So I was out fishing on some local waters. I saw something floating around that I did a double take on. It was a hypodermic needle. My first thoughts were to get it out of the water this body of water is also a drinking source for the town its partially in. Then I was like well I dont know whats in it or anything about it so I let it float on by. Should I have done something different?  :-/ :-/ :-/

EPA?

Undo no circumstances would I touch or think about touching it. Like you said, you have no idea where it has been and I can think of few legit reasons a hypodermic needle would be floating out in the lake.

If you felt absolutely compelled to fish it out. I would pull it in with a net and dump it into plastic bucket with a lid, seal it up and give it to the authorities if anything. While chances are no pathogen would live long with it floating in a lake, I would not take the chance.

You also can't go throwing it in the normal garbage lest a garbage man get stuck with it.

I know...I am a bit overboard with it but when I worked at the hospital we had a couple folks who through an unbelievable series of events got stuck with needles and ended up spending 12 months with their lives on hold going through tests.

To give you an idea one was a needle not fully in a sharps container that fell out the top somehow, hit the side of a counter and in a 1 in a 1 billion shot went right into a nurses foot. What are the odds of that?

Shoot at it until it sank?

Back in the day, we all used to carry a needle to blow air into a nightcrawler to suspend it off the bottom.

That being said, I would not have touched it with my hands either.  I would have found a way to get it out of the lake, but definitely not with my hands.

Tie some braid around your bicep, shoot up, and see what it was.

Seriously, I'm with Speedbead. I would have picked it up with pliers or something I had in the boat and then bring it to the local pharmacy to put in a sharps container. I would never want to see it get into the hands of a small child or have it accidentally puncture someone.

I'm with the last two, I would have found a way to safely fish it out and get it to a sharps container somewhere.

Pick it up and despose of it at the hospital.