Re: Ever been attacked by a fish?
here's my fav attacked by a fish experience... One weekend I went alone out to our cottage to do some work. I thought I'd go out and do a couple hours of early morning fishing the next morning so went out in the boat looking for jacks (Northerns) or small mouth. Although barbs are legal in Ont, I always fish barbless since I return 99% to the lake anyway. I catch enough pike that I don't normally bother with the net... Just grab them with my left hand, use haemostats to un-hook them, then toss 'em back (we're talking mostly small ones <6 lbs or so here). Well, I got one that I went to grab, but I underestimated his size and how much fight he had left. As I reached over the gunwhale (while lifting his head up slightly), he jumped/thrashed just as my hand was close. Turned out it was about a 10-12 pounder with nice sized teeth. My hand took the brunt of thrashing teeth as well as having the treble hook slice through one of my fingers it as the hook flew out it's mouth....
I got a good look at the fish as it breached next to me and then went down and away. Next I looked at my hand where the blood was already running down my elbow....
Got back to the cabin (~15 min boat ride), then after getting the bleeding to stop with a finger turniquet, was able to glue the slices in my hand back together (thereby avoiding wasting 1/2 day getting stitches)... Did a good job considering I was working 1 handed. Most of the time I was laughing thinking of what I would do if I glued my hands together... After I was done that though, the kitchen of the cabin and the back 1/2 of my fishing boat looked like a Tarantino movie....
Took me an hour to clean up. My own mini version of pulp fiction. (a tad of hyperbole here... but it was bloody!)
BTW, this is why I always keep a new, unopened crazy glue in my tackle box or fanny pack. Never know when a good fish is going to coincide with a bad decision on my part...
