02-11-2005, 09:19 PM
I Hooked the Big One!
Hooks on Bandit Crankbaits are extremely sharp, and also very tough. I discovered how sharp and how tough while fishing a Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament last Saturday night. I hooked the big one, and it took me five hours to get the hook out!
We started fishing at 4:00 PM and were scheduled to fish until midnight. Jim Hert had met me at the lake early and we watched some of the Red Man weigh-in, then scouted a couple of places on the way to the club blast-off point. One hump looked very promising, with baitfish and suspended bigger fish.
By 4:15 we were back there, and I started throwing a big Bandit Crankbait on the Ambas
eur 5500C and Diawai Cranking Stick I purchased at a pawn shop a few weeks ago. The reel was loaded with 8 # PLine, and that outfit would cast the huge crankbait a long way. I noticed how much the rod bent while I was reeling the plug in, but I knew cranking rods were fairly soft to allow give when a fish hit.
On about the fourth cast, a small bass grabbed the bait near the boat. At first I hollered for the net, but than said forget it since it was small and there is a 16 inch limit on largemouth at West Point. Then I saw the bass near the boat and realized it was a spot - with a 12 inch size limit. I pulled the fish out of the water, planning on swinging it into the boat, just as I had done thousands of times before.
When the fish popped our of the water, it looked like it had been launched by a rocket. The limber rod had loaded up, and the bass flew straight toward my face. I threw my right arm up to protect my face and to make the fish drop into the boat rather than go on over the other side.
I quickly realized something was not quite right when I saw the bass hanging from the bottom hook on the plug and the plug hanging from its top hook stuck into my wrist just below my palm. There was no real pain, but the pressure of the small bass hanging and flopping there made me grab it fast.
Jim came to the front of the boat and took hold of the fish. I managed to cut the line and drop the rod, then he got a pair of pliars and cut the split ring holding the hook with the fish on it. He dropped the fish in the live well after unhooking it and then cut the split ring holding the plug to my wrist. There was no blood and still no pain!
I had pulled hooks out of various parts of my body dozens of times over the years, so I was not too worried. Jim knew the trick of putting line under the hook and jerking it out so we looped some line between my skin and the hook. I held down the eye of the hook and he jerked. The idea is the hook point and barb back out the way they came in. Usually they pop right out. This one did not move!
About that time, I noticed my ring finger on my right hand was pulled down almost to my palm. When I moved it the hook wiggled! It looked really funny, now that I think back about it. At the time, all I could think was that the hook was in something it should not be in!
We were about 6 miles from the landing where my van and Jim's truck were sitting, but only a few hundred yards from a marina. Jim drove us to the marina and tied up the boat as I walked up to the store. A game warden met me on the ramp and I asked him if he could help. When he saw the hook he said we should go on to the store and he would call the paramedics. I got real embarrassed and wanted to hide my face when he looked at my name on my shirt.
He and his partner called the paramedics and waited with us on them. When they arrived, they took one look at the hook and how it wiggled, and said I had to go to the emergency room. They would transport me or I could go on my on, but they could not do anything there.
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Hooks on Bandit Crankbaits are extremely sharp, and also very tough. I discovered how sharp and how tough while fishing a Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament last Saturday night. I hooked the big one, and it took me five hours to get the hook out!
We started fishing at 4:00 PM and were scheduled to fish until midnight. Jim Hert had met me at the lake early and we watched some of the Red Man weigh-in, then scouted a couple of places on the way to the club blast-off point. One hump looked very promising, with baitfish and suspended bigger fish.
By 4:15 we were back there, and I started throwing a big Bandit Crankbait on the Ambas
eur 5500C and Diawai Cranking Stick I purchased at a pawn shop a few weeks ago. The reel was loaded with 8 # PLine, and that outfit would cast the huge crankbait a long way. I noticed how much the rod bent while I was reeling the plug in, but I knew cranking rods were fairly soft to allow give when a fish hit. On about the fourth cast, a small bass grabbed the bait near the boat. At first I hollered for the net, but than said forget it since it was small and there is a 16 inch limit on largemouth at West Point. Then I saw the bass near the boat and realized it was a spot - with a 12 inch size limit. I pulled the fish out of the water, planning on swinging it into the boat, just as I had done thousands of times before.
When the fish popped our of the water, it looked like it had been launched by a rocket. The limber rod had loaded up, and the bass flew straight toward my face. I threw my right arm up to protect my face and to make the fish drop into the boat rather than go on over the other side.
I quickly realized something was not quite right when I saw the bass hanging from the bottom hook on the plug and the plug hanging from its top hook stuck into my wrist just below my palm. There was no real pain, but the pressure of the small bass hanging and flopping there made me grab it fast.
Jim came to the front of the boat and took hold of the fish. I managed to cut the line and drop the rod, then he got a pair of pliars and cut the split ring holding the hook with the fish on it. He dropped the fish in the live well after unhooking it and then cut the split ring holding the plug to my wrist. There was no blood and still no pain!
I had pulled hooks out of various parts of my body dozens of times over the years, so I was not too worried. Jim knew the trick of putting line under the hook and jerking it out so we looped some line between my skin and the hook. I held down the eye of the hook and he jerked. The idea is the hook point and barb back out the way they came in. Usually they pop right out. This one did not move!
About that time, I noticed my ring finger on my right hand was pulled down almost to my palm. When I moved it the hook wiggled! It looked really funny, now that I think back about it. At the time, all I could think was that the hook was in something it should not be in!
We were about 6 miles from the landing where my van and Jim's truck were sitting, but only a few hundred yards from a marina. Jim drove us to the marina and tied up the boat as I walked up to the store. A game warden met me on the ramp and I asked him if he could help. When he saw the hook he said we should go on to the store and he would call the paramedics. I got real embarrassed and wanted to hide my face when he looked at my name on my shirt.
He and his partner called the paramedics and waited with us on them. When they arrived, they took one look at the hook and how it wiggled, and said I had to go to the emergency room. They would transport me or I could go on my on, but they could not do anything there.
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