Hook Wounds

I’ve taken a lot of dog puncture wounds over the last 55 years of breeding and a half dozen hook punctures too.

With the canine tooth punctures, there is a bad exposure to anaerobes that are very dangerous; you can lose your arm to gangrene in a period as short as 72 hours if the dogs are any guide.

So, we keep hypodermic plungers to flush puncture wounds in the kennel infirmary and it’s not pleasant, but we’ve kept all our arms.

I’m putting together my boat first aid kit as we speak and i saw RiverDan’s post about taking a hook from a large walleye. Well, walleye slime deep into a puncture is probably not good, so i was wondering what other people used in their kits.

We use two things: a thin iodine mix (color of used beer) or if that’s not available, we use hydrogen peroxide (not preferred, but better than gangrene)

Anyone else thought about this? I KNOW that fish slime has bacteria that are difficult because i’ve gotten infections from my 6/0 siwash hooks when salmon guiding…

Any EMT or docs who fish??

Haven’t a clue Stu, but what about that stuff the doctors usually put on before doing surgery on you, kind of a very dark brown color?

Or is that just a iodine?

Al

Just rinse it off in some river water. You’ll be fine.

There really isn’t too much you can do with a puncture except clean it, the betadine rinse would be good for that. The problem is, as you know, you won’t get the inside too well unless you do some cutting which should be left to the ed if needed. Best thing you can do is get the wound to bleed out well, squeezing is ok as long as you don’t do tissue damage (don’t squeeze too hard!). Then keep a close eye on it for redness and such, do NOT delay going in if things are getting worse instead of better (not the time to be a man, get you butt in). My first aid kits has the basics, and then some, but you need the ed for the good stuff!

I’m still reeling from the fact you can lose a limb from a puncture wound! I have never heard that before.

Merthiolate, you can get it at any drug store. Hydrogen peroxide has no bactericidal qualities. The best it can do is help to flush out a wound. You can also get Iodine in disposable wipes that are sealed in foil.

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Just rinse it off in some river water. You’ll be fine.

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Real men rub dirt in it!

Last year in august i was up on rainy lake, i had just caught a 22# northern. I was holding him up for a picture when he started thrashing around and he sliced my thumb open. Like any of us i bandaged it up and kept fishing for 5 more hours. I went to the er that night and got 7 stiches.4days after i got home i came down with a 103 fever. I went to the er and was admitted. For 3 days they couldnt find the infection. Then they found it, It was in my aortic heart valve and my lungs.Did the infection come from the fish bite? The docs couldnt say. I spent 7 days in the hospital, and 2 weeks at home. Ive been cut, stabbed, by fish 1000s of times, but this time could have been from the fish. Stu you brought up a valid point.

AllenW- the betadine IS an iodine at FULL strength. you do NOT want use it for a puncture flush unless you are into necrosis!!! Same with hydrogenperioxide.

SkeeterBite-i envy you, i get DOG bites, not FISH bites!!! I use stainless steel shark hooks alot, especially on musky and pike, i.e. LONG 3/4″ needle points PRIOR to a barb, so when i had one of THOSE babies in my forearm, i knew it, too.

I knew what to do, so i fixed it in the boat and didn’t have problems. We basically use bottled water and pee color iodine (NOT full strength) and then a 6cc or 12cc plunger. It hurts like hell when it flushes against the bottom of the puncture, but it gives you ‘MAN stripes’ and you don’t lose your arm. It’s a TwoFer…