The night of the holy thumbs Options

[Jerome]

AF Bob moving to Colorado, he had in mind to have fun one more time in MA spending a night fishing with buddies before his long drive to CO.

So we went to a local pond known for big carp, and settled for a long night. We really didn't catch much to start with... Then, around 3AM, I was half asleep in my tent when some single beeps woke me up. Bob came to sse what was happening, and it turrns out I had hooked a big snapping turtle. Luckily the hook pulled, no need to go near the turtle's beak, so our fingers were safe... Temporarily...

A true run occurred, Chris Chiodo was on a (not so big) fish. When I arrived, he was not a happy camper, with a hook in his thumb going through a small piece of skin before going out. We couldn't break the hook, so Bob ended up performing some surgery breaking the skin... While he was busy doing it, another run happened 50 yards away on a rod of mine...

No, I didn't kill myself running in the dark. I played the (not so big either) fish, and Bob came to the rescue to land it. I slipped on the ground and got my feet wet. While I was busy cursing, Bob had a very bad idea... Take care of the fish and unhook it. Well, those fish don't like to be caught... It bolted, and guess what? It was Bob's turn to be hooked. And this time, very very deeply. OUCH! Time for Chris to drive Bob to the hospital...

I learned tonight that they spent 4 hours on Bob's thumb... Numbing it, opening it, trying to remove the hook, discovering that it was stuck in the bone! Bob ended up losing patience and yanked it out against the best advice of the doctors...

So here was our departure gift... A hook in the thumb... Oh, and Bob got skunked that night too... Aren't we nice in MA?

PS. the title of this thread came from ScottO when I told him about the events of the night...

[Jerome]

By the way, here is good reading on how to remove hooks... Courtesy of Mark Wade and Carpamerica... Click here.

[Big Carphuna]

I'm glad I left at 10pm!!
Poor Bob (and Chris)..

[Eich]

That is one departure gift that Bob will definitely remember for the rest of his life. OUCH is an understatement. Guess we could say that you guys in Mass. are bad to the bone. Seriously, I hope everything is okay with AF Bob. He seems like one great guy.

Ray

[Guest_Eric Ridenour_*]

That suck's what a heck of a going away present! Guess you can say yall are all thumbs?

[NY Rob]

Too bad .....
And I was criticized fro using lanterns and head torches!!!!

To date, and with untold hours bankside, Ive yet to fall victim although MANY MANY fishing partners have not been as lucky.

Dont know about the above article though .... In my experiences, if the barb wasnt "dug in" then we ripped it out. But if it was, you need to push it through then snip the hook so add a pair of pliers to the hook removal kit. And a good painkiller.

[Corey]

Bob,

I hope the thumb is better, that must of killed pretty bad. After pain killers, not so bad. Take care of that.

[redcoat]

Ouchy!!

Sounds like night fishing is dangerous to me....at least with you guys!

Get well soon Bob. I hope your injury doesn't interfere with your long drive too much. Take (more) care and hurry up and demolish the CO carp record.

Iain.

[CarpDaddy]

Sadly I would like to add my own tale of misery from Saturday night. I was baiting a hair with sweetcorn during an INSANE session of the Hudson. Had just switched from boilies and I couldn't keep a rig in the water the runs were coming so fast. Went from 3 poles (friend Brian was flyfishing and Euro-Style at the same time)(He caught four on fly) to one.

Anyway, I had the 3oz lead and hook in left hand and barbed bait needle in right hand. Buzzer goes off, lead slips, ... and Rick trys to catch it with both hands. I managed to jam the bait needle 3/4" along the side of the bone of my left THUMB tip. I 'm not making this up.

I tried the NJ Rob-pound-it-through-with-a-river-stone-approach and it just wasn't going to happen. Sorry Rob, I tried.

By twisting it and trying not to listen to the barb cutting through the gristle I was able to create a pocket for the barb. It was swelling quickly and I was pretty sure that I couldn't get it out and would have to retreat to the ER. I tried one last hurrah. Pulled the base of the needle to me and moved the barb closer to the bone and the barb got space and slid out. OMG what a sense of relief!

I've caught many pike and muskies using multiple crazy large hooks and never had anything like this happen. Serious musky guys carry bolt cutters to remove hooks from fish AND people. Serious.

I think the only thing I can take out of this is that I really should have set the lead down, as I normally do, on top of my bait bucket. The awesome tension of the moment led to one little misstep...

Hope everybody is all right!

CarpDaddy

[Jason 4:39]

 
I think the only thing I can take out of this is that I really should have set the lead down, as I normally do, on top of my bait bucket. 

CarpDaddy

That's a good thing to remember. I always slide the lead off the swivel and set it down when re-baiting.

I've dropped my lead once or twice and nicked myself with the hook. You can really see why they call them "Bolt-Rigs" !

[Big Carphuna]

Ouch....

[NY Rob]

Rats ... glad yuo got it out though.

ER is the pits for these things.

[airbubbles]

ouch.. I will be using barbless hooks, which is easy to go in and more importantly easy to come out. Thumbs up. Get well soon.

[Jerome]

Not sure if I mentioned it, but this was an ACS K9 hook. Brand new.

I think the quality of those hooks has been now demonstrated quite clearly! Not too sure if ACS wants to advertise the story though!

Oh... And ChrisC has pics... I didn't get a copy yet... Stay tuned...

[Mario Kok]

Yep, I know what it's like. I once got stuck in some weeds fishing for pike in Finland. I tried to jerk the lure out of the weeds whilst standing up in my boat. The lure came out, flew up with some force and in order to avoid it hitting me in the neck, I tried to gracefully swing the rod forward. Unfortunately, I heard a loud "PLOP" and found the treble deeply secured into my wrist.

Hours later, I found out in the hospital that the lure went straight through a nerve. And then to think that you jerked it out of the bone yourself Bob...

I lost feeling in my hand for an entire year, dropping glasses and clipping cigarets in half with my fingers without even noticing. Now everything is pretty normal again so I guess I was lucky.

Anyhow, I guess it pays off to always pay attention, especially if you might happen to be out there somewhere alone...

Take care ya'all.