Catfish Encounter

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Catfish Encounter
By CAPT. FRED EVERSON

It was a fine afternoon in late September, and we were fishing the backcountry of Little Cockroach Bay, trying to put a redfish in the boat. I had a live pinfish rigged under a float on one rod, and chunks of ladyfish on the other two. The float was tight to the shadowline of the mangroves, right where it should be when it went under. When the fish didn’t take any drag, and I could feel it shaking its head I knew I had another catfish.

I retrieved my dehooking tool out of its holder in the rod rack as I reeled the fish in and sat down on the side of the boat as I looked for the hook shank. I was using a small circle hook and it was right in the corner of the fish’s mouth – exactly where it’s supposed to be. I grabbed the leader with one hand and slid the tool onto the hook shank, and tried to shake the fish off into the water. But instead it went up into the air and bounced off the gunwale and fell back into the boat belly up. Unfortunately, my flip flop clad foot was directly underneath the fish as it came down, hard; dorsal fin first, right between my big toe and the next one.

It was like someone shoved a red-hot needle in my foot, and immediately the blood began to flow. The burning pain was absolutely incredible. I had two young boys on the boat, so my vocabulary was necessarily constrained, but they could see I was in a great deal of pain, and didn’t know what to do.

I don’t remember tossing the fish overboard, but I must have because it was gone. I quickly examined the wound, and I could see a deep one-inch gash through all the blood. I have been hit by catfish before, but nothing like this. This was more severe; more like what you would expect from a stingray. Sad to say, I have been there as well on three separate occasions. I’m beginning to feel like a saltwater pincushion.

From past experience with the stingray hits, I had some meat tenderizer on hand. It is supposed to reduce the pain, and this was my chance to experience it first hand. Capt. Mel Berman got hit by a stingray while wading with me some years ago, and I tried it on him. He said it seemed to help. I wasn’t sure it would apply with a catfish sting, but the pain was such I was ready to try anything. Mercifully it did seem to lessen the pain, though did little to stop the bleeding. This was a good thing I suppose, as some of the poison got flushed out of the wound along with the blood.

Our fishing trip was obviously done, and fortunately I was only a few minutes from the dock. I kept reapplying the meat tenderizer to the wound and it kept the pain to a manageable level until I got home. First thing I did was to fire up the computer and type “Saltwater catfish sting” into the search box on Google. The first topic was Hazardous Marine Life, under which was the sentence beginning “The pain from marine stings can be excruciating and lead to shock, ... The fins of the saltwater catfish have a complex toxin…”This is exactly what I was looking for, and the instant remedy was at hand.

I read on and it seems that the venom in the catfish spine is also protein based and can be ameliorated with heat, just as the stingray hit can. I immediately hobbled into the kitchen and began running some hot water into a dishpan. The website said that the water should be 105 degrees to be effective, but my past experience with stingrays told me the hotter the better.

I added some table salt and vinegar to the water to deflect infection. After refreshing the hot water several times over the course of an hour and a half, the pain from the venom had subsided, but the wound itself was still pretty sore. I looked the puncture over thoroughly with a magnifying glass to insure that none of the fin remained in the wound. I went to bed that night feeling okay, but four hours later my foot was swollen and very sore. I got up and put more Neosporin onto the wound, and the pain seemed to subside, and I was able to get back to sleep.

Next morning after my first cup of coffee I headed off to the grocery store to get some Epsom Salts. The foot was still sore and swollen, and I intended to give it a good one hour soak in warm water and the salts. My grandmother was forever soaking my cuts and bruises with warm water and Epsom salts, and I still have all my fingers and toes, so I figured there must be something to it.
The one-hour soak seemed to reduce the swelling and the foot was not as tender. I looked the wound over again for bits of catfish, but found none. I reapplied the Neosporin and let it dry out. Later that night before bed, I gave it another one-hour bath in the salts.
Next morning I went to a walk in clinic to have the wound checked and get my tetanus shot updated.

All’s well that ends well, but experience is the best defense. All fishermen who read this should take it seriously. A hook-removing tool will save your butt 90 percent of the time. When it doesn’t, you had better know what to do.

Capt. Fred will host a three hour Inshore Fishing Class at Skipper’s Smokehouse on Tuesday August 12 at 7:00 PM. Cost of the course is $25 and includes a copy of the Captain’s latest book Fish the Flats. Wife, girlfriend or significant other gets in free. Call 813 830 8890 for information or directions.