Reaux

Some of you might have seen this one elsewhere.

Reaux

Hooked

October 1986, a weekend night, and the Red Sox were playing the Mets in the World Series; ?The Sox can win it all tonight,? I thought as I drove south to the Cape Cod Canal. The tide was right and would be falling until almost two in the morning; inexplicably, even though I was a lifelong Red Sox fan, I couldn?t bear to watch the big game, just too much tension, so I was going fishing for striped bass instead.

?Good idea? I thought as I walked along the canal, ?Everybody should be at home or in a bar watching the game while I have the place pretty much to myself.? Pop! Pop! I could hear the bass working along the riprap; occasionally I?d see the splash and rain of frightened silversides as they tried to escape the bass slashing through their school. ?Piece of cake? I thought as I unlimbered my fly rod; rolling my line out, I was soon hooked-up with a nice bass, and then another. This went on for quite a bit, and then, like a moth to flame, I thought ?Gee it must be the fourth or fifth inning by now -- I wonder how the Red Sox are doing?? So I went back to the truck to listen in on the radio.

Back at the truck, I saw that I had company -- another vehicle. ?Must be other fisherman,? I thought as I stowed my rod away. Then I saw a shadowy figure approach. ?Hi? he said as he got closer; then ?Could you help us? My buddy has a hook in his thumb.? ?So why don?t you guys go to a hospital or something? I asked. ?We aren?t from around here, and we don?t know where to go? he replied as we walked over to their vehicle. Over at their vehicle, we introduced ourselves, and as I turned on my flashlight I got my first glimpse of Robertos? predicament. It made my skin crawl to watch him manipulate a large treble hook, which was driven dead center into the middle of his thumb. The hook was still attached to a large lure (stripers often like large offerings); furthermore, there was a second set of treble hooks rattling around as Roberto wiggled the deeply embedded hook. ?OK? I said, ?I can help you guys. I know how to get that hook out. I?ll coach you but you?ll have to do the extraction yourselves . . .agreed??

They agreed and we set about getting ready. First, I asked if they had pliers large enough to cut the lure away from Roberto. They did, and after removing the lure, we turned our attention to the two exposed hooks of the treble hook and cut them off as well. We were then left with a single hook embedded in Roberto?s thumb. ?Got any thirty or forty pound test line?? I asked Clifford. ?Yes, in the back,? he replied. ?Cut off about three feet and tie it into a loop,? I instructed. After this was done, I told them, ?We?re going to need a little teamwork for this next part. Clifford, you?re going to need to depress the eye of the hook and hold it down with your finger. Roberto will take the loop of line and place it in the bend of the hook and when he?s ready he?ll pull back in a direction parallel to the shank of the hook.? After they got set, I asked, ?You guys got any questions? No? Okay, Roberto, remember to pull in line with the hook shank.? Roberto took a deep breath and suddenly made a short sharp pull back. ?Damn!? he exclaimed, ?I didn?t feel a thing,? as he held the loop with the freed hook rocking gently within it.

They thanked me and with a feeling of satisfaction I made my way back to my truck and turned the radio on just in time to hear this fateful call: ?It?s a ground ball to first . . . and it?s through Buckner?s legs.?

Fishing lures are meant to imitate something alive so it shouldn?t be surprising that dogs express a keen interest in that moving wiggly thing. Some dogs will even do you the grand favor of retrieving your lure. Hooks and dogs don?t belong together. Accidents can and will happen. The worst I ever experienced occurred when a retriever got hooked in the leg and then tried to bite the offending lure off only to get hooked a second time. Even if you never attempt to personally remove an embedded hook it is critical to have pliers of sufficient strength so that you can cut through the hooks. As in the case of the retriever, a dog, or a person can become hooked in more than one place at once, and that is when the ability to cut the hooks comes in especially handy.

Sometimes the hook goes all the way in and then out in a different location; in this situation, cut off or mash the barb down and back the hook out. In other cases, it may be possible to push the hook through and then, as above cut or mash the barb. In the case of a deeply embedded hook where pushing the hook through is not feasible or possible, a simple alternative removal technique is available. I don?t know by whom, or where this technique was first developed, but I do know from personal experience that the people manning hospital emergency rooms are quite adept at this technique.

As with removing porcupine quills, your dog probably won?t take kindly to your ministrations; if this is the case, use a muzzle if one is available or tape the dog?s muzzle shut. If you are dealing with only one hook, proceed to the next step; if there are multiple hooks dangling about, use the pliers to cut or otherwise remove the extra hooks so that you only have one hook to deal with. Next, make a loop of strong line about twelve or fifteen inches in length and place it such that it comes up snug against the bend of the hook. Finally, press down with your finger on the eye of the hook; press it down all the way to the dog?s skin and hold it there; make sure to keep everything on a vertical plane. Depressing the eye of the hook positions it so that the bend of the hook acts as a shield, preventing the barb from engaging flesh. The final step is to give a quick (not violent) pull back directly in line with the shank of the hook.