Getting a hook stuck in you!

Let's hear your stories.

Mine happened yesterday. I was showing a friend how the hook set tip up worked. (The spring loaded tip ups)

When I yanked on the line to get the spring to uncoil and the hook to set, I didn't notice that I was actually holding onto the top end of the hook. I always have hook caps on, but it didn't matter. As I yanked, the cap fell to the ground and the treble jabbed into my thumb and pointer finger. I was able to cut one treble and pull it out of my thumb, but the other treble in the pointer finger caused a late night ER visit. Thank goodness for numbing shots! 

Ok, even though it was painful, I'm sure there are many others, and some a lot worse than mine.

Fished over the weekend and noticed I was so careful unhooking fish. Just can't get it out of my mind.....can't believe it's only happened once! 

I've managed to hook myself on a number of occasions. The two most memorable happened while musky fishing.

I was on a good pattern and would bring my boat to work from time to time to get in an evening on the water. A coworker who fishes but not for musky ask to come along. Sure no problem. I get about 40" in the net on a 10" suick. While unhooking the fish thrashes and puts one through the back of my hand. Wide eyed coworker has to cut my hand with his pocket knife to get the hook out and the fish off me. Rag and black tape and I was back to fishing. Stopped on the way home to stock some additional tools and first aid in the boat.

On a trip to Lake Minocqua we had some fish going in heavy weeds on bucktails. It was tough going getting a lot of fouled weeds. Frustrated with all the weeds I swing the bucktail toward me, grab the hunk of weeds and gave it a hard downward tug. Hook sunk into the top of my right ring finger. Buddy is freaking out. 12 year old son is facing the stern refusing to look. I look buddy in the eye and tell him to calm down. Push 6\0 hook through with pliers and cut. I was really surprised how tough human skin is. I had to push pretty hard even with a sharp hook. Buddy is trying to dump bottled water on it the whole time and I'm like what the heck are you trying accomplish If you know Minocqua we could have driven the boat to the hospital, which my buddy wanted to do. I told him I'm not wasting 3 hours of fishing time for this. It was kinda morbid I guess but not a serious wound by any means.

I will say I much prefer to deal with larger hooks in these situations.

Many years ago I was musky fishing with a friend who just got into making his own bucktails. First one he made we were out on a lake back in bay and he is casting it to test one out. Right away he gets snagged on something and we go over to check it out. His bucktail is snagged on an old sunken boat and no matter how much he tries with the rod he cannot get it out. He wants it back badly so he ends up taking his shirt off and tells me to hold his legs down in the boat while he goes in head first and reaches down to get it. He had most of his torso under water while I held his legs and he jerked around wildly while I thought he was trying to get it loose. After what seems like minutes he finally comes up gasping for air. Then he tells me he followed the line down with his hand only to run the hook right up under his finger nail while his head was under water. He couldn't get the bucktail loose nor the hook out so he ended up ripping the hook out from under his nail when he couldn't stay under any longer. His finger swelled up like a balloon and looked like a rotten sausage so he pretty much was done fishing for the rest of that trip. He has been gone for quite a few years now but I will always remember that incident. 

A few years back my Dad and I were musky fishing his favorite lake. In 1972 he caught a 52 incher there. He had caught a 37 inch musky on his favorite bait (Hog wobbler). Reached into the net and fish thrashed and threw treble into finger. We had to push through and cut barb off. Took picture of him holding fish and then released fish. I happened to keep the hook and when we got home I printed out picture and framed it and stuck the hook into the corner of the frame and gave it to him as a gift. 

Years ago my son and I were bass fishing on the lily river in  Crandon.my son snagged on a lily pad with a hula popper.He grabbed the line and really pulled on it. Before I could warn him it rocketed back and caught his throat a fraction  of an inch from the large vein. The police called a dr. At home and he opened up the clinic and took the hook out.   He did this at NO charge at 12:30 am!     CARPIO 

I put a #9 shad rap with a chartrouse bottom bright orange top into my forearm during this walleye run on the fox.  I foul hooked a monster in the tail and when I went to grab her she shook and the hook went into my arm.  Tried to pull it out at the river, went home asked my wife to pull it.  She wouldn't look at it.  Tried to get my daughter to pull it.  Nope.....I tried to cut it out with a razor blade, nope.  Finally went to the ER because it was Sunday night and I had the honor of being the first fish hook impalement they saw this year.   I had four nurses watching them pull it out using the string method.  I didn't watch.   I was hoping they would do it quick so I could get back out there because the fishing was hot.  I did ask for the lure back.  I went the next day and caught a 27.5" walleye with the same lure.  I nick named it Vlad.  About two weeks later I put a #12 husky jerk into my wrist on another tail hooked beast.   I was holding it in my hands while going to shore and she shook out of my hand and sunuva gun it happened again.  I grabbed the pliers and yanked that one out myself and kept fishing.  I had a go pro on but it was just off camera.  I pulled it before I gave myself a chance to think about it.  No way I was going in to the ER again.

Last year my son was learning to cast (5 years old).  Twice his bobber went zinging past my head as he reached back to cast.  I told him to pay attention, that he'll end up hooking someone.  Next cast the hook caught me in the nose and he whipped the rod forward.  Turned my whole head around.  Luckily it was only a #6 single hook and not something larger, but still didn't feel good.

I've lived a charmed life with hooks. Not so for my canine fishing buddy. He likes to attack the fishes when they come in the boat. Last year a 15 inch bass, a plastic worm and his tongue became a single entity. He was in the front of a 12 ft kayak and I couldn't reach him. The bass was flopping wildly and his tongue was hanging impossibly far out of his mouth. I was afraid it was going to literally tear right out of his head. I finally got him to drag the bass over to me (He is a miniature yorkie) and got the hook out. 5 min later he was back to attacking bass. Tough guy.

The most amazing story was when he attacked a 32 inch pike with a Rapala in it's jaw. Again we were in a kayak, a small creek boat on  remote lake. Cosmo got hooked in the face by a treble and the big pike simultaneously flipped overboard. Visibility was about 8 ft. I saw the pike disappear into the depths with dog attached. I remember thinking, how am I gonna explain this to my wife? But then I remembered that the line was still attached to the lure. So I reeled in both pike and dog. To this day, Cosmo hates pike with a passion. We have to keep the pike away from him to release, or he will try to tear them apart

I have been fishing since I was a kid and just last year got hooked twice, once by a scrappy smallmouth and the second by a flapping snake pike.

Both incidents involved fish with smaller mouths and treble hooks.

Each time I never felt a thing, it was just bam and hook is in you.

The smallmouth incident embedded the hook deep in my thumb right below the nail and it embedded in the bone a bit, had to go to ER to get that one out.

The second one with the pike hooked me in the top of the left hand and it went through so the barb was sticking out, I was able to cut it off the main hook and pull it through, it just barely missed a artery in my hand and when I pulled it out it bled like crazy inside and outside my hand.  My hand puffed up like a balloon from blood under the skin and I had to squeeze it out.  after about 3 days the swelling went down.

Moral of the story is treble hooks are extremely dangerous and IT CAN HAPPEN TO YOU :-)

Now I keep a couple sets of fish grips that I use when the fish seems exceptionally scrappy or slimy. I never want to get hooked again :-)

Took both trebles on a crank bait to the back of the head. I was wearing the hood on the rain gear because it was raining. Had to cut the rain gear to get to the back of my head. Unfortunately with my hair and cloth still attached we couldn't get fishing line around to yank them out. Made the drive to Dryden ER and had some french guy dig at the first hook some pliers without numbing me. I was biting the pillow the whole time. Hook # 2 was removed by a nice American doctor who just happened to be walking by. Yanked out with fishing line and had no pain. I donated the lure to the cork board wall of lures that they remove from people.

migr8r- you are 100% correct...caught a huge sheephead...trying to get it into the net and in a split second the hook went from being in his mouth to being in mine.

I figure it is similar to how spiderman got his powers, so I am waiting for my special sheephead abilities to develop anytime now.

These photos are incredible. Lots of us have a story....that's for sure!

About the internet pulling the hook out thing, glad it worked, but I for one am glad to have been at the hospital. That numbing shot made the finger completely dead and it was nice to not feel the Dr. moving the hook around. 

Plus, got the tetanus shot and just the peace of mind being in a controlled environment. But, I can see the convenience of just having it taken care of right away, but OUCH! If something were to go wrong, could be real bad. 

Thump-

My guess would be slingshot effect from something becoming unhooked suddenly. Fish, tree, branch...

Knock on wood, I’ve never buried a barb somehow. My fishin partner can not say the same. 

Alone in the boat. You figure out how it happened.