Hook In Finger (Picture Attached)

[Al Agnew]

String trick works well if the barbs not in. If it is doing the string can do more damage, my latest was all the way to the bend of the hook and no way would the string worked it had to be pushed out and clipped. Do-it-yourself medicine is at your own risk and it can cause more damage. Lord knows working party boats for years I have seen and been hooked a few times, the value of a great first aid kit is beyound doubt and keeping up on tentinus shots

You are totally wrong on that...if the hook isn't in past the barb you don't need to do anything but pull it out. Every hook I've gotten out with the string trick has been WAY past the barb. And the string thing does not do more damage as long as you have the hook aligned properly...it comes out through exactly the same hole it came in. Pushing it on through ALWAYS does further damage.

By aligning it properly, I mean visualizing where the barb itself is, and pushing on the eyelet exactly in line with the barb and the bend of the hook. What you want to do is push so that you are opening up the space where the barb itself went in. The only time I'd be a little hesitant about doing it is if it's a treble hook buried all the way to where only the shank is showing. If there is any of the bend still exposed, it works. If half the bend is exposed, it works with absolutely no problem if you do it right.

And just to be clear, all but one of the times I've had to get hooks out, they were treble hooks, and fairly good sized ones. One was a treble from a full size Zara Spook. Another was a big Rattle Trap hook (and that was the first time I ever tried it, and it was on my wife...I was sweating bullets hoping it would work!) The one in my big toe was a treble from a Sammy 115. The one in my calf was from a Sammy 100 (and I was in the second day of a three day float trip by myself, a good 18 miles from the nearest access where I was likely to find somebody to drive me into town.)

None of mine have been from trying to land or handle fish. One was when I was barefooted in the jetboat and hit the big rock on the Meramec. I had the Sammy lying in the bottom of the boat, and when I launched off the seat hitting the rock, my foot came down on it, so not only was I floundering to get myself back to the seat to start the motor again to get it off the rock, but I had to do it with this big lure stuck in my toe. After I got the boat under control I had to stop, grab a shoe, unlace it, and use the lace to get the hook out after clipping it off the split ring.

I'm sure I told this story before, but the one with the full size Spook was stuck in a friend's arm, on the outside just below the elbow. It was at a Smallmouth Alliance gathering, and when he came in off the water there were several of us there. He said he was heading for the emergency room. I told him I could get it out...it was pretty straightforward, hooked to about the middle of the bend. He was reluctant but finally agreed. I got the string ready by doubling and then doubling again a piece of 10 pound test fishing line. He was sitting at a picnic table, and as he watched, he was getting whiter and whiter. Just as I got the string looped around the bend of the hook after removing it from the lure, he got really woozy and his head started to sag. I was ready by that time, and flipped it out just as his head sank to the table. He came to a couple seconds later, and said, "No, I can't let you try this, I gotta go to the emergency room." I told him to look at his arm.

[Mitch f]

I was hoping you would tell that story!

I know you've said before that with the reverse barb hooks the shoestring trick may not work. I've been thinking about that because I've got a lot of Megabass Vision 110 jerk baits. I think you could maybe pull the shank toward you ( the opposite of the regular shoestring trick) and it might work.... But I'm not going to try out the theory!

[joeD]

Notice the Makers Mark.http://youtu.be/sKAAGWZskGg

[MOPanfisher]

While watching that video I noticed another one that the person puts a total of 4 hooks into his forearm, 3 are large 4/0 or so gamakatsu's and the 4th is smaller. He gets his friend to be the guy holding down on the hook. Funny part is his friend fails miserably at it, and the string trick did not work, ended up rebounding and shoving the point on through the skin and cutting it off. He pulled one out with a pair of pliers! I do know that if I ever decided to intentionally put a hook into my arm for demonstration purposes I would spend a little time first sharpening it to the point it would stab me if I so much as looked at it wrong. Don't think that will be a problem for me though.

[Al Agnew]

I was hoping you would tell that story!

I know you've said before that with the reverse barb hooks the shoestring trick may not work. I've been thinking about that because I've got a lot of Megabass Vision 110 jerk baits. I think you could maybe pull the shank toward you ( the opposite of the regular shoestring trick) and it might work.... But I'm not going to try out the theory!

I think you're right. I've been thinking about the outbarb hooks, and I think I know how I'd approach doing it, but I'd be a little reluctant to try it on somebody else first.

I think you'd have to grasp the eye of the hook in your fingers, and pull it away from the bard and at the same time press downward. And when you jerked the string, jerk it more vertically instead of at the angle you would normally.

But I'd much prefer just not to use those outbarb hooks. I don't see any real advantage in them, and they would definitely make getting a hook out more problematical.

[LittleRedFisherman]

This is a pretty good vid on how to do it!

[Jason R.]

The last time I stuck a hook in me was right by the ramp on the Gunnison in CO. I think it was a hopper- anyway I was not about to go to the emergency room and miss a sweet float- cut the fly off- fished for a while- fish were going nuts so I forgot about it until I sat down- and, because it was through my pants and then into my thigh, I remembered really quickly. Wish I'd known about this trick then- I pushed it through and it sucked. Used the rope trick on my dad's finger and it worked pretty well- he did manage to bleed all over his own boat though.

[On The Fly 6]

I'd rather lose a fish or two then have to pull a hook out of me, so I always make my hooks barbless. Even my spinning tackle I go barbless. Glad you got squared away!

[Al Agnew]

The last time I stuck a hook in me was right by the ramp on the Gunnison in CO. I think it was a hopper- anyway I was not about to go to the emergency room and miss a sweet float- cut the fly off- fished for a while- fish were going nuts so I forgot about it until I sat down- and, because it was through my pants and then into my thigh, I remembered really quickly. Wish I'd known about this trick then- I pushed it through and it sucked. Used the rope trick on my dad's finger and it worked pretty well- he did manage to bleed all over his own boat though.

Yeah, one thing that guy in the video implied was that when you get the hook out that way it doesn't bleed much. Bleeding depends entirely on where you got hooked. Some hook wounds don't bleed much, some do, no matter how you got the hook out. But two separate holes and a channel between them, which is what you have if you push the hook on through, is twice as likely to bleed a lot as one un-enlarged hole, which is what you get with the string trick. I've had plenty of hook pricks that were not past the barb that bled like crazy.

[Lvn2Fish]

The line trick worked on this one. About a mile from turners mill, on my way to riverton. Buddy set the hook with a jerk bait, it flew through the air and stuck there.