Might be a good idea to keep a pair of these on hand, just in case. If the barb is buried then that's a different story. But if you can pull the barb through these should easily snip the hook to remove with ease. Or just pinch the barbs and risk losing fish

 

https://www.amazon.com/Booms-Fishing-inches-Hook-Cutter/dp/B0777GK3HB/ref=asc_df_B0777GK3HB?mcid=02b2db976edd361c9957081cdc1b299c&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693769151198&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14067737166275008099&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009740&hvtargid=pla-585007841218&psc=1

On 3/29/2025 at 9:42 PM, Harold H said:

Might be a good idea to keep a pair of these on hand, just in case. If the barb is buried then that's a different story. But if you can pull the barb through these should easily snip the hook to remove with ease. Or just pinch the barbs and risk losing fish

 

https://www.amazon.com/Booms-Fishing-inches-Hook-Cutter/dp/B0777GK3HB/ref=asc_df_B0777GK3HB?mcid=02b2db976edd361c9957081cdc1b299c&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693769151198&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14067737166275008099&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9009740&hvtargid=pla-585007841218&psc=1

I added those to my cart. 

Hook isn’t bad compared to a boat propeller 

That sounds like an "ask me how I know" type of comment @TnRiver46.

 

I bought myself some snips to put in my bag after reading this thread. Yikes!

@Fishlegs, we call my buddy Casey the manatee, his boat ran him over and he drove himself to the hospital while holding his organs in with his other hand. Now he has manatee scars on his belly 

During my college summers, I went down to Orange Beach and worked as a deck hand.    I heard a number of stories that were worse than the above, but it wasn't a Bass fishing injury.

 

First story.....a really wealthy gentlemen just bought a new Viking 50ft+ Sportfisherman, and himself along with his crew were all very inexperienced in terms of bluewater Billfishing.   Long story short, these guys caught a Blue Marlin, and stupidly thought they could bring it on board for a picture and then turn it loose.  Once they got the fish in the boat, it freaked out and ended up "spearing" one of the men on the boat right in the gut.    The story goes that the wealthy boat owner never went out fishing again on the boat. 

 

Second story.......a group of guys were Tarpon fishing in a center console boat when they caught one and decided to bring the big 150lb+ fish on board (which is actually illegal in most states), again once they got the fish in the boat it proceeded to freak out.   In the end the fish broke numerous bones and caused significant other injuries to all in the boat, along with completely destroying the boat when the fish trashed the center console and cockpit area.    

 

I feel like saltwater fishing rachets up the danger level significantly.  Google is filled with tales of horror.  

 

The Most Dangerous Fish | Sport Fishing Mag

7 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@Fishlegs, we call my buddy Casey the manatee, his boat ran him over and he drove himself to the hospital while holding his organs in with his other hand. Now he has manatee scars on his belly 

I was a guide.  I’ve been hooked so many times I’m amazed water doesn’t leak out of me like a lawn sprinkler when I drink. 

Not this again …😣

It happened to me when I was 24.

4 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

Not this again …😣

It happened to me when I was 24.

What happened? What was your experience? I've never been barbed, this stuff creeps me out, but making me more mindful of hookpoints

On 4/2/2025 at 10:31 PM, Harold H said:

What happened? What was your experience? I've never been barbed, this stuff creeps me out, but making me more mindful of hookpoints

Ive told this several times on here. Essentially I got a lure with a 5/0 hook stuck in my right eye. Smashed eye lens and detached retina. 5 hours of surgery that night to try and save it. I was told that the one doctor that could do the surgery was in town and was able to save the eye. Very thankful I didn’t have to go through life with a glass eye. I have some vision with a good contact I wear…

Two times I've ended up at the ER.

 

1) Fishing with my brother.  First cast I catch a fish.  His first cast, into a tree (Jitterbug).  I troll over to the bank and get his lure free.  Move back away from the bank and while I'm getting my worm ready to cast again he throws his Jitterbug into the next tree down the bank.  He goes to rip it out of the limb and I hear this noise and look up and see said Jitterbug flying towards my head.  I duck my head down and it hooks me in the back of my scalp.  Get to the ER and the doc tapes off the other trebles, ties some REALLY heavy suture around the hook, puts his fingers on either side of the hook, wraps the suture around his other hand and gives it a hard jerk.  The sound, resembling a rifle shot, was the suture breaking.  He literally "jerked a knot" on the back of my head.  Ended up sending some EMT's out to their ambulance where they got a pair of wire cutters and he cut the barb and then slipped it out.

 

2) Flyfishing one time I learned a valuable lesson.  DON'T flyfish in a significant crosswind.  Did my backcast and when I brought it forward the wind blew the fly too close to my head and I ended up piercing my earlobe with a Bett's Firefly Popper (chartreuse by the way).  Don't remember exactly how the doc removed it.  I just know it did not include any jerking motions.

On 3/31/2025 at 3:13 PM, TnRiver46 said:

@Fishlegs, we call my buddy Casey the manatee, his boat ran him over and he drove himself to the hospital while holding his organs in with his other hand. Now he has manatee scars on his belly 

Can we get the rest of this story?

 

I only know one person who was hit by a prop. He was the divemaster for a wreck dive so he was first over the side to set the anchor. For some reason the captain put the boat in gear as he was coming up and the inboard prop hit his leg. Broke it in a few places and knocked him unconscious. He sank to the bottom in ~60 ft and came to down there. Was able to get himself to the surface with his BC and they saved his leg. This same guy worked construction and fell off some scaffolding and was impaled by multiple pieces of rebar. Survived that too. Starting to think he may be a cat as I write this.

@JHoss, you’d have to meet the guy, very accident prone. If we are cutting bait, he’s bleeding. He was driving a jon boat up the hiwassee into the shallow rapids and such where the trout are. Hit something and was ejected, then his boat ran him over 

2 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

@JHoss, you’d have to meet the guy, very accident prone. If we are cutting bait, he’s bleeding. He was driving a jon boat up the hiwassee into the shallow rapids and such where the trout are. Hit something and was ejected, then his boat ran him over 

OUCH! Did he go over the bow or over the side and the boat spun on him? Sounds like he's lucky he didn't hit his head on those shallow rocks.

On 3/31/2025 at 3:13 PM, TnRiver46 said:

@Fishlegs, we call my buddy Casey the manatee, his boat ran him over and he drove himself to the hospital while holding his organs in with his other hand. Now he has manatee scars on his belly 

First, I'm glad your friend's alright. Second, I do believe I'd fit right in with your crew. That's exactly the kind of nickname a situation like that would get ya with my friends. They're a merciless lot. 😂

On 3/29/2025 at 5:08 AM, GRiver said:

I’m going to order me a hockey mask, like the one Jason wears, yea, that’s it.

 

@Mike L has a story about this he shared in a thread a few years ago.  If I remember correctly, his partner has a Bullet bass boat and he was the passenger.  When he got in, the driver said "hold on" and it was like a rocket ship burning nuclear fuel had begun.  The driver literally pulled out one of those old school goalie masks!

@gim Yeah I fished a tournament once in my youth as a co angler. I  asked for advice and one old man said “if the boat says bullet along the side, don’t get in it!”

On 3/28/2025 at 12:36 PM, FryDog62 said:

Here's a recent photo of a friend of mine (expression enhanced for effect) but you get the idea. He freed a hook that came back so fast he thought the guy next to him hit him on a backhanded cast. Had it been in the eye, he would have probably lost his sight.

 

I wear sunglasses 90% of the time (plastic lenses) for this reason. The other 10% that I don't is because I'm launching at sunrise and can't see well enough to wear dark sunglasses. However, am planning to get some either yellow or clear lenses next for early mornings... 

You sir are ready to start a punk band.

 

I've been very fortunate in my 54 years to never actually get a hook past the barb. My dad got a Norman DD22 treble through the fleshy part between thumb and forefinger while the bait was attached to a striper that was flopping all over the boat. I dispatched it with the heel of my Adidas flip flop. We cut the hook and he actually fished a while longer. I mean, we were in a school of stripers.

3 hours ago, gim said:

 

@Mike L has a story about this he shared in a thread a few years ago.  If I remember correctly, his partner has a Bullet bass boat and he was the passenger.  When he got in, the driver said "hold on" and it was like a rocket ship burning nuclear fuel had begun.  The driver literally pulled out one of those old school goalie masks!

@gim

You still remember that thread!

 

Still, every time I enter a blind draw tournament one of the first questions I ask my boater is what kind of boat he has. 
 

When he says a Bullet I tell him about that day and everyone, to a man just looks at me and smiles. 

When they don’t strap on a goalie mask and slaps me on the shoulder to tell me to hold on, I breathe a little easier 

 

 

 

 

Mike

Although it didn’t happen to me when my nephew was way younger probably no older than 10 years of age he went fishing with his dad maybe a mile or so from my house and you can imagine mine and my wife’s reaction when my brother starts a phone call with get me a pair of wire/side cutters and I’ll be there in 2 minutes which I’m pretty sure wasn’t more than 3 before he showed up in my kitchen with my very shaken nephew who had a treble hook piercing him and my brother saying I may need some help pushing the barb through. To this day I don’t know if my brothers wife ever found out🤔

On 3/31/2025 at 3:13 PM, TnRiver46 said:

@Fishlegs, we call my buddy Casey the manatee, his boat ran him over and he drove himself to the hospital while holding his organs in with his other hand. Now he has manatee scars on his belly 

I’m not sure where I expected that story to go, but it certainly wasn’t there! 😱

 

 

A couple years ago I was fishing the Mohawk River in a kayak. When I was finished, I tried to get out of my kayak on the boat ramp (not a very steep one at all), and it was so slick I couldn’t stand up. As I’m fighting with my kayak and the lack of friction, this guy was launching his boat about 20ft away from me. He made a comment about how slippery the boat launch was. No more than 30 seconds later, his buddy in the boat jumps out of the boat -presumably to pull the truck forward. The instant his feet touch the boat ramp they kick out from under him and he slams his head on the ramp. I immediately call 911 while his friend holds a towel to this guy’s head. 
 

I've seen some pretty significant injuries from my days of playing hockey, but I’ve never been in a situation where I wasn’t sure the guy was going to make it. I know this is hyperbolic to say, but I didn’t think someone could lose that much blood and not die. EMT’s arrived and took him away. I checked the news outlets for a few days after that and never saw anything about a guy dying on a boat ramp, so I have to assume he was okay. 

I doubt he was ever the same after that one