[tkwalker]

Originally Posted by agelesssone

OUCH! Woody, you,ve got to get a pair of Klein sidecutters on your boat! It's better to push the hook on through and then cut the hook off and back it out.
I had to do that to a fella on the Caney a couple of years ago. Waved me down and asked if I had a pair of side cutters on board. While unhooking a striper, it thrashed and he got a hook through his thumb.
He released the fish and pushed the hook on through but didn't have anything strong enough to cut through the big hook he was using. I always have a pair of side cutting pliers (actually three pair on my boat) and cut the hook, allowing him to back it out.
After washing the wound out with an alcohol swab and putting a bandage on his thumb, I watched him head out to finish fishing the rest of his trip. HARDCORE FISHERMAN !
I always have a stocked first aid kit in my boat, car, and motorcycle. It was the law in Germany and just got used to having it available.

Merv is dead on ... Bass Guide Rick McFerrin and I were taping a TWRA Tennessee Wildsides TV show with then, Line Backer Randall Godfrey of the Tennessee Titans ... Rick was prefishing that morning when a Crankbait treble hook that went through (almost) his index finger ... He cut the hook off of the bait ...Bound it in tape and we finished taping the show ... Now Rick is a Spin Cast Man ... He uses his Index finger to interfere with the line to pulse it ... Can you imagine the throb all day !! Rick was the chase boat with the Cameramen that was pretty much heading up the trip ... This was our second Taping ... the first Striper taping was a bust ...

I did not know this had happened and after everyone had left He came to me and wanted me to cut this hook out, I said Whoa.. You need to go to the ER He said you can do it ... I Did !! ...Rick is a trooper !!! ... Merv is right ... Grit your teeth and push it through and then cut the barb off and back it out ... ... Kline lineman pliers and large Dikes (diagonal plier cutters) will work for the smaller hooks ... I also carried probably one of the smaller pair of Bolt cutters on my guide boat for the 7/0 and 8/0 hooks I was using for Trophy stripers ... Klines and Dikes won't handle a Gamakatsu of this dimension.

Another note for being prepared ... I had a cabin on the Caney and know and fished it for two decades... I always in my canoe or River Hawk had these items ... A small WalMart cast net, a pair of thick welding gloves and a landing net ...

I have rescued Raccoons, All species of birds ... and other river mammals like River Ferrets from the debris of man ... If you fish these waters and especially now that yaking is gaining in popularity you will run into this especially in the backwaters, creeks and small rivers ... ...

These animals caught up in mono line and hooks ... When I found this I would capture the animal and at best try to subdue it to the point it would not bite me ... Now... I am a Viet Nam Veteran... I have seen action ... But I don't know what was worse ... That or trying to control a wild animal that is hurt, and traumatized ... Have you ever been close to a Ferrets Mouth or a Raccoons ?? Or a beak of a Red tail Hawk ...

I think I had a 90% release rate ... ( some had to be relieved with a .357 but it was better than a slow miserable, agonizing death, and I hated it !) All I could do was cut and remove hooks ... Spend the rest of the time to unravel the web of line and nets and at the same time get the Hell out of Dodge !! Which wasn't hard ... Most of the time I had to get my Big ass up the hill to save the animal but had no problem falling down the hill back to the water ... <'TK><