1st .open water trip

[The Grebe]

We were out for the first open water trip of the season today...4 of us hit a small backwater on the Misissippi River and had a pretty good time.

My first 2007 open water fish was about a 6-7 pound northern that whacked a small little crappie jig. I landed the beast on the ultra light and 4# test line.

Upon taking the little jig out of the bony lip at the side of the mouth, a proceedure that should have went off without a hitch, something I'v done a hundred times before, grab the pike behind the head with one hand, hold firmly and wiggle the hook out with the other, since it wasn't in his mouth....in the blink of an eye and the pike had ahold of my thumb.

I yelled to my bud that the thing had me and to give me a hand...well, with me holding him and two of my friends working on him, one prying open the jaws with a stick, I was able to extricate myself and turn the fish loose.

For anyone that has been bit by a pike, they know how those wounds bleed, you would have thought I had cut my thumb off!

Anyways, aside from that little incident, we had a pretty good time...we got a bunch of crappies, some over a pound, 3-4 humongus carp and 3 pike....for an hour and a half fishing trip, it was alot of fun, good company, alot of laughs and a positive start to the 2007 open water season...now tomorrow or the next day, we'll go ice fishing again.

[JohnMickish]

I feel your pain, litterally. I have done the same thing. I can't believe how sharp their teeth are and how much you bleed afterwords. Ouch.

[PerchJerker]

I was lifting up a muskie for a photo and few years ago and somehow she gave a little twist and got the base of my thumb in the back corner of her mouth and clamped down hard. Ouch. Blood everywhere (mine, not hers). And oh yeah, bandaids don't stick to wet hands.

[Dances with Walleye]

Quote:

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We were out for the first open water trip of the season today...4 of us hit a small backwater on the Misissippi River and had a pretty good time.

My first 2007 open water fish was about a 6-7 pound northern that whacked a small little crappie jig. I landed the beast on the ultra light and 4# test line.

Upon taking the little jig out of the bony lip at the side of the mouth, a proceedure that should have went off without a hitch, something I'v done a hundred times before, grab the pike behind the head with one hand, hold firmly and wiggle the hook out with the other, since it wasn't in his mouth....in the blink of an eye and the pike had ahold of my thumb.

I yelled to my bud that the thing had me and to give me a hand...well, with me holding him and two of my friends working on him, one prying open the jaws with a stick, I was able to extricate myself and turn the fish loose.

For anyone that has been bit by a pike, they know how those wounds bleed, you would have thought I had cut my thumb off!

Anyways, aside from that little incident, we had a pretty good time...we got a bunch of crappies, some over a pound, 3-4 humongus carp and 3 pike....for an hour and a half fishing trip, it was alot of fun, good company, alot of laughs and a positive start to the 2007 open water season...now tomorrow or the next day, we'll go ice fishing again.

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I have had the luck of never having taken a serious pike bite... Some close calls, and gill scrapes on my hands... But no bites...

My buddy on the other hand is the worst pike handler in Human History.

The guy can't catch 3 pike in a row, without having one bleed him like a hamster caught in a blender.

His favorite fish to target... Large Pike...

It's gotten to the point where he catches them, I net and unhook, for him, and hope to God that he doesn't want to have a picture of him holding the fish.

[The Grebe]

The pike have an anti-coagulant in their mouths, thats what makes a pike bite bleed so much.

I heard the theory somewhere that the anti-coagulant helps them follow a blood trail if they wound a prey fish?

I don't know if all fish have it, but the ones with sharp, cutting teeth certainly do!

I've been bled a few times, nothing major, one or two gallons of blood loss but I have a couple of friends that have been opened up by a pike!

One guy was drinking and made a grab for the gills of about a 10 pound fish and it got him. He was trying to get his fingers out and it got his other hand also...he was bleeding so bad it was running down the fish and dripping in a steady stream off it's tail!

Another guy inadvertently grabbed at a 20 plus pound pike that he brought up through the ice..the line broke and the grab must have been instinctive...he had trouble with that hand and those cuts for months!

Lastly, my oldest son somehow got his hand in about a 10 pound pikes mouth and that fish really put it to him! He had his white teeshirt wrapped around his hand and it was soaked through with blood! All three could have probably used a stitch or two to close up some of those wounds!