around 9:30pm last night...

[Pete_G]

I never have the camera when the good stuff happens.

So I was drifting around off Newport last night in the wetsuit. Catching small but decent fish up to around 35 inches with occasional bluefish. Nothing exciting but consistent hook ups, and there had to be a bigger one in there some where.

Then things went down hill. I hooked a smaller fish which I made the BIG mistake of winching in quickly, which is a big no-no when wetsuiting in deeper water. A green fish is always bad news when you're chest deep.

As is often the case when you get hooked, I don't really know what happened next but before I realized it I had a 29" bass hanging off the front 3/0 treble and the rear 3/0 treble hook was buried in my bicep...

A few quick tugs revealed that the hook had a solid bite of wetsuit and skin but I still wasn't sure how deep since it's extremely hard to manuever a hook when it's attached to me in a weird spot AND still has a fish attached. Due to the location of the hooks and the fish I literally couldn't cut them OR remove the fish OR remove any of it from my arm. Couldn't do anything but start a legs only 30 yard swim to shore. I had the fish by the lip with my left hand and my rod in the right.

I was lucky that the Ironman decided to come out last night and he was onshore behind me. When I finally came to the shore I hauled my self out and updated the Ironman on the what happened. Having free hands he was able to get the fish off me which was progress, but there was still a 2 oz. Needlefish hanging off me. So, out came the pliers. First step was to snip the tail loop on the plug to free the hook. More tries after that didn't help in getting the hook out of my arm. At that point came that horrible moment where you realize a hook just isn't coming out the way it went in.

Since I couldn't remove the wetsuit due to the hook we next cut the 3/0 hook down near the bend. My pliers are ancient and due for new cutters so it was a bit of a struggle but they did the job. Peeling off the wetsuit revealed what I expected, a deeply buried barb. The only brightside was there was a tiny exit wound where the hook point briefly surfaced. Nothing left to do but push at that point. I couldn't get the barb to pop back out though, so I pushed as much out as I could and then had Dr. Iron Mike Everin grab the point with pliers. A quick tug later and I was free...

Twice in one year after a decade long run without even having a close call. I'm making up for the drought now though. With bad luck coming in threes hopefully I can get the last one out of the way before the year is out.

[Jim D]

i know that feeling pete. Last september at cutty i burried a 4/0 vmc through my pointer finger with a bluefish attached. It's bad enough having a hook in you let alone a fish attached to the other end. Good thing the iron man was there for the assist.

[Back Beach]

That sucks Pete. One of the reasons I fish strictly eels and jigs is that I hate trebles. I have a very serious phobia of being hooked. I can't explain it.
Did you get any pics of the incident?

[Pete_G]

Unfortunately absolutely zero photo or video documentation. If it had been just 6 hours later there would have been video footage. Which would have been hilarious for some people. Apparently I looked like a X-mas tree coming out of the water with plug bags, surf rods, needlefish, surf bag, pliers, and a 29" striper hanging off various parts of my body...

I'm re-examining my night time deep wading offerings. I need the distance in some spots but I might fish more eels and Sluggos. Mostly though I just screwed up and tried to deal with a green striper while being chest deep in the water.

Oddly enough I'm very tolerant of getting hooked and all that goes with it. But it's not fun and I'd be just fine if it never happened again. The main lesson from this one is the reality check my bicep isn't THAT far away from my face...

[clogston]

that sucks pete. i used to be really good about always crushing the barbs on the rear trebles on all my plugs for just that reason (I ended up attached to a 30 lb'er by a bomber once, luckily she was beat) - this serves as a good reminder that I should be doing that again.

[jimmy sly]

when i spoke to you last night the story wasn't nearly this good with the details


glad you're ok pete


go get a shot

[rockdoc]

Lucky Doctor Mike was there! Imagine driving and then walking into the ER with that fish hanging off your arm.

Green fish are scary. You want to get them in and off quick, but one flip at just the wrong time and you're in trouble. I love eels, sluggos, and jigs for the same reason. The WORST is little Rattletraps and largemouth bass. And green bluefish, I always feel like they're looking at me, trying to figure out where to bite.

rockdoc

[Kevin J]

looks like you get the distinct honor of carrying Mike's beer bag for the rest of the season.

[afterhours]

ran into dr mike last night...he said he really enjoyed pulling that thing out...i was with arden in montauk when you called- he told me what the needle was- i suppose you need another ?

[bassballer]

thats funny pete. i had the same thing happen in my hand with a spook from the same manufacturer. But the spook was a gift so ill take it. Thanks for the spook don. its been catching! Although the back treble only has two hooks right now.