Long catch and release?

Thought I’d share my story of a very long catch and release.

I was fishing with my dad near Franconia a week ago Saturday. Dad hooked a short walleye. As I reached down to release it, the hook popped out of the fishes mouth and the middle trebel of the rapala buried itself right along side of my fingernail on my right middle (driving finger).

I’ve been stuck before but in about 48 years of fishing, I’ve never really been hooked… For those who have not, it’s not much fun. As you know, the hooks on a small rapala are pretty small. This was buried to the hilt – leaving no room to try to pop the point out. I needed to go to the doctor.

We made our way back to Osceola landing. My 82 yr old father stormed the beach like Normandy to help me get the boat out (funny how aches and pains disappear when your kid has a rapala hanging off his finger!). We went to the ER in Osceola. Sorry to say, I can’t recommend the place. The “Dr” cut the hook off right at the skin – leaving nothing to work with. She cut my finger with a blade and then proceeded to spend an hour and 15 minutes trying to pop the hook through. One Nurse left, came back later and said she’d rather watch hip-replacement surgery than that.

End result in Osceola was bandage, Rx and hook still in finger. Monday, I went to my Dr. Got referral to surgeon. Went to hospital on Wednesday where the hook was finally removed – four days after it went in!

((Took last weekend off. Be back up at Franconia next weekend!))

OUCH!

I think you probably would have been better off just ripping it out!

And I thought having to cut one out of the loose skin on my arm was bad.

Glad to know it turned out alright. I bet that doctor learned something that day that she never talked about in medical school

i did this to my thumb last year, on my way to a baseball game. They numbed my up good and i went 4 for 4 when i finally got there 45 min. late. I couldn’t pop the hook through the other side either because there was a finger nail there. Those suck i can see how a fish feels now

Wow, that’s terrible….as an ER Physician assistant, I have removed many hooks…its actually quite fun. If possible, I’ll even try to preserve the hook for you. Sorry to hear about such poor service, it sounds as if she had not done such a procedure before. Being it was embedded for that given amount of time, make sure you watch out for infection.
May want to bring a good needle holder and wire cutter for future events. Good Luck

Sorry to hear about work hooking adventure. How are the fish biting up there? Suprised to hear you can still use the Osceola landing. Are the ends of the ramps out of the water? The walleyes should start stacking up around peasley lake and rock island pretty soon. They will go nuts ona jig and minnow.
If you get hooked again up that way skip the hospital and talk to Annie at PY’s grill on main street. She will fix you up and cook you a great burger also.

I’ve thought a lot about the danger involved with plugs attached to fish since then. I had a needle nose in the boat but it’s surprising how tough a hook is while it’s attached to you. We could not cut the split ring either.

I just watched a video of one of the popular muskie guys catching a 53 inch fish on a jerk bait. It amazed me how hard they worked keeping the fish quiet while they clipped all of the hooks attached to the fish and the net before they took the hooks out of the fish prior to release. Can you imagine how much serious trouble a guy could be in if he got hooked to a musky lure while it was still attached to a flopping giant fish???

I went out and bought a really good diagonal cutter that I’ve wrapped and stowed in a safe place on the boat. I learned a valuable lesson – believe me!

As to fishing up there… We usually fish down by the Kini. We’ve only fished up that way early in the season. I have not had enough time on the water to post a report yet!

A good bolt cutter is critical to have in the boat. Not just for cutting hooks out of muskies, but your finger too!

I’ve been fortunate enough to not have stabbed myself that deep.

However….
A few years back on a fly-in, in remote northern Canada, my buddy drilled a big daredevil into the back of his head! Yep, he hooked himself on the cast! Right smack dab into the back of the melon!

With a few beers and a lot of whiskey, his father-in-law ripped it out, as we all watched……..while drinking the beer and whiskey!!!!

No stitches were given, but he probably could have used them. He lived!

Steve,
Unfortunately I can relate to your experience. Its hard to believe they would have someone working the ER in Osceola that hasn’t seen their share of fishing hook injuries. I took a trip to the ER in Cumberland about 6 weeks ago. I was fishing muskies and hooked about a 5 lb northern. I got careless when trying to get a big sledge unhooked. I tried to grab the lure and just back the hooks out of the fish. The fish flipped and drove a treble hook into my left index finger. It went in just below the last bend on my finger and traveled up to the tip of my finger. I screamed like a little girl and tried to back the hook out right away before the pain set in. Needless to say, the barbs on a big muskie treble hook really work well in a finger. I’m sure you will vouch for the barbs on Rapalas treble hooks too. Luckily I had a buddy with that put the northern in a death grip while I took the hooks out of the fish. Then he got to use my bolt cutters to cut the treble from my finger. We left about a half inch sticking from my finger. I always thought it would be cool to take a picture of the hook sticking out of my skin, but I started to feel kind of queesy. So no pictures. Got the the ER at 9:45 on a Saturday night. The ER doctor was a lady that just got done giving a full body physical to a child molester. She wasn’t up for much small talk. She put the novecane in and pushed the hook through in less than 2 minutes. The nurse indicated they have several fish hook injuries every weekend in the summer. Had a tetnes shot and was drinking a beer by 10:05 at the Corner Bar. I am extremely gun shy now when trying to unhook fish. My ER bill was 400.00. Thank god for insurance. I bet your bill was quite a bit more than mine. I don’t think I’ll go to Osceola if I have a choice in the future. Thanks for the post.

Our Hastings ER Dr tried using a toe nail clipper to cut the rap hook out of my finger…finally I asked if they had a maintianace man working…he came up with his pair of dykes and then things started moving along…

You would have thought they gave me laughing gas when I was watching this lady Dr trying to clip the treble with a toe nail clipper. I still giggle!

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The ER doctor was a lady that just got done giving a full body physical to a child molester. She wasn’t up for much small talk.

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To bad you didn’t have that Sledge to give the guy a proctology exam…….with treble hooks! I hope she was light on the KY jelly.

Sorry to hack the thread but these people need to be exterminated from society and it gets the better part of me every time I hear the word “child molester”.

Gary,
I couldn’t agree more. I had met the same doctor on two previous visits to the ER once for wife and once for buddy). She was very nice both times. When we went in the ER entrance there was a sherrifs car parked outside. Right after the doctor came in to see me, she tore into a nurse assistant for no apparent reason. My buddy and I were like, what the heck did he do to urine her off. Once she gave me the novecane, I thought it was like going to the dentist (wait a couple minutes before starting to go to work). She didn’t wait 5 seconds. I closed my eyes, but she was walking out of the room before I could open them. The nurse that gave me the tentus, explained that she had 2 people admitted to the physch ward, (1 of which was a child molestor). And everyone admitted to the phych ward gets a full physical. But we did offer to give the dude a physical before we left. They didn’t take us up on it though.

Ouch sounds like a painful experience. My father was out fishing by himself on Big Winnie as few years back and cut a 2-3″ slice from a Pike gill plate down to the bone on his finger. He lost so much blood he got dizzy even applying pressure that he had no choice but to resort to military training and sew up the cut with a needle and thread. Every since then i have included a thread and needle in the first aid kit just in case. Just a suggestion.