First night at cabin last night went south, FAST

[Cindylou]

Oh, brother, so I damn near sliced my thumb off last night with my extremely sharp fishing knife. I was fishing off the dock after 8 pm last night, and w/i 10 minutes things went sour fast. I was reeling in a really nice size either muskee or northern pike, looked to be about 8-10 pounds. I was totally jazzed. Right about when I was trying to hold the net in one hand, the sucker bit the line and off he went. Well, I turned quickly to get my fishing knife (first mistake) to clean off the twisted line where I was to rethread the hook, and swoosh. I looked down and had sliced my left thumb pretty darn near off. Trying not to panic, I only had a fishing glove to compress the wound and stop the bleeding. I am at the cabin by myself. I had noticed my neighbors had arrived tho, so I was running up the steps from the lake hollering help, help. They were awesome. My neighbor's grown son was visiting their cabin.....I think I met him once before. Anyway, after cleaning the wound and wrapping it in gauge, the son drove me 50 miles to the closest hospital. What an angel. They stitched it up and I am lucky it didn't hit a tendon. And I'm grateful it is my left hand, since I am so right dominant. We got back to the cabin after midnight. This morning I walked down to the dock to see if I could retrace what went so horribly wrong. I concluded that the knife had been put back in the sheath the wrong way last time it was used. It is a snug leather sheath, so as I used my left hand to hold the sheath and my right hand to pull the knife out, it literally just sliced right around the base of my thumb, since the blade was facing the wrong way. I also was in too big of a hurry because of my excitement to catch that big guy again. Never hurry with a sharp knife. Period. I made myself get back on the saddle so to speak, by fishing today, and using the knife again, very gingerly.My hand is all wrapped up, but I still have my four fingers to bait my hook! I told the nurse that last night, and she cracked up. We aim to please she said. Something like that. So, that's my story, and the start of my Labor Day Weekend. It can only get better right? Just sign me Dumbo Jumbo.

[ajj1001]

Wow, that a was a close one, glad it got all sorted. Have a good weekend

[Justin]

Yikes! It's great to hear that everything worked out--talk about great neighbors!

This is good advice: Never hurry with a sharp knife. Period.

[KBear]

Owww I'm glad you are ok and didn't cut anything major!

[dalhousie]

Ooh that sounds painful! Your thumb must be sore . Take it easy with the fishing & enjoy the rest of your time at the cabin. Hope your thumb soon heals up.

[Dave]

What a major bummer. Not the way you want to spend the weekend at all. I hope the "Throbbing" that goes along with finger cuts is not to bad for ya right now. Good to see it did not entirely ruin your weekend, but dang, a 10 pound pike. That's a bummer also.

Watching the weather this morning and I caught myself looking at where a lot of folks here live and seeing what their weekend looks like. I believe you are under the same high pressure area I am so the weather should be good all weekend for you also. If'n you catch that big one again, I'd like to see a picture of it.

Good luck and please slow down young lady.

[Nairek]

Yikes! Just reading about it made my thumb hurt!

Here's to hoping that you are feeling better.

[Fuzzy]

I am glad you still have your thumb. I have some sharp knife and saw stories but never mind. Your advice is good. Slow and deliberate. Also when tired and your concentration is lagging then STOP. Sharp things can bite really quick in the blink of an eye. Metal always wins.

[Cindylou]

Ever so right Fuzzy. Slow down. This evening when I was fishing I caught a small perch and decided, like I sometimes do, to keep him on the line and use him as bait for the big one. Well, yank......down went my line, hard. Knew it wasn't that little perch. I was reeling in a pretty big one again and darn if he didn't bite the line again! It was still light enough to see in the water (we have a real clean lake) and the sucker was just lurking there with that perch in its mouth sideways, taunting me! ha ha Great fun. I will take some pics next time Dave. Gosh, I love to fish. It just is such a nice distraction even when I am hurting. And I'm outside in the beautiful fresh autumn air. What's not to love, right? Thanks for the well wishes everyone.

[Katie]

I'm a little slow in adding mine, sorry!

The thought of that makes me queasy. Blood doesn't bother me, but pain sure does The closest I've come to that is when I was cutting mat board for framing a picture and sliced the top of my first finger with the utility knife. I was trying to get ready for a show, so just wrapped it tightly and kept on going, then decided I better get it checked out when I was finished. It took six stitches to close, from the tip to just below the nail, and included the side of the nail a bit.

Hope yours is healing quickly. You sure paint a beautiful picture of your spot there on the lake. Maybe we should have a get together there someday too! But we'll keep the knives away while we're there, OK!