In all my years of fishing I’ve been lucky to have never had a hook break my skin in any part of my body. Others haven’t been so lucky.
If you’ve done any amount of fishing, you know the technique to use if a hook goes into your skin beyond the barb: push it through past the barb, cut it off with a pair of pliers, then pull the hook out.
However, Billy Chapman of Angler’s Inn International did a great video to show an alternative method for removing hooks.
I’m skeptical about whether Mr. Chapman’s claim of this method being pain free is true, but it certainly appears to be effective. I might want to try it on a chicken breast or something similar before actually using it out in the field. Anyone ever used this technique?
View the video on YouTube if you don’t see the embedded video below.
I have seen this technique performed at a lodge in Canada. The guest was more freaked out by the “pop” than anything else. Distracting the injured is a great idea.
Glad to hear someone has seen it work first hand. Maybe I’ll be apt to use it then. Maybe.
I think I would rather just pass on the whole experience, but, you never know when one might need to know this technique. I have seen a few other techniques too across the ‘net. Sometimes it just seems that the person removing the hook is more freaked out than the poor guy with the hook embedded!
I can say the basic idea is sound. My son and I were pulling cranks one evening and he buried a hook in his palm while pulling the lure out of a northern’s mouth. He sat there staring at it for 20 minutes while I continued trolling. All the while I tried convincing him that the fastest thing to do would be to let me just pop the thing out. He finally relented, so I grabbed the big needle-nose we use to pull hooks, grabbed the hook as close to his skin as I could and just popped it out quick. Sort of like ripping off a bandaid as fast as you can to get the pain over with all at once.
I think it really is irrelevant how you do it… it’s going to hurt no matter what. I think pushing the hook all the way through just makes the pain worse.
Wow. I realize you are trying to save your son pain, but I would have a hard time doing that. But then, I’ve never had to pull out a hook before. Sounds like you have experience.