Nice article on how to get out of that bad situation.
**just my opinion from my first aid classes. I'm not a doctor** A good thing to remember is if you get a hook to the face or in an area that may have large vessels underneath, the best thing to do is to leave it in place and have it taken out at the ER. You should only take hooks out on the water if it's totally necessary.
This pic shows Dr. Hart self-inserting two new Gamagatsu J-hooks side by side for a comparison of the “snatch” method with the “push-through” method of hook removal.
Snatch Method-1. The next pic illustrates the use of a short piece of heavy-duty mono around the hook in the “snatch” method.
Snatch Method-2. WARNING! You also need to be especially careful with the “snatch” method since anyone in the vicinity stands a chance of being hooked even more severely in the face or eye during the extraction procedure.
Push-thru Method-1. You will need two pairs of pliers/side cutters for this method. In the left-hand pic, first grip the shank of the hook with a pair of normal long-nose or other pliers to stabilize it and to keep it from twisting (very painful!). Then in the right-hand pic, you cut off the eye of the hook with your bolt, or side cutters.
Push-thru Method-2. Next comes the hard part—you grip the shank of the hook (or what is left of it), and then roll it up and out thru the skin to form a brand-new opening and expose the barb (also very painful, depending on how much fresh, un-hooked tissue you need to pass through).
Push-thru Method-3. It finally gets a bit easier from here on out. The idea now is to grip the hook with your long-nose pliers just above the exposed barb and then quickly roll or rotate the eye-less hook shank up and out thru your second opening—i.e., your new “exit” wound.
Pain scale
