Thread: Spatial Awareness and Safety on the Pier

Let's remember that school is letting out all over the country and people will soon be bringing their kids to the pier. Some people are good about watching their children and some are not. In any event, children are generally not always aware of what's going on around them and they're not real good at anticipating danger.

What I'm saying is - Watch out for the little kids when you're flinging your lures. Okay -- watch out for adults, too! And watch out for inexperienced fishermen flinging lures/bait. If you have a gaff, you'll want to make sure that the gaff is not lying on the deck for people to step on or the gaff-hooks exposed for people to gouge themselves on. I've seen some nasty wounds from pier gaffs!

On a related note (to people getting hooked) - How many of you have ever used the string yank technique to remove an embedded hook barb? If you haven't, you may not know what I'm talking about. When you put equal-opposite pressure on the hook eye by pressing down on it while pulling on the shank of the hook with a string (see picture), the barb exits the wound at the precisely correct angle. It works!

I have used it for years. I prefer doing it with nylon trotline cord but have used heavy monofilament when cord not available. I live on lay lake near Bozo's marina. I was in the marina store one day when two guys came in one of whom had a hook deeply buried. They were going to load the boat on the trailer and head to the ER. I told them we had a lot of experience with hook removal and offered to help him. He nervously agreed. I covered the area with alcohol , used wire cutters to nip the hook off the lure looped my trot line cord thru the bend, pressed the upper end down to line up the barb with the entry hole and gave it a quick snatch. The guy was amazed that it was so easy and so little pain. He identified himself as a Medical Resident Doctor at UAB and said that method was 10 times better than what he had been trained to do for hook removal. He asked my permission to use the procedure and I told him sure because many people at fish camps are familiar with this method and use it regularly. The guy bought me a coke and they went back out fishing.

I got a crankbait treble hook in my finger while fishing a club tournament on the Alabama River. First order of business was to get the bass that was flopping violently off of the other hook. Then we cut the split ring to remove the hook from the crankbait. Hook was sunk straight in the end of my finger. Tried to push it thru in order to cut the barb off and back it out but that was way too painful.(You have lots of nerves in your fingers!) It wasn't long before help arrived, so I thought. Another member of our club came by and stopped to help. Said he had seen the line trick done before so he gave it a try. THE HOOK DID NOT COME OUT!!! I almost fainted from the pain! Went to the ER and got the hook removed. Also sunk a treble in my finger at the pier a couple years ago. Harley offered to try to get it out but once you have unsuccessfully tried the hook removal technique, you just go straight to the ER!

Originally Posted by TUCK

Also sunk a treble in my finger at the pier a couple years ago. Harley offered to try to get it out but once you have unsuccessfully tried the hook removal technique, you just go straight to the ER!

I know that hurt! Let's just hope for no more episodes with hooks! I've done the string yank thing twice on myself and it worked both times. It's probably important that the hook doesn't twist and turn so that it's able to find its way back out again along that same path that it went in. The ER is always an option if the string thing doesn't work!

VERY IMPORTANT!!! Before snatching the hook out line it up so that the barb comes out the same hole it entered. That is the most critical part to insure success.