Sarley: The fish I wish I had never caught

Fishing can be dangerous. Not too often, but things can happen. I am sure that just about everyone who has gone fishing has found themselves getting a body part impaled on a sharp fishing hook. I know I have.

Few of our fish that swim in Northern Illinois waters are dangerous. You have to be extremely cautious when handling muskies, northern pike and walleyes. They can hurt quite a bit.

Let me tell you about the experience I had that I like to call, “The Attack of the Killer Catfish.” Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? Let me tell the tale.

I was on a family vacation in Fort Myers Beach on the Gulf Coast of Florida. I found a fishing pier that had rods for rent and bait for sale. I was going to try my luck with my son watching while the rest of the family hit the souvenir stands.

I rigged with a shrimp as bait and threw my offering into the drink. I had no idea what kind of fish swam in these waters. Almost immediately I felt a tug on my line. I reeled up what felt like a decent fish. When it broke water it appeared to be a regular old catfish like I would normally catch on the Fox Chain of Lakes.

I pulled it over the rail and asked a bystander what it was. I was informed that it was a saltwater catfish and to be careful handling it. Most people think that the “whiskers” on a catfish’s mouth are what you have to look out for. That is not true. The whiskers are merely like antennae and are not sharp. The spines on the top dorsal fin and the side pectoral fins are what you have to watch out for. They will get you.

I knew all about this and may have been not careful enough when I went to unhook the catfish. I slid my hand down the cat’s side and found myself being impaled by one of the spikes on the side fin. The spike had slipped between my nail and my thumb about half the depth of my nail. This is a family newspaper, so I can’t repeat the words that came flying out of my mouth. It was excruciating.

The surprise caused me to toss the catfish up into the air. I remember seeing the catfish coming down almost in slow motion. It turned upside down and came down back first, right on my forearm. Yes, the big spike on the dorsal fin came directly down and stabbed me right in the fleshy part of my arm.

Here I am on a fishing pier with my son, who is watching his father having a catfish connected to his arm, bleeding like crazy. Yes, folks, the catfish was connected to me and would not some off. I asked folks on the pier for help or tools, but they said the catfish had a barb on their spines and needed to just be pulled out by force.

I grabbed the fish and pulled as hard as I could and it came loose. Of course, it started bleeding even more that before. It was a gusher. I was hoping my boy wasn’t getting traumatized.

I got a rag from a stranger and wrapped my arm. I found the rest of my family and headed back to our hotel. I stopped the bleeding from both my arm and my thumb. The pain was more than I could barely stand. Honestly, the thumb nail felt worse than the arm.

I went to bed with my hand in a bucket of ice and had to get new ice every hour. I never slept, and when the sunlight awakened my family, they were all shocked to see that my arm was double its size and was red as a proverbial beet. Emergency room, here we come.

The doctor wanted to admit me for at least a day, but I talked him out of it. He put me on a megadose of antibiotics to stop the infection that had already started. He made me come back the next day to get checked. My thumbnail had already begun to fall off.

Be careful when fishing and always be on the lookout for an “Attack of a Killer Catfish.”

• Daily Herald Outdoors columnist Steve Sarley can be reached at sarfishing@yahoo.com.