one trout and a lot of pain Feb 27, 2012

Fireman Bill

Yesterday my son Zack and I went fishing in our tandem yak in the wind. He tied on a suspending Mirrodine with a set of (in my opinion) oversized hooks to replace the rusty original hooks. The location we were fishing normally yields small trout. I told him the lure and hooks were way too big. What do I know, he proceeds to catch and release 14 trout most of which were well over 20 inches with the largest pushing 25 inches. He added a nice snook as well. From the back of the yak I managed 3 rather sad little trout, a sheepshead and a baby cuda. I told you so rang in my ears all the way home. My 15 year old is not a humble fisherman.

So today while junior was in school I took his rod with the winning lure still attached and returned to the scene of yesterday's beating and went wade fishing in search of redemption. I quickly caught a small trout and promptly stepped on a ray and took the barb through the heavy sole of my wading boat in the ankle. It really hurt. I managed to make it ashore with the assistance of a friend and drove myself to the hospital. Three hours later and $100.00 poorer I was good to go. Fortunately the barb did not snap off in my ankle.

My friend who assisted me had not had a bite all day so I gave him Zack's lucky lure before I left for the hospital. I hope he is still alive.

Fireman Bill

Joupdog1

Ouch! Good to hear he caught though!

Martin Local

and i thought the big hooks were going to be dangerous!

Plane Fish n

Martin Local wrote: »

and i thought the big hooks were going to be dangerous!

:Spittingcoffee :funnypost

Bill, you know what they say.. big hooks big... .uhhh... errrr.. ok.. it sounds something like that!

Did the barb remain and it was removed or was there no barb to remove in the first place?

Hope you feel better and get back out there soon.

Cheers

snookcook

Tough one!

El Pescador

Who cares about the PAIN part , Post a pic of the lure. heheheh:rotflmao

doubletreble

I don't mean to sound condescending, but were you doing the "stingray shuffle"? I don't like to wade fish because I am paranoid of getting stuck even when shuffling.

At least it didn't do too much damage. I was fishing off a pier this summer and caught a stingray. I cut him off, went back to fishing. There was an old-timer there who told me I was smart for just cutting the stingray off without trying to retrieve the hook. Then he proceeded to take his shoe off and show me where his big toe used to be, he said it was from getting stuck by a stingray.

Fireman Bill

I always try to shuffle but the bottom was grass and mud which made shuffling impossible. When I was looking for wading boots online I came across a wade fishing forum from Texas . They were all sharing their sting ray stories some of which were very frightening. I bought a pair of sting ray shin guards with the boots but I never wear them. I put them on yesterday to see if the shin guards would have prevented the ray from stabbing me. The wound was below the level of the shin guard through the thick part of the sole that comes up the side of the boot for a couple on inches. I will be back in the water wading as soon as my foot heals with the shin guards on. Wade fishing is far too enjoyable and productive to give up. If you get stuck a trip to the hospital is pretty much a necessity. They did an x-ray to look for the barb, gave me a long overdue tetanus shot and prescribed antibiotics to fend off infection. I think you could get into real medical trouble if you went home and played doctor on your own. It is my understanding the infection that can occur is very serious.

Plane Fish n

Fireman Bill wrote: »

If you get stuck a trip to the hospital is pretty much a necessity. They did an x-ray to look for the barb, gave me a long overdue tetanus shot and prescribed antibiotics to fend off infection. I think you could get into real medical trouble if you went home and played doctor on your own. It is my understanding the infection that can occur is very serious.

Great advice Bill!

Too many people figure they can take care of a wound like that forgetting that there are many parasites and bacteria living all over the slime that the barbs contain.

Hope you feel better soon.

I'm sure Zach will take care of the fishing while you are healing. grin

FS David

That's harsh. Hope you heal fast. I've always dreaded getting that sting.

Fireman Bill

I have always had the same dread of getting stuck by a sting ray wondering just how bad it would hurt. A good friend got stuck in the foot in the surf while wind surfing, He told me he could barely crawl out of the surf. His story has always been in the back of my mind when I go wade fishing. After I got stuck it really hurt but I kept waiting for it to really, really, really hurt which it never did. I guess I was lucky because the barb did not break off in my foot to keep delivering the love.