REELADY (US)

 HOOKED ON BEING A CO-ANGLER
Well, not that I am bragging or anything.... but how many of you can say that we've  never been hooked past the barb of a fishing hook?
For almost 22 years, I DID have those bragging rights... lol 
Like they say... whoever "they" are.... Life has a way of catching up with you. I'm here to tell you that "they" are right!!! lol
Yup, as I had just mentioned, I have been playing around with fish hooks for over 20 years and up until 3 weeks ago, when I decided to fish as a Co-Angler at Clarks Hill (Georgia) with the Bassmaster Elite Tour, I was one of the few who had the bragging rights of  "never being hooked past the barb".
I sure did make up for it though... big time!  Gosh.. where do I start???
Well, lets start with my first little incident....
Here we are... Day Two of the Bassmaster Elite tournament on Clarks Hill, and I am fishing on the back of Denny Brauer's boat. (Strike King wrapped boat) Poor Denny had the full blown flu. I felt so sorry for him. But, the good news for Denny was that he was in 1st place after day one, with a big lead over the guy in 2nd place.
Photo Courtesy of BASS/ESPN - Denny and Marcia at Launch
I was sitting pretty good myself after day one as a CoAngler. By the way, this was my first event fishing as a Co-Angler with the Elite Tour.
Cool... Denny is on some serious fish, and I may actually have a shot at winning the whole she-bang. Wouldn't that be awesome? Yeah... I thought so  I'd take my winnings and go buy myself a REAL Bassboat in 1/10th of a millisecond!
Meanwhile, Denny begged the ESPN Camera guys to not follow him around for the day because he was feeling really really bad. I'm talkin' this poor guy had the full blow flu! How he even managed to get himself out of bed is completely beyond me... They respected his request, and left us alone for the day.
Denny pulls up to his first spot... Oh yeah.... nice water... definitely "Marcia" kind of fishing  
I reached down to grab one of my rods and ended up with a treble hook from a lure that was tied on to another one of my rods smack dab in the middle of the palm of my hand....
Hmmm.... I looked at my hand to assess exactly how bad the hook had gotten me. Suprisingly...it didn't hurt.
So I gave it a little tug to see if it would just silently slip out...but nope....it just didn't want to cooperate with me. I pulled a little harder, to the point that it basically "tented" up the skin on the palm of my hand.
Meanhwhile, Denny has his line in the water, and is pretty much oblivious to me and my situation. Alright... so there was NO WAY that I was going to ask Denny Brauer to come over and help me out...lol. I mean, the last thing in the world I wanted to appear like was "needy" in any way, shape or form... right?
At this point I am sure thanking Denny in my mind for asking the ESPN Camera boat to not follow us for the day. Yup... they would have fun with my situation...at my cost!!! lol 
Knowing how badly I did not want to ask Denny for help, I knew that yanking this thing as hard as I possibly could was pretty much my only option. Seriously now... I just wanted to get my line in this gorgeous water!!!
So with a quick hard yank, I managed to free myself from this crankbait. Darned crankbait...I didn't like that one anyway!!! lol  My palm starts to trickle a little blood... I wipe it on my pants... again, and again, and again until it finally stopped. Luckily for me, it remained a secret between me and my crankbait
I felt pretty lucky because I got the hook out myself, but most importantly, I avoided the embarassment that would have come had I been forced to ask Denny for a helping hand
On another positive note, I did manage to catch my limit while fishing BEHIND Denny Brauer! To me, that was quite the accomplishment, because trust me, nothing was left untouched. As the matter of fact, my very last fish ended up coming from the total opposite side of the creek that we were fishing on! I saw one tiny little twig sticking up about a cast away. Lucky for me, I am pretty accurate with my casting. I slung my bait as hard as I could way to the other side, and I caught my 5th keeper off that one little twig sticking up in the middle of nowhere. I was so thankful for that little fish
After spending a day out on the water with Denny and his jigs, I got off his boat with the fierce determination to get as good with a jig as he is. I'm telling you, that man works miracles with that jig... the rumors are true
Photo Courtesy of BASS/ESPN - Marcia helping Denny bag up his catch
So that was my very first experience of getting hooked past the barb.. after twenty some years, I guess that's not so bad...
Now here we are on day three of the Clarks Hill tournament. I made the final cut, and now it was time to give it all I got... well as much as I could give from the back of the boat anyway...
I was paired with Jeff Kriet (in the Longhorn wrapped boat) for my third and final day of the tourney. I was pretty excited about this because I spent a lot of time talking with him in the hotel lobby during the Bassmaster Classic. So I thought it was pretty cool that he and I were paired together. Although getting paired with Shaw Grigsby would have been awesome too! ( I prefished Clarks Hill with Shaw for 3 days)

Photo: Jeff Kriet aka My Bassmaster Elite Hero  (you'll soon find out why!)
Jeff and I were pumped up when talking about the days possibilities. Could he win this event? Could I win this event? We were both one step closer to finding out.
There are definitely some nice sized fish in Clarks Hill, and for someone in my position, just one of those fish could bump me straight up to the top. I lost a BIG fish on day one when I was fishing with Jami Fralick, and I was determined to not let that happen to me again! Actually, looking back on this tournament, and my prefish, I don't think that I've ever had so many fish come "unbuttoned" after they were hooked! I swear, every fish that I caught would go aerial on me... I mean every single one!!!
At dinner one night, I had mentioned to Shaw and Gary Klein that I was losing so many fish and was totally baffled as to why. They both agree that "Post Spawn" fish tend to be real jumpers and hard to keep on the hook. I'll have to pay close attention to this theory next year when I fish for post spawn fish on another lake and see if it holds true. I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed this too?
Jeff and I pull up to his first spot. Once again... it's a sweet looking spot and I'm so excited to get my line in the water! I always wait for my "Pro" to get his line in the water first... I guess it's just a "respect" thing. Heck, they probably don't even notice, but for me, I feel that it's just the right thing to do.. ya know?
Fish are busting all over the place and boats are whizzing by on their way to their first honey hole. Jeff catches his first fish almost immediately. Awesome! It was a nice one too! I throw out my little Splash-it and something BIG came up and ate it. It never did go aerial on me which I thought was kinda interesting because almost all of my other fish had. Well, whatever this fish was, it was big, and was giving me one heck of a fight! The whole time that I was reeling this fish closer toward the boat, I kept thinking that this little topwater bait of mine was definitely my lucky bait. I mean, this was the same lure that caught me that beautiful 6.44lb bass on Lake Arbuckle just weeks ago! Little bait for big fish... gotta love it!
Everything was going smooth, the fish was behaving and staying down (which is what I prayed for everytime that I would hook a fish). My drag was perfect...and then all of the sudden I felt that dreaded feeling of my line suddenly going limp. Oh my gosh... you've got to be kidding!!!! Not only did I lose what could have been a HUGE bass, but I just lost my favorite and very lucky topwater lure!!!!! I looked at Jeff... Jeff looked at me.... I looked at the water...I looked at the end of my line and told jeff that I just lost my lucky lure and that I didn't have another to replace it!!!
So Jeff and I started talking about that fish that just got away. He felt that because it didn't jump, that it was most likely a striper. Yeah, I thought it was kinda weird too that it didn't jump. So, I accepted the idea that I probably just lost a big striper, along with my lucky lure, and not the BIG bass that could have helped pay for a new real Bass Boat....
I dug through my tackle box, and found something comparable... It was a "Rico". Very similiar to a Splash-it...but still not the same because it wasn't my "lucky" lure...
Jeff ends up catching his second keeper as I am tying on my replacement topwater bait. After he put it in the livewell, he looks at me and says.... "Hmmm... now I'm beginning to wonder if that big fish you had on WAS a bass because this fish that I just caught never went aerial!". Interesting indeed... But, that's water over the dam... time to get my line wet again....
I throw my new little bait out, having very little confidence in it because it was a different bait in a different color. On about my 4th cast, I had a fish come up and grab it. I got it to the boat, and it was a small striper that weighed about 1 1/2 - 2lbs.
This was my first striper, and boy did this little guy put up a good fight! I laid him on the back deck because I couldnt get my finger in his mouth because he had been hooked with all three treble hooks on the front hook which pretty much pinned his mouth closed.
When I reached down to grab him around his body, he decided to freak out on me and did some aerial acrobats himself! Next thing I knew, I felt a very odd sensation on my middle finger of my left hand.
I looked to see what was going on, only to realize that during that fishes acrobatic display, he managed to embed one of the hooks of the treble hook smack dab right where the side of my nail meets my finger. Oh know.... lol... not again!!! Jeff is in his "fishing zone", and the last thing I wanted to do was pull him away from active fish. Unfortunately though, this hook was deep, and the fish was still very much attached to the other hook.
I looked up at Jeff and said... "Ummm.... Jeff?..... ummm... I think I may need your help." He asked me if I was hooked.... I told him "yup".... He asked if it was past the barb... I looked...and said "Yup"....
He dropped his rod and came to assess the situation. I told him that I've never really been hooked this bad before. Meanwhile, I've got the DEATH GRIP around this fishes body because I knew that it wouldnt be a pretty thing if he were to get free from my grip and start up with his acrobatics again...lol
Jeff asked me to hand him the fish. Meanwhile, we are in a busy area of the lake and the boat is getting rocked like crazy from the wakes of all of the boats flying by.
So very carefully... very slowly and deliberately... I hand him over the fish. He's moving my hooked finger around to view it at all different angles to determine how he was going to go about removing this hook.
Suddenly, my "gymnast" striper decided to go at it again and flipped itself right out of Jeff's grasp.
I tried as best as I could to use my shoulder, elbow and wrist as a "shock". Jeff and I both frantically tried to pin that fish against the deck of the boat. Yeah, it was a pretty chaotic moment for the both of us...lol
Jeff looked at the hook in my finger to see if anything had changed after that last stunt and it had. Well, before the fish jumped out of Jeffs hands, Jeff was planning on using the "braided line technique" to remove the hook from the side of my fingernail. It was deep, but it wasn't past the turn of the hook.
But now the hook was pushed even deeper into my finger and you could see a small white dot on the top of my finger, which was actually my skin turning white from the pressure of the tip of the hook pressing up against it from underneath.
Jeff kept asking me if I was alright, in which I always replied..."yup.. I'm fine... Just do what ya gotta do to get the hook out so we can get our lines back in the water!"
He informed me that it was in way beyond the point of him being able to use the braided line removal method, and that he had to just push it through the tip of my finger, cut off the barb, and then back out the remainder of the hook.
Well, it's not like I had a choice in the matter....lol All I knew is that A) I was feeling incredibly guilty that I pulled him away from his fish to deal with my crisis and B) I just wanted to get both of our lines back in the water ASAP!
I handed him my finger to do with it whatever he felt he had to do. He told me that it may hurt as he was pushing it through the tip of my finger.
Well, I've had two children and quite a few other injuries that required stitches so I am no stranger to major pain.  I joked with Jeff as he was dealing with my finger, and constantly was questioning whether I was doing "alright". I told him that God decided that Women should give birth and not Men for a good reason. He laughed and totally agreed...lol
He pushed the hook through. I took some slow deep breaths. I told myself that "this is normal.... it happens all the time...and that there may be a bit of discomfort, but that it shall pass as soon as he was done doing whatever it was that he was doing with my finger"....
After he got the tip of the hook pushed out the top of my finger, Jeff suggested that I may want to put some ice on my finger for a bit when he was done. I told him that we will talk about that later, and for now, lets just get this thing out of my finger so we could fish!"  
He laughed at my attitude, and then proceeded to snip off the tip of the hook. Next he backed out the remainder of the hook and just like that, I was free again! Believe it or not, my finger really did not hurt!
Time to fish....picked up my rod, and I was back in business. I looked up at Jeff and he just sat there smiling and shaking his head....
Well, that whole episode gave Jeff and I a lot of good stuff to talk and laugh about over the next hour. Evidently, I got hooked in a really bad place.
So we pulled up on to another great spot about an hour later. We could visibly see many 2-3 pound bass cruising in this area. Oh yeah... time to get to business!!
Jeff catches a fish almost immedietely...just like Jeff likes to do.... 
I reach down to grab my rod to slide it out of it's little cubby hole. What I didn't realize was that two of my rod tips had intertwined with eachother during that last run.
I went to slide my rod out of it's little holder but because the rod tips were tangled with eachother, my rod came to a screaching halt, but my hand kept going up the rod.
Once again... I felt a very strange sensation on the index finger of my right hand. Oh my gosh! You've got to be kidding! I did it again!!!!!!!!!!!!
I looked at how bad the damage was, and wouldn't you know it, that darned thing was in way past the barb right on the side of my fingernail !
I laughed at the situation, and looked up at Jeff and with a very embarassed tone to my voice I said... "You are not going to believe this.... lol.... I did it again!"  He said... "What? You hooked yourself again???" Oh my gosh... the only thing I could do at this point was laugh, and so did he now that he realized that I wasn't going to pass out, throw up, or go into hysterical crying fits.
I totally regretted not getting a photo of my finger when I got hooked the first time. It was really really strange to look at my finger with a feather treble hook going in on one side of my finger and coming out through the top. I got one after that hook came out, but it totally doesn't capture the "moment" if ya know what I mean

This was the hook that Jeff pushed through the tip of my finger
So this time before I let jeff start his surgery, I reached for my camera to get a couple of pictures   Hopefully these pics won't bother you too much. lol

This was the second hook that Jeff had to remove
Once again, I handed my finger over to Jeff to let him work his magic. This one he removed it using the "Braided line" method.  I'll be honest, the thought of him yanking real hard on that hook to get it out was really not very appetizing to me if ya know what I mean. But at the same time, that hook would have a long way to travel through my finger if he were to push it through.
He removed the hook from the split ring, wrapped the braided line around the hook, pressed down the shank of the hook, and in one swift move he YANKED that hook right out of there! For those of you who ever have to use this method to remove a hook, this is certainly one instance where "HESITATION WILL GET YOU NO WHERE!"  Seriously... You have to yank it fast and you have to yank it hard.
Much to my suprise, getting that hook out was not painful at all. To me, the most painful part of the process was getting the hook off of the split ring. Yeah, that part did make me say ouch once. But then again, Jeff informed me that he wasn't going to "baby" me after seeing the type of pain that I can deal with. Yeah, he admitted that to me after the second hook was out. lol
Well now I have 1 bad finger on each hand, but to be honest with you, they really didn't hurt throughout the day. Well, my left one would ache after we would make a run and I was holding onto the handle on the side of the boat with a "death grip".... But once I figured out why my finger was thumping everytime I would start fishing a new area, I just held onto that handle with my other fingers and then all was fine for the rest of the day.
Fishing with Jeff was definitely a day on the water that I am not likely to forget any time soon... And something tells me that he won't either  
There are a couple of good lessons to be learned here folks... and one of them is have a good pair of wire cutters and split ring pliars on the boat at all times.
If you don't know the proper way to remove a hook, then PLEASE take the time to learn. It doesn't take a "rocket scientist" to figure it out, it just takes a strong stomach
Here is a diagram of the "Braided line" technique

Here is a link to some media coverage that I received during this event. Look for the headline "WBT REPRESENTS"
Click  HERE to read story.