OUCH!!!!

Man, today I reached down into the water and jammed a fish spine from a vermillion on my stringer into the middle knuckle of my ring finger. First I didnt think it was ever going to stop bleeding, I was seeing red all the way thru my neoprene gloves. Then when I finally took my glove off to look at it, it looked like it was broken. It had turned purple and my knuckle looked like it had a marble in it. I couldnt bend it for about a half an hour. It started to feel better after about an hour and the swelling went down, man was that painful.  Now it just looks like I smashed it with a hammer. Good grief, is this what normally happens when you stick yourself with a fish spine? A couple of weeks ago I stuck my thumb and half of my hand felt like it was on fire.
Good day of fishing out of Carmel, despite all of that.  I caught my second ling cod but it was only 22"  

Been there... done that... sucks!  

I usually get a little lump too when I stick myself with a vermillion.

Get one of these babies from Cabelas and you'll get poked a lot less...

For less than $10, you can't go wrong... and they float too.  Sean "Scwafish" and I use them on stripers, rockfish, and lings.  On bigger lings, I'll use my gaff first, then use the fish grip to hold them securely and keep them from spinning off.

Yep, great tool.  When I m gonna handle a bunch of rockfish I now use a trick I learned from bigeyedave.  Blue rubber and cotton gloves from the garden department.  Awesome grip, way less spine abuse.  I especially wear them when I am going to clean a bunch of fish.

the weirder looking rockfish really sting! i have been stung by others such as china rockfish and little ones i cannot identify. it feels like a bee sting, albeit the experience is usually brief.

That tool is very useful, as are the rubber gloves sean was speaking of. I also use them when filleting a bag full of fish, as they make holding onto them much easier.
Certain species of rockfish have a bit of poison in their spines, which is no fun when ya get poked pretty bad.

You haven't felt pain untill you've been poked by a sculpin...

MolBasser

Here's another option:

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/common/search/search-results1.jsp?hasJS=true&_D%3AhasJS=+&QueryText=fish+gloves&_DARGS=%2Fcabelas%2Fen%2Fcommon%2Fsearch%2Fsearch-box.jsp.22&Go.x=17&Go.y=6&N=4887&Ntk=Products&Ntx=mode+matchall&Nty=1&Ntt=fish+gloves&noImage=0

Ouch... those fish handling gloves are $20 each, not per pair.
But I guess if you alergic to spine pricks, price is no object!

ya - Dave swears by 'em....he got stung last year and had to go the Hospital for treatment.  

A) FIRST AID
1) STINGRAY/SCORPIONFISH/CATFISH -
a) Keep patient warm and at rest.
b) The wound should first be irrigated with fresh water, if available, or with the salt water at hand. An attempt should be made to remove the integumentary sheath or sting, if they can be seen in the wound.
c) HOT WATER - The injured part should then be submerged in hot water at as high a temperature as the patient can tolerate without injury (less than 113 degrees F or 45 degrees C), for 30 to 90 minutes or more (Auerbach & Halstead, 1989) Starks, 1958; (Patten, 1975).
1) The addition of magnesium sulfate to the hot water is optional. Following this procedure the wound should be further examined for evidence of the integumentary sheath and debrided.
2) STONEFISH INJURY -
a) The wound should first be irrigated with sterile saline using a needle and syringe.
b) HOT WATER - The injured part should then be submerged in hot water at as high a temperature as the patient can tolerate without injury, for 30 to 90 minutes or more (Burnett, 1998; Sutherland, 1990). The addition of magnesium sulfate to the hot water is optional.
B) WOUND CARE
1) Surgical closure, if necessary, is best delayed for several days.
2) TETANUS - The appropriate antitetanus agent should be administered (Southcott, 1977; Sutherland, 1990).
C) ANTIBIOTIC
1) STINGRAY/SCORPIONFISH/CATFISH -
a) Some physicians administer antibiotics routinely. Stingray wounds to the feet frequently become infected. Antibiotic choice should be guided by culture results.
b) If antibiotic prophylaxis is used, VIBRIO species should be covered. Trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole is appropriate for oral administration, while third generation cephalosporins are best for intravenous administration (Auerbach & Halstead, 1989).
c) Erysipelothrix, Klebsiella, Escherichia, Edwardsiella, Nocardia, Chromobacterium, Sporothrix, Actinomyces, and Aeromonas hydrophilia may also be found in wound cultures (Lehane & Rawlin, 2000; Burnett et al, 1985; Baack et al, 1991).
2) STONEFISH INJURY -
a) Some physicians administer antibiotics routinely. Marine bacteria represent a wide variety of organisms and may be resistant to commonly used agents. Sutherland (1990) recommends trimethoprim- sulfamethizole.
D) PAIN
1) Aspirin, aspirin with codeine, meperidine, regional blocks, and intravenous procaine have been used for pain when the initial hot water treatment had not been carried out, or was delayed (Sutherland, 1990). Combination of long-lasting digital nerve block or local anesthesia administration and prolonged immersion in hot water should be avoided as it may lead to significant burns (Bush, 1997). Digital nerve block or local anesthesia should be considered for pain relief in patients who have persistent pain despite an adequate trial of hot water immersion (at least 2 hours).
2) CATFISH stings are generally mild with symptoms of a few hours duration (Scoggin, 1975).

Alan - back in the Phil. Islands......we use Tanduay Rum for ALL healing purposes  

I pluck rockfish out of the water by either my jighead, or my 50lb leader.  For release, I shake them off without touching.  To keep them I lay them down between my feet, then get the stringer out and string them up before removing the jig.  Once on the stringer I handle them by the stringer, lipping or by picking them up by the eyesockets.  All fish should always be on the stringer before unhooking.

You haven't felt pain untill you've been poked by a sculpin...

MolBasser

Some sculpin have potentially-deadly spines. I've seen them diving in Baja a lot, and they're very camouflaged...imagine stepping on one.

I've been jabbed.

It is NOT pleasant in any stretch of the imagination.

They are VERY tastey though, so I got my revenge.

MolBasser