Got a Hook In Your Hand?
Capt. Jim Keith
Here’s a quick and easy way to remove a hook from your body. I have personally removed hooks from numerous hands, including my own, as well as heads, necks and cheeks. If you spend time on the water, you or someone around you will eventually get hooked.
If it’s a treble hook, the best thing to do is to cut it off the lure, because most lures have two sets of hooks. If you leave it on the bait, you stand a good chance of getting hooked by the second hook. From here on out, follow the next few steps to yank out J hooks and trebles.
1) Cut a piece of heavy line about 2 feet long. If you don’t have heavy line, double or triple the line you have. You don’t want it to break when you jerk on it.
2) Slide the line you just cut into the bend of the hook like the picture shows.
3) Press down on the eye or end of the hook.
4) Holding down on the eye of the hook with one hand, with the line in the other, which is around the bend of the hook, count to three and jerk it hard.
If you follow these four steps, the hook will come out and you can’t even feel it. I’ve shown this technique to doctors, and now some of them use it in the emergency room. It can certainly save a day of fishing.
Capt. Jim Keith, of Saltwater Assassin Fishing Charters, runs charters in the Suwannee River/Cedar Key, Fla., area. Contact him at (352) 535-5083 or visit www.fishcedarkey.com.