Corpusfishing.com

[danver]

I know I have posted at least 1 prior phone service message before but a couple of days ago, I was in trouble at the 35MM.

I have been tagged by hardheads before, and I have never had so bad a reaction to the toxin, that I would actually consider ending my fishing trip. I have never been hit by a stingray and hope I never do.
This time though, I was about to pull an 18in. or so hardhead ( I know, that's pretty big for a hardhead, but it was about 2.5 lbs)from my line when 1 of my kids knocked down the 12ft rod at the other end of the line causing the the fish to be pulled closer to my hands. I can't remember which of the spines tagged me but somehow, the darn spine went about 1.5 inches under my fingernail.

The pain I felt was awful. Somehow, it was not my finger that hurt but my teeth and toes!?! I started to feel nautious and sick in the stomach and was in no condition to drive back. I was with my 11 and 9 yr. old kids and felt pretty helpless. Hey, I've been tagged by these things before and have never had this reaction. I don't know if it was the place where I was hit, or if my pain tolerance is withering away, but believe me, I could not drive.

Anyway, my oldest(11) packed the stuff up and I let him drive out. I have allowed him to drive at the ranch before but never when other vehicles are present. One of the problems was that he has never engaged the 4x4. Fortunately, he did not need it. It did take us about three hours to get out to the black-top which is about the time I started feeling better and able to take over the wheel. My left thumb swelled up to about three times it's size for a couple of days. Cold water and ice does not help. I did try to get that slimy stuff the fish has on it's skin rubbed on the spot( that was kinda stupid, and did not help).

Now, what about really needing help when I was out there. I have considered all the additional antennas to my phone, they did improve my reception at certain points but in my condition, I could not go out looking for better reception areas. I then started looking into Iridium and globalstar phones. I would never have thought of this, if my wife's suburban was not equipped with On-Star.

I manged to find globalstar phone for under $300.00 with $40.00 emergency monthly plans. Has anybody found a better deal? I found this deal on satellitephonestore.com.



Danver

[funmeters1]

So if you had a great phone who would you call? There isn't an ambulance service around that is going to take a half million dollar rig 35 miles down the beach. And a phone isn't going to get ypou off the beach any sooner.
I may suggest investing in a good VHF radio with a good antenna. You have to get a hard wired unit to get the power to reach out as the hand held units have a fraction of the power and will probably not work. For a true medical emergency the Coast Guard will respond but it better be bad.
That beach is a pretty hostile place and is not a place for a casual drive down the beach. Be prepared with emergency equipment and be prepared to spend the night.
All the best for the holidays and good luck fishing. Dads taking their sons fishing always get extra points.

[surfrookie]

Sorry to hear that Danver. I know you're proud of your son, brave kid! I would'nt hesitate to stop and ask for help. Anyone on or associated with this site would gladly lend a hand, seen it ,done it myself. Hope your hand heals OK. Happy Thanksgiving.

[ironmanstan]

i dont know about other people,but when i get tagged by a hardhead im down for 20 minutes no doubt about it,just leave me alone let me suffer the pain and ill be ok in in 20 minutes,i could take a pen and draw a line on my arm to show the path that the toxin takes all the way to the lymphnode under my arm that always seems to filter the toxin out.pretty weird huh? but thats the way it has been on me since i was a kid.I HATE HARDHEADS!! wow under the fingernail yeeeeeeoooowww!!!!!##** .........
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[Mad Dog]

Man I know that had to hurt. I believe a first aid kit is more important than a radio or phone. Unless you can get a helicopter to pick you up there is not much more you can do than drive out or wait. In my first aid kit I would have some Tylenol, Benadryl and a hot pack. The pain from a stick by a stingray is relieved by heat not cold (proven. go figure). Maybe it works on hardheads as well. Any way the point it to be as prepared as possible for injuries and illnesses. I think the radio is a great idea to contact emergency services for life threatening events (stoke, heart attack, etc.).

I don't think this really works but, my dad always carried turpentine in his tackle box just for hardhead sticks. Taking little hardheads off the kid's lines almost always got him stuck at least once per fishing trip. He wrapped the wound in a cloth and doused it with the turpentine.

[Big John]

Sprint has the best reception, I hear tale that bag phones are still available and get signal everywherer on the beach.

If you called 911, they wouldn't be able to get an ambulance out, but maybe HALO flight would be available.

Also, make sure you have a well stocked emergency kit with you and check it out everytime you go down the beach. The last thing you want to do is have an emergency, go to open get rubbing alchohol to sterilize a wound and find that the bottle is empty.
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