If you ever get a barbed hook stuck in yourself or someone else would you know how to remove it? If the hook is above your shoulders, it's recommended you get medical assistance. If it's below your shoulders, you can remove it yourself. Here's a video showing one method that looks pretty slick. Anybody ever try this?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG3BvjnN84o

Just don't do the eye thing at the end of the vid…. PLEASE!

I used this method at Summit Lake about 10 years ago, had a small trout throw a rear treble on a rapala jointed minnow into my finger while attempting release,went into the launch for assistance, old men there were too creeped out to perform it I did it myself while they watched, NOT easy to do alone!I have had three hooks imbedded over the years, first one was at 12 or 13, idiotic chinese intern didn't know what a barb looked like, was pulling on it 'till I drew a hook with barb on his hand(Pretty mind-boggling for a 12 year old!), he stuck it through and cut off barb, pulled out. Second one was while working at Sears 25 years ago, while painting a post in the fishing dept. I slipped and stuck a Mepps spinner in my palm that was on a card with 20 others! A miracle that more weren't stuck in me. After trying unsuccessfully to pull it out I filed an accident report and went to St. Pete's for the same remedy as when I was a kid.Third time at Summit was the charm, pulled right out. A little hard to do alone, though. Make sure you educate your fishing partners before the incident! Great post, by the way.Bob R

Barbless is so much easier to pull out. Done it three times.

I'm fishing barbless 100 percent of the time these days. The hook to land ratio is pretty much the same in the hands of someone who knows how to play a fish.

Yes - I had this process done to me to removed a barbed 7/0 tuna plug hook from my index finger. The hook and hole seemed huge at the time. It wasn't pleasant, but not extremely bad either. It took weeks to heal.

Was on a two boat trip some 20 years ago. We had both just launched and were rigging up when my friend in the other boat said he was in need of some assistance. He quietly said he had a problem with a hook. He was fishing with his 9 year old son. I waded over with a pair of needle nose pliers and a set of side cutters. Upon my arrival into his boat, I observed that he had a lure hanging from his nose. In tying on a plug, he had held the tag end of the line with his teeth. It had slipped out when when he cinched the knot and he had a 3/0 stainless Mustad siwash hook embedded in his nose. The hook had entered through his nostril and the very tip of the point had broken through the skin at the tip of his nose. These hooks (a personal go to hook of my own) have a long point with a significant barb set back ~1/4-3/8 inch from the point.

I found the situation rather unsettling, but soldiered on.

My first thought was to ease the hook forward and cut it off behind the barb and then back it out. However, the nose is tougher than it seems and moderate force was not going to advance it. So I cut off the the eye and a portion of the shank, grabbed the point of the hook and went with the "clean and jerk" approach to pulling the hook swiftly through the tip of his nose.

He never made a single sound - gotta say I was impressed. His son never was really aware of the exact nature of the situation until it was done.

Bled like a stuck pig for 3-4 min. We went fishing. He never sought treatment. Healed fine in a week or two.

He did acquire the nick name "Hooknose".

I do not think the method in the video would have been of use in this case because of the geometry of having the bend of the hook inside his nostril.

OUCH!

Just reading that made me cringe. The nose is a horribly sensitive site. Think about how bad a zit feels in the nose… or how bad it feels to pluck an overgrown nose hair.

A hook? No thanks.

Just another reason to go barbless.

+1000 that makes my legs ache just thinking about it

I gotta sneeze now.Good luck,

SZ

There is no doubt that removing the barb before fishing with the hook is the best way to avoid that!

Fish on...

Todd

First, for the purposes of this "my impalement was worse than yours" discussion any event involving barbless hooks simply doesn't count.

That said, my most recent experience was during a Spring ling/rockfish trip to Neah Bay a few years back when we were fishing light jigs close to the rocks. The jigs had two single, barbed stinger hooks and apparently looked good to a really nice blackmouth.

Rather than net the fish I tried the gentle release at boatside and the ungrateful fish flopped and drove the second hook into the back of my thumb next to the joint. Since the fish was fairly well played out a sharp knife freed me from the fish but then I realized the old standard removal technique wasn't going to work because the hook had the barb on the outside. Whose idea was that????

Fished a bit longer and then decided that since it was Friday I should seek some professional expertise so off to the clinic for local anesthetic and a quick yank which removed the hook and a bit of meat.
Against medical advice that hand fished just fine the next day.

Yes, there are advantages to barbless when trying to overcome stupidity.

A salmon style de-hooker (hookscrew in a dowel) probably works as well as the string-trick. Same vector forces at work.

I would also guess that one of the lessons here would be to not use your mouth as a third hand in tying knots when there is an object with a hook attached involved.

That's why I like duo lock snaps… they generally don't bite back.

@ Larry B
mine was a too green to net coho 'bout 8 lbs. we forgot the net in the back of the truck. a wiggle wart was the lure of choice. the first run it tried to take after my hand slipped off the gills was exciting! I wasn't sure I was going to stay in the boat. the coho death roll attempt just hurt more than I can say. but the "best" part was my fishing partner using the wood shampoo on it with my finger still attached to the lure as was the fish....

my doctor used suture thread to slide down the shank of the hook into my finger to fill the barb....before pulling it out. I have no idea if the thread was to help or just fill time for my blood pressure to come back up after the Bubba, string on the shank pull failed. and since the point was well into the bone, pushing it threw was not an option...

barbless, please god, someone package a wiggle wart with a barbless hook....

The only time I was happy to be using a barbless hook in the salt....


....was when I hooked myself.