Decided to do some fishing last night and was throwing a topwater Rip bait and had a blowup of large proportion, and I was not prepared so I went on auto pilot and set as hard as I could without waiting. I realized that my bait was obviously coming toward the shore and my concern was not my friend who knew to hit the ground, but for my dog who is unaware of my habit of having a loose trigger finger on topwater hook sets...Good news is this...The quality finish on The Lucky Craft flash minnow caught some light and I was able to block it with my hand instead of taking 3 trebles to the cheek.

 

I am being serious as this is something that happens often, I was on a charter for Stripers once and a poor guy had a huge plug stuck in his forehead down to his neck, but he was a trooper and fished despite huge swells in the ocean.....I would have waited for the hospital in that situation as well for scarring but for the hand, or other skin, make sure you are carrying sharp cutters or pliers so you can cut the barb off and back out the trebles....It is not bad if prepared, I have friends who have a kit you can buy that works great as well, but moral of story is always bring sharp cutters with you because when they get in your skin past the barb, you are in pain, so MORAL OF THIS STORY, MAKE SURE YOU LET YOUR ROD LOAD BEFORE SETTING THE HOOK ON TOPWATERS, AND ALSO FISH BARBLESS TREBLE HOOKS AND THEN PLIERS ARE ONLY FOR REMOVING GUT HOOKED FISH THAT YOU SHOULD HAVE SET EARLIER AND HARDER ON TO AVOID KILLING THE FISH....AND TEETH WILL NOT CUT BRAID, LIGHTERS COME IN HANDY...

I keep a pair of knipex cutters in my boat for that very reason. Fortunately I have only had to use them once for a hook in the hand and it was for a buddy. When you are hooked to a thrashing fish hooked by the same bait time is of the essence.

This is why I always fish barbless. I had a treble in the hand a couple days ago, and had it been barbed I would have been in serious trouble.

nothing compares to the sharpness of the treble hooks on the megabass vision 110 with the barbs on the outside of the hook.  i got one stuck in my thumb 2 months ago,  No hook removal techniques worked.   had to go to the ER to have it removed and took them a long time and 2 shots to numb my thumb and lots of force to remove it. 

oh and I had the kit, didn't matter, wouldn't work.  and also if you cut the hook with cutters thats bad cause you screw yourself by not being able to use the kit at all. 

I have had to go to my doctor to have a treble hook surgically removed from my finger.

Also. I have cutters with me but to cut hooks out of the bass' mouth.

I am paranoid about treble hooks and continue to be overly cautious.

Good post to remind us the dangers of treble hooks.

I use lip grips for any thing that has trebles attached to its maw.

When i bank fish i always try to avoid using treble hook lures for 2 reasons,

1.  Its always get snagged and 2.  When trying to free it a 100 mph lure with 2 to 3 treble hooks flying back towards you.

 

I always swap them for a single or double hook models to reduce the snagging and prevent further injury to people and fish.

I have had to go to my doctor to have a treble hook surgically removed from my finger.

Also. I have cutters with me but to cut hooks out of the bass' mouth.

I am paranoid about treble hooks and continue to be overly cautious.

Good post to remind us the dangers of treble hooks.

 

Yeah, I am with Sam with this. I have had 2 major run in's with treble hooks. One of those incidences did require a trip to the ER. Not fun. Fortunately, I had a small wire cutter to the get the bass loose and isolate the hook that drove into my thumb. I use to use treble baits often, but after this last incident, I kind of shy'd away from them for a bit. 

The Reason I mentioned pliers, and I have had to do this roughly a dozen times in my life and the Er is too expensive, and for Hands, arms and legs, sharp pliers that cut hooks work like this..

 

Unhook the fish of course but usually you are screwed if a thrashing fish is in your lap and your leg is full of tof trebles (My father always told me to get off the front of the boat when we were fishing for Stripers as a kid, but I insisted, caught a small blue fish, lifted and as I was grabbing a rag the line broke and it fell in my lap...That was coast guard and all, so I learned how to do it by asking the Dr and watching the next 2 times similar things occured with hooks.

 

Not sure how kit works, friends carry it, but for my method, you simply push the barb forward and cut the  hook under the barb, then simply back it out...It hurts like heck getting the hook to the point of cutting below the barb, but much more painful and almost impossible in tough skin to back a barb out due to it's shape and design so fish do not get off...

 

I have insurance but still not going to sit in an ER for a hook in my foot that I can cut with wire cutters or sharp pliers as they will make you sit for hours while people with severe injuries keep going ahead of you....However, If in certain areas I would not mess with anything, trust anyone other than an Md, so I wear protection....I didn't mea it that way, just meant long pants, shirts as often as I can, but also to preven bugs, ants, snakes etc...

 

Ya, safety equipment can save a good day of fishing instead of having to leave for an accident you or someone else you are with had....

Why would you ever need to set the hook as hard as you can on a treble hook bait? The fish hook themselves. All they need is a little resistance and that it.

I have used Owner, Gamikatsu, old eagle claw, and X points.  All of them can hurt you but nothing I have used has compared to the Trokar hooks.  I had a 4/0 EWG that I got hung up with snap back at me and grazed my hand.  It made a cut on my arm like surgical knife. It was so clean I was able to close the wound with surgical glue.

 

On a side note, years ago I got a treble hook stuck in my brothers head.  We had to take him to the ER.  The used a drumel type tool to cut the wire since the regular cutters did not work.  Thank God they numbed him.  It looked extremely painful.  Luckily all went well and he didn't kill me.