brewer always wears safety gargles on the river because of just sort of things. two years ago on the kalama i had a very near close call with a hook going threw my thumb below the thumbnail. then i had a hook bury past the barb on the same thumb but along side the thumbnail. i have never had to witness or remove a hook from myself or anyone. since the appearence made my brother and nephew gag. brewer had to push the hook threw my thumb on my own and extract it. then three hours later had another hook buried into my left middle finger knuckle!!! no lie. by this time brewer is a master at hook removel, i won't go into how it happened a 3rd time but brewer pulled out the needlenose pliers, pushed that hook through the skin, cut the barb and slid the 3'00 back out. slammed a IPA and was good to go! this was all in one days fishing.