Careful with catfish

Just a fair warning to those who don't think hard head catfish are dangerous...

I've been spined several times over the past few years by these darn things, and it always hurts. Normally, I just give it a few minutes and the pain goes away, no problem. Well, on my last trip down in early May, I got spined on my left ring finger right on the knuckle. As usual, terrible pain and blood. strangley, this time it didn't go away. The rest of the day it swelled and sweated like crazy.

Come to find out, I have an infection of mycobacterium marinum. It's going on 75 days and I'm unable to clench my finger into my fist or get my wedding band on. Hurts like hell when I bump into anything. Doctor said these fungal bacteria can take 6months+ to heal, and I'm having to go back monthly for checkups.

better yet, if it hasn't improved by next month he is going to slice it open to get culture samples. I'd post some nasty pictures here of the seriousness of marine bacteria, but you can all Google.

Going forward, catfish get the towel treatment.

I got a spine under my fingernail last June while grabbing the hook and trying to shake one off without touching it. Not a pleasant experience.

I sometimes disrespect the lowly hardhead and get careless, and as the Jimmy Buffet song says, "I finally learned a lot about pain."

Don't drop one on your foot---the spine will go right through your shoe.

Don't kick one overboard while wearing flip-flops----obvious reasons.

I haven't had an issue with a hardhead catfish since I was in my 20s. I always use pliers when I remove a hook from any fish and I try not to handle the fish at all. I'll grab it with the pliers to throw it back. Most of the time, hardhead catfish won't hit what I'm throwing so I don't usually catch any hardheads unless I'm fishing for whiting or pompano and not all that often, even then. Even though I learned to hold the catfish where their fins are all forced forward, it's still better to not touch them at all - Better to clip the hook off and let him have it than to try to dig a hook out of a gut-hooked catfish and run the risk of him finning you.

Thanks for the advice mattb. Those things are not to be played with, and they suck for bait too, which makes catching them really useless. I hate catching them then unhooking them, but I love fishing so much its the price I pay when I try for pomps and flounder. I have been lucky (knock on wood) not to get any any marine bacteria from them and I have been cut by them numerous times. I once even stepped on a baby gafftop (I know different kind of catfish) that went through my foot back in the day when you could fish out at fort morgan at night. I hope things get better for you and keep us updated on your progress. If they are good for bait please let me know for what species and ill use for them, because I have tried relentlessly and have not had any success with it.

Man, hope your finger gets well soon. That bacteria is no joke.

Careful with shrimp heads too. I stepped on one of my bait shrimp heads in the sand last year and it swole my whole leg and foot up. I started some antibiotic that night and about 3 to 4 days later the swelling finally went down. Not sure if it was from the nasty shrimp or may be the bacteria in the sand.

All things that both you and I have seen happen Mr. Wire. Sometimes more than once!

Sharks will eat hardheads; not that I was wanting a shark. #10 mono is not the string to use for sharks, but we had a shark take a hardhead while we were reeling it in while surf fishing. I was lucky enough to pull the catfish out of his mouth when I palmed my spool to break the line before I got spooled off. The catfish looked like he went through a shredder or something. Catfish succumbed to his wounds, and was given a burial at sea; it seemed proper.

I have a home made dehooker that I make from a clothes hanger. Has a very small U shape bend on one end that I hook the line and slide down to the curve of the hook and then just flip and roll the fish off. The other end of the clothes hangar is bent to form an easy to hold type handle. I have used these for fifty years plus and strongly recommend them. Anytime I am on the pier and see someone near me doing something dangerous to unhook one of these upleasant creatures I offer to help them by using my "dehooker".