# Hardhead got me



## Reel Cajun (Aug 1, 2006)

Pulled up to an oil rig in Trinity Sunday morning, and first fish was a 27" red, I was thinking, this is a good start. Next fish was about a 1 1/2 lb hardhead. I have handled millions of these things with no problem, but I didn't grab it tight enough. It wiggled upwards and to the side and stuck me in my middle finger and went down into my knuckle-in my hand. My whole hand is about twice the size of the other. I guess I'll stop by the clinic tomorrow to see about some antibiotics?


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## bayou vista (Jun 28, 2008)

ouch! pic?


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## notthatdeep (Feb 5, 2005)

Ice water will kill the pain until you get to a doc.


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## trophytroutman (Mar 21, 2009)

Yea think Iwould get something for it.Good luck and hope the hand feels better.


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## KEN KERLEY (Nov 13, 2006)

double ouch!


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## DavidCorpusTX (Aug 11, 2005)

If it really is that swollen I would go to the hospital ASAP. If it is a vibrio infection 12 hrs could make the difference between keeping and losing the hand. It could be that it is just an allergic reaction though.


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## great white fisherman (Jun 24, 2008)

Sorry man, that gotta hurt. Hope it gets better fast. Its pulling it out that gets to me.


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## Reel Cajun (Aug 1, 2006)

A picture of my hand.


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## garybryan (Nov 23, 2009)

DavidCorpusTX said:


> If it really is that swollen I would go to the hospital ASAP. If it is a vibrio infection 12 hrs could make the difference between keeping and losing the hand. It could be that it is just an allergic reaction though.


X100


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

DavidCorpusTX said:


> If it really is that swollen I would go to the hospital ASAP. If it is a vibrio infection 12 hrs could make the difference between keeping and losing the hand.


Vibrio might prove to be the least of your worries. I would be more concerned about necrotizing fascitis & mycobacterium marinum.


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## Profish00 (May 21, 2004)

Alot going on in that hand, pack a bag.


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## BIG JIMMIE (May 21, 2004)

WOULD NOT WAIT GO ASAP TO EMERGENCY ROOM


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## jmack (Dec 7, 2006)

GET TO ER ASAP !!! I would not go to san jac go into Houston !


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## jmack (Dec 7, 2006)

And keep us posted


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## Fishiola (Apr 30, 2009)

I've still got a numb spot in my right palm where one stuck me in 2006.


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## markbrumbaugh (Jul 13, 2010)

Yup...avoid SJ Methodist and go where they have decent treatment. You need medical treatment asap.


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## goodwood (Mar 30, 2009)

****!


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## kdubya (Jun 27, 2005)

Reel Cajun said:


> I guess I'll stop by the clinic tomorrow to see about some antibiotics?


All due respect to your personal decision, but since you posted this in a public forum....Get your arse to the E.R. now.

Had a relative that got hit by a hardhead. Waited till the next day for treatment and ended up with a huge hole in his leg packed with gauze and a drain tube, anitibiotics for many days...

Make the right decision.
Good luck with it.

Kelly


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Call Dr Marcus Masson & get your arse to Houston...# 713-520-1210. He will advise you as to which ER to present to. MM is on of the best hand guys on the planet. That hand needs to be I&D'd & big gun IV Antibiotics. Definitely not something to play with Bro. Make the call!


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## CajunBob (Feb 24, 2008)

My wife all most lost a finger due to one of those get to the doc. ASAP


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## El Capitan de No Fish (Sep 20, 2007)

You've been overruled, better get to the ER pronto.


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## texaslunker (Jun 19, 2009)

Not many things I hate in life, Hardheads are one of them.


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## McTrout (May 22, 2004)

Please go in immediately and demand that Vibrio is discounted. (that's one place where *Necrotizing fasciitis* comes from...ask me how I know)

Anyway, we get to fish a lot of research people, and last year some of them did a fin clipping survey by Pelican Island near Galveston in July. They said that 100% of the hardheads they tested (that would be one hundred percent) tested positive for vibrio.

From your pics I would go in immediately. I waited for 26 hours and it cost me 4 months of hell. Good luck, but I'd sure think about making my own luck a bit better. Nothing to mess around with. Please go now...seriously!


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

McTrout said:


> Please go in immediately and demand that Vibrio is discounted. (that's one place where *Necrotizing fasciitis* comes from...ask me how I know)
> 
> Anyway, we get to fish a lot of research people, and last year some of them did a fin clipping survey by Pelican Island near Galveston in July. They said that 100% of the hardheads they tested (that would be one hundred percent) tested positive for vibrio.
> 
> From your pics I would go in immediately. I waited for 26 hours and it cost me 4 months of hell. Good luck, but I'd sure think about making my own luck a bit better. Nothing to mess around with. Please go now!


This is not BS. I saw the pics in GCC. Thanks for the affirmation Mike!


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## Jclark (Jul 14, 2010)

i'd get to the er as soon as you could man!


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## shauntexex (Dec 12, 2007)

Been hit but not nearly that bad the pain from the poison I guess hurts like a mofo made me a bit dizzy it hurt so bad guess i'm gonna have to invest in a boga grip


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## BretE (Jan 24, 2008)

Anybody know Reel Cajun?. Maybe give a call and check on him......he may have went on to bed and is missing this......


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## McTrout (May 22, 2004)

As a side note, the antibiotics I had to endure were over 20K besides everything else involved. Don't fool around with this. I'd rather take another stingray than a hard head. Nasty...they.


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## sweptvolume (Apr 1, 2010)

Wish I had this guy's number. I Don't know him, but I'd call him/his wife/his kids and tell him to get to the ER now!


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## BFI (Jan 11, 2006)

*hardhead*

Get to the doc asap. I got stuck several years back in the palm of the hand and waited till next day. The doc said I was crazy for waiting and gave me a lecture and the strongest antibiotics available and then a two week supply of pills to follow up. The pain crept up from my hand all the way to my shoulder. My right hand was useless for about a month and still ached for about 3 months plus. It was stiff and painful about like arthritis on steroids. Had a knot there for a couple of years. I would put some diluted bleach on it asap until you get there.


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## bobbyoshay (Nov 29, 2008)

sweptvolume said:


> Wish I had this guy's number. I Don't know him, but I'd call him/his wife/his kids and tell him to get to the ER now!


http://2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=180358

If his name is Bob here is his #! Could be his uncle though! If anyone knows him by Bob call him!


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## REELING 65 (Aug 18, 2009)

I know what that is like. No fun at all.. especially when the fish is hanging... off your hand,with the dorsal.. pining your thumb to your hand. I hope you heal up..it is painful. Some Antibiotics and you should be fine. :dance:


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## Miss Dixie (May 21, 2004)

If you don't go to the ER, go to the drug store and get some Ichthammol Ointment 20% it's behind the counter and you have to ask for it. I stepped on a hard head when I was a kid and the got stuck between the thumb and forefinger a couple of years ago. That stuff draws the poison out. It looks like black tar. Good luck and happy healing.


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## donf (Aug 8, 2005)

I won't touch a hardheaded bare handed period
Just get some big long handle pliers, grab the hook and shake em off outside the boat


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

my wife took one in the web of her hand last weekend while we were wade fishing the Bolivar Flats. Swelled up perty bad, but she fished all day. Then she got stung by a jellyfish... and we went back the next day and fished some more.... She is tough I tell you.....


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## ossnap (Jan 4, 2010)

donf said:


> I won't touch a hardheaded bare handed period
> Just get some big long handle pliers, grab the hook and shake em off outside the boat


This is exactly what I do too.


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## Mike77015 (Dec 27, 2007)

ossnap said:


> This is exactly what I do too.


Me too. I usually beat the heck out of them on side of the boat till they come loose.


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## slopoke (Jul 10, 2005)

I never actually handle a hardhead or bring it over the side. I'd rather cut the line. This fella needs to get to the emergency room as soon as possible if he hasn't already. I hope the others got him convinced enough that he is getting pumped with antibiotics as we speak.


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## Mike77015 (Dec 27, 2007)

Quit chunking shrimp slopoke and you wouldnt have that problem.


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## Mike77015 (Dec 27, 2007)

I hope he went to the ER.


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Mike77015 said:


> Quit chunking shrimp slopoke and you wouldnt have that problem.


I catch them on artificial. Unfortunately hardheads & gafftop like plastic & Corkys too. :frown:


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## mastercylinder60 (Dec 18, 2005)

i still have a scar on my middle finger from a hardhead impalement when i was a kid.


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## Mike77015 (Dec 27, 2007)

Blk Jck 224 said:


> I catch them on artificial. Unfortunately hardheads & gafftop like plastic & Corkys too. :frown:


Sad but true. I witnessed a hardhead caught on a plastic this past weekend by a buddy of mine. I was just messing with pokey.


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## 007 (Mar 11, 2008)

slopoke said:


> I never actually handle a hardhead or bring it over the side. I'd rather cut the line. This fella needs to get to the emergency room as soon as possible if he hasn't already. I hope the others got him convinced enough that he is getting pumped with antibiotics as we speak.


That's cause I take em all off for ya.


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## slopoke (Jul 10, 2005)

I really don't throw much 'real' bait. But when Momma and the youngest want to go I try to keep it interesting for them. They have standing orders not to bring a hardhead over the side no matter how small it is.


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## mastercylinder60 (Dec 18, 2005)

there's nothing wrong with "real bait."


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## fishinguy (Aug 5, 2004)

I got stuck bad in the hand once. I used a snake bite kit and sucked out all the juice and there was alot. After that it was fine and I went back to fishing.


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## Reel_Blessed II (Jun 24, 2004)

My dad despised hardheads. About 20 years ago on one of our trips he started grabbibg them with pliers and tried shaking the hook off. well, he was shaking this one and it flipped off the hook and back into the boat landing dorsal side down on his foot. It went through the webbing of his big toe and the next tow. I had to try and hold this thing still and pull it out. Oh man..I've never seen my dad in so much pain. He went to the doctor a few days later when we got home and the doc ended up pulling a tiny piece of the top barb out below his foot that was still in there.


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## BigNate523 (May 19, 2010)

had a co-worker do the same thing trying to shake one off hit her right in the big toe and stuck between the nail and side of her toe, all i could say was ouch!!!!


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## wickedwader (Jun 30, 2010)

Hardheads require two sets of pliers - insert one deep into the mouth to hold the devil. Then take the other plier and remove the hook. Once the hook is removed use the same hook removing plier to reach into the gills in order to rip them out. Then drop fish into water - problem solved.


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## TheGoose (Jan 22, 2006)

Get a flipper instead...save lots of pain.


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## bud1971 (Aug 10, 2009)

Hardheads are one of the reasons I started filing the barbs off my hooks...much easier to get rid of them. Also, I have a med kit on the boat and any cut or puncture gets irrigated with peroxide, followed by antibiotic ointment and bandaging.

Another hardhead specific tidbit is that the liquid benadryl lotion for insect bites (any pharmacy has it), will immediately relieve that burning pain you get with a hardhead puncture...it is a must have on the boat IMO.


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## frank n texas (Aug 11, 2004)

If everyone would keep a tube of that black tar stuff Miss Dixie mention in her post above they would be way ahead of the game if they get stung or stuck by most everything...

It is cheap and can be bought over the counter..You may have to ask druggist where he stocks/stores it however..

Stuff has been around 100 years...

Tube last forever....Keep in first aid or tackle box


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## Highseas (Apr 4, 2007)

*Hardhead remedy*

When you get stuck by a hardhead, the slime on the outside will nuetrelize the pain. So get some before you through it back. It works if you have nothing else and then clean the **** out of it ASAP.


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## gordaflatsstalker (Jul 3, 2008)

You have to windmill those jokers against the water. They'll either fly off or it will stun(kill) them and makes them much easier to handle.


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## coachlaw (Oct 26, 2005)

The best remedy for all of this is prevention. Get and religiously use a CATFISH FLIPPER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am 37 years old and I have never touched a live hardhead. You just flip 'em right off.

Here's my post from 2007. Some people are just hard headed. Pun intended. 

http://www.2coolfishing.com/ttmbforum/showthread.php?t=130849

The link to buy them on the old post is now deceased, but a quick search found many places to buy them. Here are a couple. - Sandy

http://www.buytackle.com/product_view.cfm?id=28621

http://www.glockworld.com/item/118484_HH_Fishing_HH_CF_Catfish_Flipper_Ho.aspx


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## chickenboy (May 5, 2008)

Pic of my hardhead encounter a couple of years. Post surgery. I pray you have taken our advice.


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## Lat22 (Apr 7, 2005)

I've caught them on a Corky Devil and, a month ago, a topwater. I don't touch them. Long pliers only.


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## Fish4it (Aug 25, 2009)

A few years back we were surf fishing and had cut the heads off a of a few hardheads and threw them back into the water. Well this couple comes by enjoying a nice barefooted walk on the beach when all of a sudden he stepped right on a head and it went completely into his heal. I sure felt bad for the guy it brought him to his knees. They had an awful time pulling it out. I learned to watch where I walk now.


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## Procrastinator (Jun 30, 2008)

Heat packs will kill the venom. Vibrio isn't something to mess around with!


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## fishinguy (Aug 5, 2004)

I keep those fish grabbers on board my boat that way I don't have to use my hands.


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## Reel Cajun (Aug 1, 2006)

Went to ER last night and got tetnis (SP?), and antibiotics. Nothing still in hand, just infection. Swelling got worse before bed, so made the trip. 1400mg of biotics a day for 10 days. So much for beer drinking for a while.


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

Good thing you got that checked!

When I have people baitfishing I carry a pair of Vise Grips and Klein needlenose...shove the bottom jaw of the Vise Grips in the mouth, top jaw on their head and clamp tightly...next break all the barbs off with the needlenose and shove them up their vent...then release them!


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## Blue Water Breaux (Feb 6, 2008)

Reel Cajun said:


> Went to ER last night and got tetnis (SP?), and antibiotics. Nothing still in hand, just infection. Swelling got worse before bed, so made the trip. 1400mg of biotics a day for 10 days. So much for beer drinking for a while.


Glad you went ahead and hit the ER, prob best thing you could've done.


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## rrichar1 (May 18, 2005)

Amen Harbormaster!!!! Cut the barbs off if possible then try and extract them with what ever tools you have. Hopefully they die a painful death...

Good luck O.P. !!!!!!!!!


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## Blk Jck 224 (Oct 16, 2009)

Harbormaster said:


> Good thing you got that checked!
> 
> When I have people baitfishing I carry a pair of Vise Grips and Klein needlenose...shove the bottom jaw of the Vise Grips in the mouth, top jaw on their head and clamp tightly...next break all the barbs off with the needlenose and shove them up their vent...then release them!


Good Job Bro! Poor little crabs gotta eat too. :wink:


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## reelbusy (Feb 7, 2008)

rrichar1 said:


> Amen Harbormaster!!!! Cut the barbs off if possible then try and extract them with what ever tools you have. Hopefully they die a painful death...
> 
> Sir, I certainly hope that if/when you are reincarnated, you are not reincarnated a Hardhead. I would not wish a painful death on any of God's creations. They are just out there trying to make a living. My 2 cents worth!


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## big john o (Aug 12, 2005)

reelbusy said:


> rrichar1 said:
> 
> 
> > Amen Harbormaster!!!! Cut the barbs off if possible then try and extract them with what ever tools you have. Hopefully they die a painful death...
> ...


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## Harbormaster (May 26, 2000)

reelbusy said:


> rrichar1 said:
> 
> 
> > Amen Harbormaster!!!! Cut the barbs off if possible then try and extract them with what ever tools you have. Hopefully they die a painful death...
> ...


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## Tate (Aug 25, 2005)

McTrout said:


> Anyway, we get to fish a lot of research people, and last year some of them did a fin clipping survey by Pelican Island near Galveston in July. *They said that 100% of the hardheads they tested (that would be one hundred percent) tested positive for vibrio. *


100% tested positive for Vibrio?!!?! Whoa...I have been jabbed by hardheads before. I won't ever touch one again. Need to look into the catfish flipper suggested by coachlaw. I wonder what percentage of people have a negative reaction to getting jabbed by a hardhead fin.


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## El Capitan de No Fish (Sep 20, 2007)

Tate said:


> 100% tested positive for Vibrio?!!?! Whoa...I have been jabbed by hardheads before. I won't ever touch one again. Need to look into the catfish flipper suggested by coachlaw. I wonder what percentage of people have a negative reaction to getting jabbed by a hardhead fin.


I was thinking the same thing. I took one in the knuckle last year and it was a little painful for a couple of days, but it never really swelled up. I guess I got lucky.


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## frank n texas (Aug 11, 2004)

As a wee lad, I was fishing off Biloxi beach many years ago..We were anchored relatively close to another boat that had 2 young Air force trainees also fishing...

One of the airman hooked a hardhead and when he got it in his boat swung the fish around resulting in the fish slamming into his friend's shoulder...Instant screams were heard..

Dad and I motored over to their boat where my Dad proceeded to cut the flopping fish off the fellows shoulder/arm...The fish's fin was pretty much buried up to the hilt.

With fish now off his body and the fin still buried deep in his arm off they went to the ER for fin removal and treatment...

Dad taught me many things about fishing but that experience is burned into my memory some 50 years later and especially each and every time I hook and have to handle a hard head..

Visual coupled with screams worth a 1000 words..

Note: seems on most every "I got hit by a hard head"
some poster suggest that the injured person shoul or shoul have rubbed slime from the hardhead on and into the open wound as it has healing powers..

I would like to know if this is one of those old wives tales and is a good idea or do you just wind up running Vibrio
laced slime into the wound?

Reason being,+ I have read more than one post where a person picked up Vibrio from having Vibrio laced water enter his body thru a simple shrimp horn stick, hook *****, blister, open cut, etc...

What say you guys and gals?


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## Bstewie (Jul 24, 2006)

And dont leave those things on the beach or shore to let die, almost had one come through my shoe, it looked like it had been there a week.


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## coachlaw (Oct 26, 2005)

Tate said:


> 100% tested positive for Vibrio?!!?! Whoa...I have been jabbed by hardheads before. I won't ever touch one again. Need to look into the catfish flipper suggested by coachlaw. I wonder what percentage of people have a negative reaction to getting jabbed by a hardhead fin.


Everyone has a negative reaction to hardhead barbs. They are toxic, period. Even without the danger of vibrio, you're best not handling them. They will get you sooner or later if you touch them. I don't touch them. I flip them and the whole process takes less than 5 seconds.


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## aggiemulletboy (May 31, 2006)

frank n texas said:


> I would like to know if this is one of those old wives tales and is a good idea or do you just wind up running Vibrio
> laced slime into the wound?


I've always heard it made the pain less intense. Never heard about it actually preventing infection. I think rubbing any kind of slime on an open wound would be a bad idea, which is why whenever I get stuck (which has never been that deep from a hardhead or gafftop) I just wash and clean the wound really well. I dunno. Maybe someone with some medical background can chime in.


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