Treble Trouble

LadyFish

Admiral
Joined
Mar 18, 2003
Messages
6,894
Well, its been a couple weeks since we went fishing and I was having withdrawels. So, we set out for a full day of fins and fun on Saturday.<br /><br />We went down to the end of the island and fished the Gulf side for a bit first thing in the morning but caught nothing. It was pretty rough and we got sick of rocking and rolling so we decided to move to calmer waters.<br /><br />We then headed back over on the bayside to one of my favorite holes and I managed to land a couple beauties.... .....speckeled trout just under 20". <br /><br />The heat was unbearable and the fishing turned off so we headed back east, picked up some more bait and beer and fished the ICW. A friend pulled up in his boat and fished along side of us.<br /><br />Mr. LF hadn't caught anything as of yet and this is a really good spot so I was in hopes he'd land a nice redfish or trout. Well he pulled in a nice trout first, then a HUGE redfish which he got all the way up to the boat but..............<br /><br />I couldn't get to the net, so I was leaning way over the side of the boat to grab the fish and just then the line snapped and the 2 oz egg sinker snapped back and hit me right square in the head. Mr. LF tried to comfort me by telling me if it hit me anywhere else I might have been hurt. <br /><br />A little while later he hooked another redfish, not keeper size but a nice fish. While trying to get the size 8 treble hook out of his mouth the fish went spastic and embedded one of the trebles in Mr. LF's thumb. <br /><br />I don't deal too well with blood and hooked body parts, but I knew I had to get it out. I first took the needle nose and tried to cut the barb off so I could pull it through but I couldn't get under the barb. The plyers were too big. Now mind you, the fish is still attached to one of those barbs. I was panicing. Our buddy yelled over "Connie, do you need help?" and I couldn't have been more thrilled that he asked. We were lucky he was there.<br /><br />The first thing he did was remove the fish from the other part of the hook. The fish was freaking out by this time, and I could tell bythe look on Mr. LF's face that all that flippin and floppin around didn't feel too good.<br /><br />Tod (our buddy) tried the same thing I did and quickly discovered the plyers couldn't get under the barb to cut it off, so he bent the barb down tight and pulled it through. I was ready to puke by this time, but REAL happy Tod came to the rescue. Since I told Mr. LF that I was going have to take my filet knife and slice his thumb and get it out that way, Mr. LF was happy to have him there too.<br />
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Fishalolic

Cadet
Joined
Feb 13, 2004
Messages
23
Re: Treble Trouble

Gotta hate when that happens, could have been worse though. Had a buddy that did that a few weeks ago and had to have it removed back at the docs office because it went so deep. Took several stitches.<br /><br />I wasn't with him at the time, he was in his boat about 50 miles out when Mr. Cobia hooked him real good. <br /><br />Had to make the 50 mile run back in, pull his boat out of the water, drop it at his house, then head for the docs. office!!<br /><br />After his incident I started carrying a set of snips big enough to cut most of the hooks that we use and added it to my first aid kit.......needless to say he has added one to his kit as well.<br /><br />Glad it all turned out ok! Don't forget that tetnus shot! :)
 

snapperbait

Vice Admiral
Joined
Aug 20, 2002
Messages
5,754
Re: Treble Trouble

eeeeee, ooooo, eheww, ouch, oh poo-poo.... dayum!.. :eek: That made me hurt!...<br /><br />Good arguement for using barbless hooks.... :cool:
 

woodrat

Ensign
Joined
Jul 27, 2004
Messages
949
Re: Treble Trouble

Yow! Makes me want to look real close at my pliers and maybe replace them with something smaller!<br /><br />Barbless hooks are required in saltwater in WA though.
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,964
Re: Treble Trouble

We do a lot of school fishing and catching fish on every cast is common. To eliminate the problems associated with treble hooks I either change them out for a single hook or pinch the barbs on two of the hooks. This makes taking the fish off the hook a breeze
 
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