I was out on a charter deep in the glades this past week. We were cutting up, laughing and hauling in fish on just about every cast. One of the fellas pulled a hook pretty good and the bait came back and hit the side of the boat a few inches below my leg. I said not to worry, I have never been hooked by a client. Well an hour or so later one of the clients hooks up on a nasty gar and I ask that he swing it my way so I could get the hooks out of its mouth. The fish flopped and dang if I didn't get it right through the tip of the finger. Now there are alot of places to get hooked, but the finger tip is probably the most sensative part of the body. The point had gone in just under the nail and was angled back towards the finger print. It was buried and the point was not showing. I was able to cut the hook at the eye to get me away from the bait. It wasn't easy since I use 4x on all my hard baits. Now I figured I would just push the point on through and then cut the barb off and push it back out. Nope that wasn't happening. I had two sets of needle nose with side cutters and neither one would cut the shanks. I found another boater who was a paramedic and tried his carbide bladed cutters. They failed to cut the shank too. I was now seriously considering pulling the plug on the charter and going to the hospital. I came upon another boat and he had a sharp fillet knife. I used it to cut away the skin to get to the point and eventually got the point to come through the skin. Once the barb came through I was able to cut it off and back the hook back out.

I learned a couple of lessons. One don't say how long it has been since the last time you were hooked. 2. If your going to use 4x hooks, keep a set of dikes in the boat...just in case.

OUCH DUDE !!!!!!

That make me cringe just thinking about it !!!

There was a thread a couple weeks ago about double hinged?? pliers that easily cut through hooks. Hearing you story makes me want to go buy some!

Jeff

I almost quit reading at "filet knife". Chuck Norris would have glared at the hook and it would have just fell out. Hope it wasn't as painful as it sounded.

Being hooked in the finger is painful all right; I've done that a few times. Couple years ago my buddy I.M. HaungUp and I were night fishing a tournament. I hooked a small largemouth; in the process of digging the hook out I stuck my thumb. Painful yes; even more so because the fish was still on the hook.

So try digging a hook out of your thumb while a struggling bass is flipping on the hook - and your fishing buddy is rolling on the boat deck laughing.