On another forum recently there was a thread for those who have been hooked. You know, the fish hooked you, you hooked yourself, or your mate hooked you. I haven't found such a topic here on PBF so I thought why not? The pictures / videos are often a source of inspiration ...

To set the stage for this hooking: my mate and I were yak fishing in N GA mountains. Typical mountain weather with rain, sun, rain, sun, repeat. I cast up, way up, into the trees as I often do. Seriously I like to toss lures up into trees or onto the bank, wait, and then plop them into the water. Well this cast I anchored the lure in the tree and the tug of war began. In short order I realized the potential for that lure to break free and become a missile with myself as its sole target. The line was tight, I kept working it from about 35 feet away in my yak, and suddenly it broke free. That stupid lure was now making its way straight at me in my yak. I had enough time only to turn my head sideways and felt the lure bury itself in my head. Immediately I was happy because had I not had the split moment decision to turn the darn lure would be in my left eye. Trace the lure around from where it rests and you will line it up with my eye. And I wasn't wearing polarized glasses that day. So I consider myself very fortunate.

I tug at it a bit then use my cell phone to snap a pic so I can see what the damage looks like. I realize it would be easier to find my mate and have him yank it instead of me messing with it anymore. Off I paddled to find him. Of course I set him up - I asked him how he did and then he asked how I fared. I said I landed a monster! He got super excited and then I turned my head to show him the monster I landed.

He starts yanking at it on the water, our yaks are rocking back and forth, and while we're wet from the rain I just decided I didn't want to swim so we stopped that nonsense and paddled to shore. A fast, strong yank with pliers and out came that lure. I sure felt my scalp separate from my skull and snap back to it though. A rinse with distilled water, betadine cleanse, and back into the yaks for more fishing.




Who else has a pic of their hooking?

I personally wish I did not see this picture.

Clip off the hook from the lure, leaving as much shank as possible, and then push and rotate the hook point back through the skin, then easily pull out. Pulling it out like you did can do a LOT of damage as the barb catches and rips subcutaneous tissues. Clipping the hook as described above only leaves a tiny hole.

I agree with RAH, I have too many unpleasant memories of such things that I really don't need to be reminded of them. I have seen a bullet weight go completely through a mans wrist. It ain't funny. Just my opinion. I know I don't have to read the threads.

It's a part of fishing....sooner or later. It doesn't bother me to see or read of such things, I actually posted a photo of my son with a treble through his hand a couple three years ago. Maybe someone will pick up a tip on an easier way to remove a hook.

Oh I've enjoyed a few hookings. First time removing a pike and the trailing treble hooks buried in my finger. Our wire cutters were too thick to cut where we needed. There was no pushing it through barb side. So we fished a few more hours and when I got too light headed a couple of us floated down river for an hour then drove to an urgent care center in Upper Peninsula of Michigan wherein the medical folk did their magic. The tetanus shot hurt way worse than the hooking.

I figured there were a lot of fishing folk on this forum and this is pretty common, would be good to swap stories and removal techniques. It wasn't about cool or funny just about how we've been hooked.

The mods can remove it if they feel it is too squeamish or inappropriate somehow.

No pictures but a 1.5' CC and I once shared treble hooks on the same hard bait. No cutters were available so my thumb suffered a reverse hook removal. Barbs were bent over after that. Beer was involved:)

I recently removed a small treble hook(crank bait) out of my sons chest. Two of the three barbs were buried close to the nipple. We laughed as we sent a pic to his wife asking her what she thought of his new nipple piercing. I removed the treble hook using fishing line procedure. Its hard to explain the process here but it works and is easy to do in the field. I have used this fishing line removal process many times in the field, removing hooks from family members, fishing partners and from strangers I met that had been hooked. Two in one day on the White River in Ark. I have also used it on myself when first learning to throw surface lures with my fly rod, I managed to bury the lure into my forearm. Look up the procedure using fishing line-hook removal on utube, or you can buy a hook removing kit from Bass Pro Shop, I have given several of those kits away for gifts. I no longer need the kit but it is also a good teaching kit for using fishing line to remove hooks for newbies.

Just for comparison, Basslover's pictures are pretty blood free...only picture I ever saw that made me a tad squeamish here, was of Dwight's ankle post-surgery....

His hook removable story made me chuckle. I assumed he was kidding. I don't think I'd want him removing a hook for me. Picture didn't bother me.

My advice is to at least get the wound checked out by your doctor and get a tetanus booster if it's been more than 5 years since the last one. I've removed quite a few embedded fish hooks, and having local anesthetic applied prior to getting to work on the hook is highly recommended for the patient. I concede that sometimes the fisherman is a long way from medical care and can't get any medical help.. There is no way to cover every scenario, but unhooking the lure from the hook and bandaging and padding in place till you can get seen is a reasonable choice too.

Nah, that is how the hook was removed. The angle with the skull made it difficult to cut it and push the hook through, so my mate just pulled it out. It didn't hurt much. Slight ache after removal but easily manageable. I felt comfortable (having been through a couple of ER visits) with washing using distilled water, some betadine, and then a bandaid.

I have removed other hooks by cutting the post and pushing them through. This one just wasn't possible.

TGW1,
I've used the fishing string procedure a few times myself. I learned it watching Bill Dance.

djstauder, I am surprised at how few fisherman know of the hook removal procedure using fishing line. It is fairly simple and painless unless I am removing the hook from me when I could use a third hand but have done it with the two I have.

You just gotta pull the string FAST.