Just got back for Corolla, NC and wanted to share this. Lots of people fish at night where others swim during the day. Never had any issues until last Friday.
A friend's 24 yr old son and daughter-in-law were wading out to a sandbar and he thought a crab pinched his big toe. When he pull his foot back his realized he had been hooked. Problem was the storm style sinker was buried in the sandbar. Another girl from our group was near them and swam in to get me to help.
I took a boogie board for him to float on, water was 3-4' deep with waves rolling on the changing tide. Took me 2 dives to pull the sinker out of the sand. It was buried about 12" in the sandbar. I learned how easily braided wire leaders can cut fingers.
Got him back on the beach and then the fun began. The hook still had the head from a 10" mullet on it with a 2" float, wire leader and the 3 or 4 oz sinker. Lifeguard only had safety scissors, I ruined them cutting the wire leader and float off.
Next step was to push the hook thru so it could be cut and backed out. 1st push on the hook was to gauge how much pain he could handle and just got the tip to break past the skin. He did well, so we took a break to breath and so he could drink a beer. 2nd push got it out so I could cut it after the barb. Luckily the barb had been snipped by the fisherman leaving just a nub. Took a few attempts to cut the hook with needle nose fishing pliers, but finally it worked. Then we held the toe firmly and backed out the hook.
The pretty little blonde lifeguard took over to bandage him up and said you aren't bleeding much. Where did all of the blood come from? He laughed and pointed to me saying it's his hands. The leader had cut and taken some skin off of fingers on both hands.
My beach bag now includes sunscreen and a pair of lineman pliers.
Here's the hook and the method we used to remove it.
A friend's 24 yr old son and daughter-in-law were wading out to a sandbar and he thought a crab pinched his big toe. When he pull his foot back his realized he had been hooked. Problem was the storm style sinker was buried in the sandbar. Another girl from our group was near them and swam in to get me to help.
I took a boogie board for him to float on, water was 3-4' deep with waves rolling on the changing tide. Took me 2 dives to pull the sinker out of the sand. It was buried about 12" in the sandbar. I learned how easily braided wire leaders can cut fingers.
Got him back on the beach and then the fun began. The hook still had the head from a 10" mullet on it with a 2" float, wire leader and the 3 or 4 oz sinker. Lifeguard only had safety scissors, I ruined them cutting the wire leader and float off.
Next step was to push the hook thru so it could be cut and backed out. 1st push on the hook was to gauge how much pain he could handle and just got the tip to break past the skin. He did well, so we took a break to breath and so he could drink a beer. 2nd push got it out so I could cut it after the barb. Luckily the barb had been snipped by the fisherman leaving just a nub. Took a few attempts to cut the hook with needle nose fishing pliers, but finally it worked. Then we held the toe firmly and backed out the hook.
The pretty little blonde lifeguard took over to bandage him up and said you aren't bleeding much. Where did all of the blood come from? He laughed and pointed to me saying it's his hands. The leader had cut and taken some skin off of fingers on both hands.
My beach bag now includes sunscreen and a pair of lineman pliers.
Here's the hook and the method we used to remove it.
