# 4/12/15 Ft Pickens - The Good and the Bad



## Penn720 (Nov 1, 2013)

My Father-inlaw, my son and I decided to head to Ft Pickens on Sunday since the Pompano have been on fire out there. It was cloudy with on and off light rain, and the surf was about a foot or so with a light ESE wind. The tide was really high and there were traces of Sargasom weed in the water. We started off using shrimp but switched to fleas as they weren't that hard to catch. 
As we had hoped, the Pomps were still there in force. We caught 5 about 30 minutes. A school/pod of porpoises decided to check out the action so the the bite stopped for about 20 minutes. It started to pick back up as we caught one more pomp and a sting ray. That was the end of the good, and the start of the bad.
After casting back out, I was wading in and right at the shorebreak I felt a sharp pain in my toe. At first I thought it was the ray we hd just released. But once I got out of the water I could see it was a hook, still attached to some sort of leader with a 1' diameter loop on it. After a close inspection we decided an emergency room trip was necessary.
I know we preach and preach about never leave discarded hooks and leaders on the beach or in the water but I guess some people just don't have a clue. I've been surf fishing, surfing and swimming in the Gulf for 40 years and have managed only a few scrapes and scratches from shells and crabs. And now some jerk tosses out an old leader and Bamm, I'm in the ER.
Just in case somebody still doesn't understand, " DO NOT THROW OUT OLD HOOKS AND LEADERS ON THE BEACH, OR IN THE WATER!!!!

Sorry, No pics of the fish due to the rain and ER visit. Toe pic taken in the truck. The hook didn't go "through" my toe as it might look in the pic. The shank is curved around my toe and then in it.


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## J0nesi (Jun 22, 2011)

WOW thats gotta suck.


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## servo765 (May 25, 2013)

yikes! damn scumbags….

My brother has a really gruesome picture of a 10/0 black chrome octopus hook clean through the palm of his hand, so I suppose it could be worse!


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## Rightbrained (Apr 5, 2013)

Man , that looks painful! 
Unfortunaltely whoever left that behind has never had that happen to them.


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## Jason B (Jul 3, 2014)

That sucks


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

Ouch.......definitely wasn't worth $50.00!!! Sorry fer the ER visit! At least you smelled good and they probably wanted to get you in and out in a hurry!


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## Sailor50 (Nov 8, 2007)

Sorry for the pain, gotta hurt. As a note, I have lost rigs in the gulf (broke line) accidentally, no way to find them. And have snagged a broken leader with hooks once, so it happens. Another thing you have to watch is some people dont throw catfish back, leave them on the beach, get buried in sand, and someone gets a barb in their foot. Good report, appreciate it.


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## fishin for pompanos (May 10, 2012)

Wow sorry for the hook in the toe. That is addressing the bad. Now to address the good, what a great catch you guys had! That toe will feel all better as soon as you eat that fried pomp! Keep on fishin......


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## Penn720 (Nov 1, 2013)

fishin for pompanos said:


> Wow sorry for the hook in the toe. That is addressing the bad. Now to address the good, what a great catch you guys had! That toe will feel all better as soon as you eat that fried pomp! Keep on fishin......



You're right. It would've been much worse if we'd have gotten skunked.

Toe's feeling a lot better this evening. Hoping to be back on the beach this weekend. (sooner if I didn't have to go to work).


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## flappininthebreeze (Jul 13, 2009)

Had a similar injury through the meat of my little finger, with a hook hung on an anchor line. Since we were 12 mi offshore, we took a Leatherman tool to it, snipped off the barb, and pulled the shaft out. AB ointment and a bandage did the trick. With a smooth shaft object, it it a coin flip. Had it been a stingray or catfish barb, no way. Always better safe than sorry, but there are options.anyway, Bon Apetit.


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## jonscott8 (Jan 18, 2015)

Ouch, that looks like a precursor to a tetanus shot. Congrats on the fish.


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## Lukeknox (Mar 5, 2015)

Sorry bout that man, thats gotta suck


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## GROUPERKING (Sep 28, 2011)

Dang ! , but with the pompano biting I believe that I might have had to just snatch it out and finish catching my limit and get a tetanus shot on the way home. Lol


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