On this particular morning I got the pleasure of guideing Mr. Randy Mcginnis on a very bitter sweet trip. The morning started off with lot's of trout action in the flats. To start off the morning Randy caught a nice trout on a chartruse Mirrolure. As Randy went to unhook the fish it tried for freedom burrying the treble hook deep into Randy's left middle finger. As soon as I saw it I knew he was in trouble or at least it wasn't going to be easy to remove. Randy got down on the deck to get the fish to quit flopping and in our haste to get him off the lure he got the second hook of the same treble in his thumb. So now his thumb is hooked to his middle finger. So the impaled thumb was not a huge problem cause we could push it on thru the skin and cut the barb off and remove it. The finger was a different matter. It was deep and impossible to bend enough to pop it out to cut the barb. Only option? The old mono line jerk technique that we had both read about but never had to use before. So just like they describe we ran 30# mono through the bend of the hook, Randy pushed down on the eye(we had removed the lure), and on 3 I jerked and out it came with very little damage to what was now the exit wound. So I made it bleed best I could, washed in the salt water and after a high five or two we went back to fishing. No real pain or swelling YET. Continued to catch a mixed bag of trout, lady fish, spanish mackeral, and even a nice bluefish. We boated 40 trout in all.
The finger gave Randy no problems for over 24 hrs. Unfortunately and as GH will confirm, puncture wounds can become big problems. If they become infected there is no place for the purulance to go and it will seek the path of least resistance. In Randy's case he went from no pain and no swelling to mega pain and mega swelling very quickly after the 24hr mark. Trip #1 to the ER at Gulf Breeze Baptist involved a very short wait, tetanus shot, and bilateral rump antibiotics and admonition to return Sun a.m. due to worries that the infection might invade the tendon sheath(not good). He didn't make it till Sun. He was back at the ER later Sat. evening due to swelling and color change in my finger. This time no waiting, bad news: probably need surgery next day, good news: best hand surgeon in N Florida was on call.
8 a.m. Sun morning Barry Callahan M.D. takes one look at Randy's hand and says "You're gonna get to be on the other end of anesthesia machine today". The infection had indeed entered the tendon sheath and extended from the finger tip into the palm. Fortunately it had not traveled into the wrist. Surgery went well and Randy was in the hospital till Wed waiting on the culture and sensitivities so they could get the specific antibiotics. Funny how things can turn around so quickly. Randy was an outstaning customer and fisherman and I hope to fish with him again soon.
