I'm Hooked!
September 16, 2009
Part 1
As I lifted my bass plug from the water I noticed there was some grass hanging off the lure’s rear treble hook.
The bass were concentrated along the outside edge of a big field of lily pads. They had been hitting pretty good and I wanted to get my lure back out there fast.
I reached up with my left hand and took hold of the lure. Then I grabbed the grass clump hanging from the rear treble with the fingers of my right and jerked to remove it. I got the grass off all right. What I also managed to do was drive one of the lure’s treble hooks deep into the middle finger of my right hand. As it turned out, the hoo
k’s point had gone all the way to the bone.
As we’ve all heard, haste makes waste. It can it can also make pain---especially if you’re dealing fishhooks. I hope it sounds like I know what I’m talking about because I sure as the devil am. Over the course of the past half century I’ve buried hooks in my hide six different times.
Two of those six times the hooks were lodged against bone and there were tendons involved. I had to have a doctor remove them. The other four times I’ve managed to get the job done by myself.
If you fished much odds are you probably have your own stories to tell about having a fishhook wind up in your body. If it hasn’t happened to you yet, chances are you know someone who has had that experience.
There are a number of dos and don’ts where the removal of hooks from yourself or someone else is concerned. I mention it because now there’s a new item that ought to be in the tackle box or the fishing vest of every angler who picks up a rod.
It’s called a “Fishhook Removal Kit.” The kit is small enough to carry almost anywhere with ease. It includes an illustrated brochure that describes four different methods to get fishhooks out of your body. It also provides detailed information on how to deal with the wound that’s certain to result when the hook is removed.
You’ve probably heard or read about removing an imbedded fishhook by wrapping a line around the curve of the hook, pushing the eye of the hook down and then yanking on the line to jerk the hook out.
This method, properly done, really works. I’ve not used it myself but some of my friends have. It’s the favorite method of the folks who market the kit I’m talking about. The kit 
contains a length of strong ¼-inch wide cotton mesh strip that can be used for this purpose.
As the kit literature points out, fishing line is often used for this method of hook removal but that poses a danger. It takes a solid yank to free an imbedded hook. As the hook comes flying free you don’t want it to nail you in some other part of your anatomy.
The kit makers say fishhooks removed with their special strand of cotton mesh usually wind up imbedded in the mesh itself.
Besides its informative hook removal info, the kit also includes special gloves, a sanitary hand wipe, Ibuprofen tablets, first aid wound ointment and self adhesive wound dressings. All of the kit’s contents come in a heavy duty re-closeable plastic storage bag.
A second product these people have available is a 20 minute DVD titled “Accidentally Hooked: A guide to Human Fishhook Removal.” You’ll be wise to also get this DVD and share it with your family and fishing partners.
Talking to the folks who have produced this handy and valuable tool for anglers brings to mind some of the hair-raising encounters I’ve had with hooks as well as those of some of my friends. Hook removal, besides hurting to beat hell, can sometimes also be embarrassing. Once again I know whereof I speak.
In the beginning I mentioned driving a treble hook to the bone in one of my fingers when I jerked some grass off of it. At the time I was the outdoor writer for The Daily News in Longview, Washington. My columns and features about fishing had been appearing each week for some years before I screwed up with that hook.
My picture always ran along with my fishing columns and when that happens in a smaller community folks get to know who you are. There was a good bit of comment when I walked into the emergency room that day to have the hook removed.
“Well, what do you know?” the comments usually went, “here’s the expert who’s always telling us how to catch fish. He’s never mentioned he’s also pretty darn good at hooking himself!”
I really wasn’t all that appreciative of those comments at the time, but I couldn’t have felt nearly as bad as a friend who had an experience a whole lot worse. This guy had recently married and he’d been doing everything short of bribery to get his new wife to go fishing with him.
Finally she agreed to go. He got her comfortably set up in the stern seat of his 14-foot boat while he cast for bass up front. One of the spots he wanted to present his lure was directly in front of the boat. He brought his rod back too far as he prepared to cast and the rear treble of the plug dangling from the rod tip snagged his wife right in the end of her nose.
That might sound funny. Be assured it wasn’t humorous for the individuals involved. I’ve not seen that friend for a long, long time, but if and when I do I’m not about to ask him if he’s taken his wife out fishing lately.
Incidentally, the hook removal kit and DVD I’ve mentioned here were developed with medical consultants as well as expert anglers. I say again, both the kit and the DVD are something you should have if you do much fishing. I’d be willing to bet that somewhere along the line either you or one of your fishing partners winds up being glad that you do.
The charge for the kit is $9.95. The DVD sells for $14.95. For additional details contact www.fishhookremoval.com or write PO Box 798 Nisswa, MN 56468. The toll-free phone number is 1 866 790-4454.
Just writing about hooks winding up where they shouldn’t be brings back memories of miseries other friends and I have had with fishhooks winding in places where they never should be. I’ll share some of them with you in Part 2 of this column.
Click Here for part 2