI left the house without them, without a pair. The funny thing is I actually tried going to the hardware store before I went to the lake, but it was way to early. CLOSED. While I was driving I thought to myself what it would be like removing a LC SAMMY 100 from the mouth of a 27 inch pickerel which are not uncommon there.

So finally I pull up in my car. Walk through the woods like I always do. Creep up the hill to the dam. The first thing I noticed was that the coontail had grown almost out of control. Most of the surface was covered with it. But there was a large portion of open water, and I knew that the fish would be out from under that mat at 5:30 in the morning feeding heavily on anything they could round up. So I set my gear down, tied on my sammy and made my first cast of the morning. I started wlaking the dog with my Sammy, back and forth and a fish blew up on it and missed. Excited as all get out, I waited a few seconds and started the retrieve again and this time it got nailed pretty hard. I held on tight and swung back. First fish of the day. When I got it closer I immediately knew it would be trouble, becuase it was about a 4 pound pickerel.

So here I am. Out in the middle of no mans land with a pickerel on my line, all 6 trebles in its mouth and no pliers.

This should be fun.....or shall it?  :-X

So after about 2 minutes of shaking around the fish was finally still. I knew it was time to go to work , if I were going to get this badboy out. So here we go, I get one treble free, (the back treble) and the front one still in the mouth.  She started shaking her head again. I knew I had to be extra careful here, because one wrong shake and that hook was going straight into my hand. So I waited a little longer, fish still in the water shaking, until it came to a stop. I figured this was my chance, and right when I went to put my hand back near the mouth.  Smack!!!!! She shook her head right into my hands direction and logged the one treble straight into the meaty spot of my ring finger.

So now it really starts to get bad. I have a fish on the front trble of the sammy. And the rear treble is logged into the bottom of my finger, where it meets the palm. I sat there in pain and confusion as the fish shook its head back and forth with the sammy still in my finger. Could things get any worse? The fish continued to try and shake free while the back treble of the sammy ripped through my skin and drove the hook deeper. Finally after aobut 2 minutes of excruciating pain, the fish somehow manged to shake free and swim away. Sammy still in my finger.

I knew there was no way I was getting this thing out alone. And the hospital was only 4 minutes away, and it was too deep, so i figured screw it. If its going to come out, it might as well come out and get treated the right way. PLus what if it got infected? I would have my finger or entire hand amputated and never beable to fish again simply because I did not have pliers handy.

Now I know this was sort of a freak accident. But could this somehow be a bad karma because i  snagged hooked that bass on the bed almost 2 weeks ago? Its almost like nature wanted revenge on me for fishing unethicly and possibly hurting the hatch. It is somthing I totally regret and I will never do it again. Ill throw plastics on that bed for 9 hours if i have to.

So to everyone out there fishing anytime soon my advice is this.

Never forget your pliers, especially if toothy fish like pike are present. They seem to never want to give up and have way too much agility and teeth for anyone to try and pry trebles of a spook or sammy out of its mouth, as well as any other crank or topwater.

Always keep an open mind to mother nature, and fish the right way. There are things out there that go on we have no clue about, especially karma, follow your gut instincts, and you will be a lot safer and more successful.

There were two gut instincts that could have prevented this accident.

1) I knew that snagging that fish in the mouth was not right, and I have learned from it, somthing was telling me at the time not to do it, to leave the fish alone

2) The pliers on the way to the lake. I tried stopping to get them but the store wasnt open. I shouldve kept looking for one that was, I would still be fishing right now, but instead im home and waiting to pickup an antibiotic prescription to control infection.

Another lesson learned in life, a never-ending journey.  8-)

Peace

-White Mike

[Chris at Tech]

Exact same thing happened to me while fishing the Manasquan Res a few years back.

In all my years of fishing, I have never actually landed a pickeral...until the day I had no pliers.  I got the fish up to the rip rap I was fishing from and as I was pondering how the heck I was gonna deal with it, the fish 'self-released'.  Thank goodness

[SPEEDBEAD.]

I am sure you had permission to be on the "private" lake as well....

:

A hook in the hand seems like you got off pretty easy....

[roadwarrior]

I am sure you had permission to be on the "private" lake as well....

:

[=Matt 5.0=]

Now I know this was sort of a freak accident. But could this somehow be a bad karma because i snagged hooked that bass on the bed almost 2 weeks ago?

Sounds like it to me.

[rdneckhntr]

I wouldve started off with the fish on the ground and my foot on its head...

[Guest avid]

Sounds to me like you felt guilty about sneaking into private property and snagging a big fish, so you punished your bad self with the hook in the hand.

Feel better now?

As far as pliers go, I recently posted about a bass I caught on a chug bug that took the bait deep and had treble hooks in the gills.

Putting pliers to the fragile gills is not recommended but if I would have mine with me there's a decent chance I could have gotten the plug out with less damage to the bass.

[Red]

if your fishing where toothy critters like pike/muskie/pickeral are present and apt to be cought, ya might wat to consider getting a pair of jaw spreaders for your box...they make life a whole lot easier

glad you learned your lesson!

Cliff

[FatBoy]

Now I know this was sort of a freak accident. But could this somehow be a bad karma because i  snagged hooked that bass on the bed almost 2 weeks ago? Its almost like nature wanted revenge on me for fishing unethicly and possibly hurting the hatch.

Always keep an open mind to mother nature, and fish the right way. There are things out there that go on we have no clue about, especially karma, follow your gut instincts, and you will be a lot safer and more successful.

Ummmm.....nope, sorry.  There's no "karma" or anything else out there looking to get even with you.  There are just choices and consequences.  You made two bad choices, fishing a private lake and snagging a bass off a bed, and you didn't suffer any consequences.  You were lucky.  You made another bad choice, fishing in a lake with pickeral without your pliers, and suffered the natural consequences.  

BTW, sorry bout the finger.  That sounds painful.  Good story anyway!

[MyKeyBe]

Yep.

What goes around comes around.

Live and learn.

Sounds like you learned the hard way.

[moloch16]

I've only killed one bass in my life and that's because I forgot my pliers.  Couldn't get the trebles out no matter what.  I was young and really didn't expect to catch a bass, and when I did, I didn't know how to get those trebles out  :'(

[RecMar8541]

Sorry to hear about the finger.  Making the statement about fishing the private lake, then snagin a big girl, and associating that with your injury shows your conscience got the best of ya.  Lesson learned.

Another lesson for future reference.  pickerel are of the pike family, of which I have caught a ton of when living up north.  Applying pressure to the pickerels eyes, causes the mouth to fall open, and for some reason stops them from floppin.  Just a tip from a indian guide we met in canada, and it works.

I unhooked alot of these toothy critters without pliers....but still a good idea to have em.

Recon

[BLUESKY]

Pliers, never leave home without them. A knife whith easy access is also a good option, one time I landed a toothy critter on a crankbait, just the rear trebble in its mouth. as i was moving toward it in the boat it started thrashing about and that front trebble ended up in my pants leg. Realizing that this could very easily turn into a much worse situation(fish thrashing hook embedding in my leg) I grabbed my knife from the floor of the boat and sacrificed the pants. The knife was closer than  the pliers so that was what I chose.

[logger]

Snagging and fishing a private lake? Sorry about the finger, but it sounds like you had it coming.    Too many pike in the waters I fish not to have pliers. I actually have an old set tied inside my boat in case I forget my good ones.