Worst Injury?

Q:  What is the worst injury that you suffered or witnessed while kayakfishing?

I'll start with the time I saw Jeff get hooked in the neck after we both yardsaled going down the Stanislaus.  He was dragging the attached rod as he bounced down river in a rare but extreme case of YUCK meets OUCH!!!  http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=13125.0

Hopefully this is one of the last few winter threads before the wx relaxes and we can get OTW for some spring time fun

Watched a guy at pacific city (Oregon) roll on return and got slapped in the melon by the full weight of his Outback, gave him a pretty decent cut.

First Angler of the Day tournament at Inseins place near Bodega.
I was fishing Ocean Cove.
Getting ready to wrap things up I scooted forward in my seat to rearrange something in the footwell.
Filet knife came out of the sheath without my knowledge and slid into the seating area.
When I slid back into the seat I got stabbed right below my hip and waist; upper ass cheek.
Kept my wetsuit to keep things compressed until I got back to Insein's place.
Went into the bathroom to assess the damage.
Dropped trow and was leaning over trying to look at the wound in my ass when Fishunters wife walked in on me.
Good times.
Probably could have used a couple stitches but did a good enough job with a butterfly bandage.

Aside from being sick, or small cuts I guess I've been pretty lucky on the water.  Off the water I did make a big mistake trying to load my AI on to my hullavators. Usually I'd have the kayak parallel to the truck and just lift up and flip on its side onto the rack.  But it was a few feet behind and I just tried to lift and carry and flip it on the rack, and whatever I did I hurt my shoulder badly.  I was kind of rushing because I had just landed and a DFG person was there waiting for me and asked to see my license.  To my dismay I found that I had left it in my trailer, back at my campsite, but he was being cool about it.  I had to then, in pain, ask him for help loading my kayak which he thankfully did, and we got back to my trailer and he confirmed my license, all good.  Couldn't kayak for a month after though for fear of re-injury.

Getting finger grabbed by a crab... mighty terrible. Avoid at all costs..

Ohh ya, reminded me …it’s not as bad as having one on the seat between your legs get grabby, wasn’t me but boy did he yell. We thought he was going to dive in the water, but the crab released him mostly unharmed 

Heard of someone getting their leg broken by their kayak while landing at the Bean.

I was fishing in my Outback at Rancho Seco when I was passed by a large, cheap, inflatable with a small outboard holding 7 youngsters having a great time.  A couple of hours later I was heading back in and I see the inflatable with two of the kids paddling like crazy with small canoe type paddles but the wind was pushing them backwards.  Their inflatable had flipped and the motor came off. 
I could tell they would not be able to make it back so I volunteered to tow them the three blocks back to their launch point.  With the wind in my face it was much more difficult than I had planned on but we made it and said goodbye.
The next morning I felt like I had strained my abs from all the hard pedaling.  A week later I was diagnosed with inguinal hernias on both sides.  One of which had already been repaired six months earlier but needed it again.

Getting finger grabbed by a crab... mighty terrible. Avoid at all costs..

First time I went crabbing, I was talking to a person on another kayak while unloading a trap.  She mentioned how a crab had pinched her finger so hard she was going to lose the nail.  I then proceeded to let a crab grab me hard enough to break skin and draw blood.  Those guys are way stronger out of the ocean than they are out of Ranch 99.    (All things considered, not a bad injury. Just timely.)

Noodling for Pachali.  That left a mark.

Most painful-
Did a number on my back at the consumers river preserve pull out. For some reason I decided to kneel down on the dock to lift my outback by the midship handles out of the water and up onto the dock. It was about a 20” difference. In the act, I felt something in my back give. It actually felt like a piano wire snapping. Still not sure what I did as I never went to the docs office, but the drive home was brutal. I had to pull over more than once, and was seeing stars with the intensity of the pain, for which there was no relief. Recovery took many weeks. Not very smart…

Could’ve been much worse-
Winter launch at west shore Lake Almanor. I had just pulled my outback off of the roof of my SUV, with the kayak balanced on my head, I took a few steps away from the car onto an ice slick. My feet came out from under me and I fell onto my ass with the kayak crashing down on my head. I was totally flattened by the impact with the wind knocked out of me and a gash on my eyebrow that pumped pretty good for a while. I still can’t believe I didn’t break anything or end up concussed. I was able to lick my wounds and still get out into the water that day

This was a good one.  Way beyond the middle of nowhere in Pnama, living under a thatched roof with local indigenous family. Last night there, I sat on a Rapala. That's Dr Tall Paul in the operating room...

Worst was probly 7 stitches in my knuckle from a diver stringer/ballistic halibut battle that I lost.

Bushy

I still have the Rapala, right here at my desk. Along with bloodstained piece of my boardshorts LOL

Well, my first mistake may have been deciding to take another full grown man fishing on my Malibu Two XL tandem sit on top.  He loves fishing but wasn't too confident in taking out his own kayak, so me and a buddy (in his own Outback) decided to take him out fishing the reefs outside Gerstle Cove.  We actually had a great day with lots of action, and that Malibu Two was more stable than I would have predicted.  It was also nice having some assistance on paddling. 

We got into a routine where I would take any fish he caught off the hook and place them in the kill bag near me.  Towards the end of the trip, he swung a particularly large vermillion specimen my way, but instead of grabbing the line, I reached toward fish and one of the spines on that sucker buried itself deep into the palm of my hand.  I guess they really do have some venom on them, because that was some intense pain.  I was glad to have him doing most of the paddling for me on the way back in!  And yes, that debt is still being repaid in beer.

I used to lift my kayaks up to the ceiling in my garage with a primitive lift system involving ropes held by cleats on the wall of the garage.  I would lift up one end of the kayak several feet with one hand while pulling on the rope with the other hand and then cleat the rope, then lift the other end of the kayak several feet with one hand lwhile pulling on the rope with the other hand and then cleat the rope, and repeat that process on alternate ends of the kayak until the kayak was up near the ceiling of my garage.  During each lift, only my hand on the rope was keeping the kayak up.  During one of those lifting jobs the rope slipped out of my hand and my 13' Ocean Kayak Trident fell down and bashed me on the head. The other end of the kayak swung up and hit the ceiling, the leverage of the falling kayak straightened out the O-bolt which held the rope, and the whole kayak came crashing down on the floor of the garage.  I didn't get knocked out, but was somewhat stunned.  The kayak was fine.  Shortly after that incident I bought a Garage Gator electric hoist for the kayak.  https://proslat.com/collections/storage-elevators.  Those hoists are moderately expensive, but it's delightful to hit the "up" button and have a kayak effortlessly levitate up to the ceiling of my garage.  I now have three Garage Gators.