Last Week's Report, On Stream First Aid & Link

[vandelay]

Griff and I got out last Monday and had a great day. Stoneflies, crawdads, eggs, hare's ear droppers all worked well. I also caught my first chain pikerel and a sucker fish on a fly rod. Griff did catch a 24 inch hog that was as dark as a blue catfish. She was a beauty fish! We did manage to land a lot fish and we really lost count.

We also got to try our luck with some on-stream first aid. I managed to cast a size 2 heavy weighted fly, on a weighted line too, into the back of my right hand. If this ever happens to you, remain calm and take a shot of whiskey. It was in very deep so we pulled the hook threw the other side of my hand so we could pitch the barb back, cut the back of the hook shank and pulled the remaining piece of hook threw the newly created whole in my hand. Even if you pitch your barbs back it is not a good idea to try to pull the hook back out the way it came it. Thanks to Griff and some calm heads, we prevailed and I kept fishing to land a dozen more trouth. My reco is to always have a first aid kit and a pair of plyers for all day float trips.

Also, click the link below and scroll to the right side to see a picture of mine that was selected for picture of the month. I took it last fall and the stone fly is one I bought from these guys, like I do for most of my stones. They are high quality flies.

http://www.bigyflyco.com/

[Al Agnew]

Ouch. It really bugs me that any angler doesn't know the EASY way to get hooks out. Pushing the barb on through is NOT the easy way. I guess I'll have to post the instructions again...see the general angling forum.