Pain inflicted by fish?

[AdrianK]

Spiny Blackfoot, aka black trevally, aka happy moment. I hooked one on a river 2 sea baby vibe earlier this year, and while I was looking for the pliers, it fell off and stuck 4 venomous spines into my foot. Holy #$@#$! it hurt. Even my breathing hurt for about 15 mins. I'm told that you need to stick the site into the hottest water you can stand... I found that pearler out about 3 days too late.

[Poodroo]

Not a great photo but this is a picture of a Butter Bream also known as a Mono in the aquarium world and in no way in any danger of inflicting a painful spike. Just thought I would clarify it a little Kev.

Poodroo

[GAD]

Happy moments , had a few of them ,10 min of pain .
Been spiked by a catty once , one peice of advice , don't get spiked by a catty.
Jelly fish stings ,lots of those ,some more paifull then others .
But I thank god I haven't been hit by a bulrout or stone fish,
A mate got spiked by a bulrout in the foot when we were around 20 and I had to rush him to the hospital, he was in serious pain, sick for a week ,couldn't walk on his foot for a week.
More recently another mate , was on a Beche-de-Mer boat and he got spiked in the hand , they poured boiling water on it , he had morphine and still could feel the burning he said ,they got him to TI and he flew to Cairns to heal for a month , reckoned it was the worst pain he'd ever felt and nothing seemed to dull it except boiling water so he got third degree burns on his hand, Not nice .....

Greg

[Brett1907]

A friend used to be a nurse on Lizard Island. Had a guy come in stung by iraknji jellyfish. They think he actually stumbled on a breeding ground and got hit by multiple stingers. The guy was delerious from the pain.

There are two types of irikanji the more painful one (which he got) isn't as deadly (luckily for him). The other can knock you out and kill you before you know it.

By the way,what is a bulrout?

Brett

[BrandonH]

I have been spiked by just about everything around Brisbane bar a stonefish

Stingray was only a graze and hurt for a littlewhile, no swelling and kept fishing

Catfish had a few stabs and grazes here but no more than 30mins of pain and a little swelling.

Scat #> had one about 3 inches long snap 3 spines into my index finger!!! was home in minutes and had them out and the finger in hot water was by far the worst instant sting but didn't last for long

And very similar to you adam!! I got done by a fortascue (aka bullrout)(worse of 3 times they have got me ) at cabagetree creek one night. didn't see it in the net it was right where i grab the last section of net before flinging a bit over hte shoulder.... Anyways 2 spines snaped in my thumb and 2 other puncher marks I did the marcho thing too but lasted 10 mins before I couldn't hold my hand below my chest #without my whole arm throbbing, I would get a little faint too got home and did the hot water thing, was a LOT better after 10mins but some pain stayed for a few hours...

Hot water or vinigar fixs most stingy things in the sea

Cheers N
Tight Lines

Brandon...

[BrandonH]

Not a great shot but you get the idea



I liken them to baby cod but with more markings and red eyes

[aussiefool]

I've been lucky, never been hit by anything yet. I have a rule that if it looks ugly then cut the line off before it comes into the boat. No exceptions, only a hook anyway

[bidkev]

Not a great photo but this is a picture of a Butter Bream also known as a Mono in the aquarium world and in no way in any danger of inflicting a painful spike. Just thought I would clarify it a little Kev.

Poodroo

Had a few wines last night and mixed me p's with me q's

This is a scat

[onerabbit]

Catfish have been popular!!!

I was fishing off the bank in Emigrant creek for bream one day when I caught what still stands as the biggest Blue catfish that I have ever caught.
I've caught heaps before, I know they have spines.
All I did was go to put my foot on it to hold it down while I took the hook out, I had boots on, but the damn dorsal spine went straight through the boot like it wasn't there & deep into the arch of my foot.
That one needed a trip to the hospital.

You would think that I had learned,

but no.... a couple of years later I managed to drve one into the arch of my other foot.

Now I just cut 'em off.

Muzz

[chicken]

I haven't been stung by anything but I knew a bloke who stood on a bream on the floor of the boat and nearly ended up losing his leg. The wound got infected and his leg blew up twice the size of normal. Don't know if infection was from bream or just an unclean wound. I spike myself all the time cleaning bream without fail but no damage done.

[Poodroo]

Well this has been a bit surprising. I didn't think that the catfish would be the leaders in pain infliction. I was expecting Happy Moments perhaps or even stingrays. Thanks to Chicken I now know that being spiked by anything is potentially harmful because I never considered the risk of infection. I also get spiked by bream, snapper, and one of the worst to get off a hook is those damn Parrotfish. Almost always as soon as you put some pressure on them to remove the hook they do that sideways thing they do and get you with the spike near their gill plates. I am always being cautious of their teeth go figure. Back in my aquarium days I used to keep Bullrouts in a tank. Not sure why. Never got spiked by one thank goodness. Anyway, keep the stories coming as I am having a great time reading them.

Poodroo

[DaMaGe]

When I was 12, (about 18 years ago) in Hervey Bay, I caught a Happy Moment and had no idea WTF it was. Sitting in the boat I swung the rod and dangling fish around to me old man who went and grabbed it, first it stung him in the hand, then he flinched and it landed in the top of his leg, we then got the fish loose and overboard.

My dad grabbed his hot coffee mug he had on the day and used it as treatment (not knowing any better, just felt like the right thing for him to do), but he was FUBAR. I had to start the boat and drive it to the boat ramp as my dad was near passed out with pain and agony. Seriously, it was the worst 45 minutes of my life at that age with NO experience with handling a boat, I drove the boat and beached it to the shore next to the boat ramp, I did damage to the motor as I knew not how to lift it manually while it was running and it got caught up on some rock and nearly threw a propeller, least it stalled the motor.

I seen a couple launching there boat and I yelled for help, they came to my aid, my dad tried his best to muncho it up at the stage but for some reason he stated that hot was cold and cold was hot, he also complained that his nomads were at least 3 times the size they should have been, as if the poison or whatever from the top of the leg went straight for the never regions. He couldn't eve walk. Any how's the couple I met, re-parked there boat/car and trailer and I gave them the keys to the land rover and they put the boat on the trailer etc.

They then drove our land rover and boat, while his wife followed (with there own boat and car) back to our place/home (as the Doctor Surgery was basically behind our house) and my Dad went and got treatment. He did not return for about 6 hours and when he did, did not get out of bed for 2 days until his nomads swelling went down and he could at least walk again.

That is to the day the most scariest, but now one of the most funniest stories I have with my dad, the poor bugger, I got him good. I was happy to not get grounded even when I remember the boat costing $200 or so to fix.

Thinking of it now, I started to laugh out loud...

[moondancer]

Well....believe it or not...the worst injury from a fish spine for me was from a large snapper!!!...Years back when we lived in melbourne - I was scaling a 5 kg beauty that I had caught, using one of those round metal scalers, and being quite vigourous about it, the boat lurched with another's wake, and on the 'up-stroke' my hand slipped and stuck the big front dorsal fin through my finger, snapping it off - . I thought I had a small fragment that I could feel still stuck in there(some time later, after heaps of blood, yelling and cursing) A few days later after many unsuccessful tries to get rid of what I thought was a small remaijning splinter..off to Frankston emergency, where after x-rays they found an inch or so of spine embeddedd in my finger - 3 local anastheitics later...the doc wanted to put me under a light general - I said just hold me down and get the sucker out - Eventually, he and one nurse did that and it took some pulling to get it out! To this day (that was 16 years back) I still have no nerve sensations where it was!

Damn fish tasted good thoiugh!!

Lawry

[Poodroo]

Ouch moondancer. That must have hurt heaps. One good thing I guess is that you got your own back by making a meal out of the fish that got you. That's the worst thing about fish like Happy Moments and Catfish is that you can't even seek revenge and eat them. At least your misfortune is my gain in that I will be sure to be more careful even around snapper spines. Thanks for sharing.

Poodroo

[agnes_jack]

Some nasty stuff there fella's
I have never had a severe sting yet....Touch wood, but I have seen a few people in a bad way from a few. Just to clarify the treatment for such stings.
You need to immerse the affected part of your body in the hottest water you can stand. Always test the water with an unafected part of the body first though, as the part that has been stung may not indicate that the water is tooooo hot. Check it first then submerse the stung part in the water. Fish stings such as happy moments etc have a heat labile, protein based toxin that will break down in heat. It can take up to 1/2 an hour or so for the pain to subside, so you may have to keep topping up the hot water, but keep checking the temp. I have heard of blokes putting a hand under the tell-tale on the outboard as a bit of pain relief when out at sea, but even hot coffee will do the trick.

Regards.....Tony