Hooked by Fishing

Of course I did this on purpose, I told my wife, showing her the large silver hook dangling from my left ring finger. You think an experienced fisherman like me could accidentally hook himself, I continued, unsuccessfully hiding a smile. She rolled her eyes, called East Hampton Urgent Care in Amagansett, and off we went to free the shiny devil from my person.

The day began with a fast ride on calm seas from Three Mile Harbor to the waters off Montauk Point. About 30 boats were trolling, anchored, or drifting around the Elbow, a well-known fishing spot a relatively short distance from the Lighthouse. We joined the fleet and began dipping eels on three-way rigs, hoping for a take from one of the large striped bass I’ve been writing about for the last two weeks. We enjoyed many nice drifts but our rods never bent. 

I looked around and found glum faces on the boats surrounding us, including those poor gents who were dancing parachute jigs close to the bottom with long sweeps of their rods under a roasting sun. Perhaps the fish preferred to dine under an ebbing tide rather than a flooding one. Whatever the reason, our eels went unmolested and we moved on to Frisbees, a patch of water southeast of the Point, to try our luck with sea bass and fluke. 

Instantly and for a long time thereafter we caught sea bass large and small as well as a porgy and sea robin now and then. It was glorious. Having had our fill with sea bass action, we decided to head back to the waters off the Point in search of stripers and fluke.  

I connected a new hand-tied Tide Rite Double Bucktail Hi-Lo fluke rig to the end of my line, added some squid strips to the twin Mustad hooks, and sent it down with a six-ounce teardrop sinker. The current was hurrying and the six ounces of lead just weren’t holding the bottom. I retrieved the rig, laying the weight on the boat’s wide gunnel. I grabbed a three-ounce sinker from an old plastic rice jar, added it to the rig’s sinker loop, and, without knowing it at the time, sealed my fate. 

Before returning the rig to the sea, I decided to reposition the pennant of squid on the bottom hook. I held the monofilament that suspends the hook from the main line between my left thumb and forefinger several inches above the bait.  Maybe it was the wake of a passing boat. Maybe it was just a rolling wave. But something caused the two sinkers resting on the gunnel to tumble, instantly jerking the line from between my squid-slimed fingers and propelling the sharp hook across and then into the fleshy tip of my ring finger, where it penetrated deep beyond the barb. 

After several colorful outbursts, I cut the line above the hook eye to avoid further damage to my finger. I looked at the impaled hook again and again with disbelief, and then attempted to dislodge it with a slow and steady pull. No luck. It was stuck good. After dabbing the wound with an alcohol swab from an onboard medical kit, I attempted to cut the shaft of the hook with my fishing pliers to keep it from flopping back and forth in the wound. Fortunately for me, I failed in this effort. With gear now stowed away, we headed back to Three Mile Harbor. 

Those industrious fellows at Tide Rite Tackle use an odd-shaped hook for their fluke rig. It’s elongated with a flattened curve at the end. It’s great for holding bait and securing fish, but doesn’t lend itself to easy removal from one’s finger. 

The clinic’s office was scheduled to close at 5 p.m. but it graciously stayed open to accommodate me. Upon arrival I was led to an examination room, passing several staff who observed my predicament with a “this should be interesting” curiosity. 

Dr. Lukose greeted me with a confident smile and closely examined the damage, gently probing here and there. He then deftly administered two shots of the anesthetic Lidocaine into my finger and got down to business. 

After testing that my fingertip was sufficiently numb, Dr. Lukose gently manipulated the hook’s barbed tip to point upward under the skin. Then with forceps and some force, he rotated the hook forward until the barb popped to the surface of my finger. Dr. Lukose then cut the barb off the hook with a small pair of red bolt cutters and removed the remains of the hook from the tiny wound. I didn’t feel a thing. A tetanus shot was suggested and declined because I had one within the last 10 years. I left with a white bandage, a script for antibiotics, and considerable admiration for the East Hampton Urgent Care team. 

Now what are the lessons learned here? First, make sure you have a medical kit with an alcohol swab or iodine in your car or boat as well as fresh water to immediately clean and sterilize the wound. Second, don’t cut off the shaft of the hook as I luckily failed to do. This makes removal of the hook more difficult, particularly if one wants to attempt the “secure and pop” hook removal trick using fishing line. Third, have at hand a pair of pliers capable of cutting an impaled hook from a dangling plug or lure. Fourth, don’t be an idiot like me and balance sinkers on the gunnel while holding a hook on slack line. Umm . . . maybe that should be first. 

Fishing remains red-hot around Montauk for boating anglers. Dave at Gone Fishing Marina in Montauk reported that hot weather is pushing stripers into deeper and cooler water and that chunky fluke and sea bass can be found at Frisbees and Cartwright. Big porgies are falling to diamond jigs in the rips and bluefin tuna in the 70-pound class have been hooked about 20 miles southeast of the End on spreader bars, he added. At Star Island Marina and Yacht Club in Montauk, a staff member reported that Sam Gershowitz, the owner of the facility, landed a 55-pound striped bass on a live-lined spot from his boat, Marlena.

Paul Apostolides at Paulie’s Tackle in Montauk said that surfcasters are finding bluefish with a nice striper here and there.

Sebastian Gorgione at Mrs. Sam’s Bait and Tackle in East Hampton said that a 40-pound striper fell to a nighttime angler live-lining eels into the rip off Bostwick Point and that staff at an East Hampton surf camp have been catching fluke from the beach on bucktails tipped with Gulp. 

Ken Morse at Tight Lines Tackle in Sag Harbor said there are strong catches of weakfish in Peconic Bay with one angler hooking 25 fish from 2 to 4 pounds.

Harvey Bennett at the Tackle Shop in Amagansett reported bluefish along ocean beaches, porgies throughout the bay, fluke at Napeague, and snappers showing in Amagansett. 

Follow The Star’s fishing columnist on Twitter, @ehstarfishing. Photos of prize catches can be emailed to David Kuperschmid at [email protected].