I think we have all had that experience, and salt water or (fresh)
dosent make it any better.

The scary thing is it's always with rusted hooks...lol

Hi all. I just found this newsgroup, saw this thread and it made me
laugh at myself.

I got hit in the wierdest (maybe I should say "dumbest" way)
recently. I tossed three big topwater lures in one of the canvas
saddle bags on my motorcycle. When I went to take them out I noticed
that one of the treble hooks was stuck way down inside the bag. I
thought, "I'll cut it loose later," then promptly forgot it was in
there.

A few days later I took some papers over to the bike dealer, got off
the bike in the empty parking lot, reached in and &%#$!!! Not only
was I hooked but I couldn't get the thing out. To make matters worse
I was alone with my hand stuck down in the bag, the hook having gone
through a tendon and under a small vein in the back of my hand.

It gets worse. My knife was in the other saddle bag where I couldn't
reach it to try to free the hook from the bag or even cut the bag
loose from the bike. I couldn't call 911 (which I didn't want to do
anyway since I felt so stupid) because my cell phone was just barely
unreachable to my free hand. After a few minutes a guy walked into
the lot and started looking at bikes about 50 yards away. I yelled
to him that I needed help. I must have looked strange, standing
there with my hand down in the bag and asking him to come over
because he approached cautiously.

I explained my predicament and he tried to help by unfastening the
saddle bags. I don't know how many here ride motorcycles, but
imagine trying to gingerly lift and maneuver a bulky set of connected
bags while one of them is attached to your hand with a big fish hook.
Needless to say, that didn't work. He went inside and brought out
half the staff of the bike shop. Some came to help. The rest
probably just wanted to see the moron attached to the bike!

With a large, very sharp knife and a pair of heavy duty snips they
were able to reduce my saddle bags to small scraps of canvas and free
me with only a single piece roughly twice the size of my hand
remaining firmly attached to me. A four mile ride in one of the
repair techs' pickup truck got me to the ER. Fortunately, one of the
doctors on duty is an experienced fisherman (goes to the boundary
waters every year). He cut away the remaining canvas, shot my hand
full of something to numb it and had the hook out in a couple of
minutes.

He also taught me how to pop a hook out in the field. Since this one
went through a tendon that wasn't an option. He pushed it through,
cut the barb off and withdrew it with no significant damage, other
than to my ego and my saddle bags.

Lessons learned:

1. Don't leave unguarded hooks in canvas bags.
2. If I forget lesson 1, don't reach in there.
3. Keep cell phone in shirt pocket and knife in belt sheath in case I
forget 1 + 2. :^)

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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Bass Home Electronics
941-925-8650
4883 Fallcrest Circle
Sarasota · Florida · 34233
http://www.bassburglaralarms.com
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