Is fishing really safe?

On a recent trip to the lake, I had one thought that was consistantly naggin at me.

Is fishing really safe?

I mean, first you have a fiberglass pole that could whip someone in the face if you're not paying attention, invisible line to strangle someone with or get wrapped around your own neck, and let's not forget the HOOK!

Sharp objects and soft skin are not a good combination, especially when you have a barb that keeps it from coming out.

You use bait that is dug up from the ground, who know's where they have been, and you use it to catch smelly, grimy fish that swim and feed in their own toilet water.

And then if it isn't bad enough, you have to top it off with driving 45 behind someone else heading to the same lake with a Yacht capable of pulling the Queen Elizabeth II, sunburn, and you have to be Licensed to catch was should be free.

All the time listening to your drunk buddy talk about how he caught a record fish .|__|. THIS BIG.

So I ask you, what were you thinking?

That is a good point, most people do not think about this. I fish when I need to, but it is ususally deep in the mountains, at a lake or stream with no people around. I only do it if I am in need of sustanance. I have tried fly fishing from a canoe going downstream, it was very uncomfortable and I was whipped in the face more times than I care to remember. It really bothers me when some drunk fishermen leave their hooks, garbage and line by the lake or river after they are done. What a bunch of morons.

if you think lake fishing is unsafe, perhaps you should think about how safe that is compared to deep sea fishing.

I'm in the planning stages for an overnight trip about 100 miles off Long Island (NY) for some tuna. Let's list the risks:

Really large hooks
Really large fish that, when in the boat, can cause serious damage
rough seas
Whales that can surface underneath you or jump, hitting the boat (happened once last year on the west coast)
more rods and lines than you could imagine means more risk for entanglement or other such nasty injuries.
getting speared by a bill fish (doubt we'll get any but always a possibility)


Fishing is fun and exciting and yes, dangerous, but not quite so bad when you know what you are doing and you aren't surrounded by idiots. I had the good fortune of fishing with a rusty hook in my head once. An overzealous pal went to cast into an ocean filled with feeding bluefish and he hooked me in the head. Rather than leave, we clipped the hook off and fished for several hours.

I've had hooks in the fingers, hands, legs, feet. I've also managed to get line burns from fish peeling off the reel.

but I've caught some of the best fighting fish around and then feasted on the flesh on the ride home so it's a fair trade off.

Yeah it can be just a little dangerous from time to time.
Ive had a sinker fly back a hit me between the eyes trying to free a snag. Had a friend fall in the river once when fishing for Barramundi in Kakadu, we pulled him back in the boat just as a large salt water croc surfaced about 10 metres away, he was shaking for about an hour afterwards.
Got caught in a huge storm when deep sea fishing off the Queensland coast once, that was scary!!
You could always just lock yourself away in your house and cover your walls with tin foil.

There once was a man who got a hook stuck on his hand....(a very large hook) with fish dangling from it, several other hooks, bait, etc weighing about 15 pounds in the emergency room at Cape Cod Hospital. He sat there like a moron for 1 hour with all that stuff dangling from his right hand and bleeding.

It was my husband.



[edit on 20-7-2007 by dgtempe]

I've been in an abandon ship situation, coast guard rescue etc. loads of excitement but, yeah, wrapping the house in tin is far less fun

I've fished, I've fished, I've fished a lot.
I've sat there hour after hour just hoping something would bite my hook. My father would take me fishing, and all I could do was watch while he pulled in dinner, but nothing bit my hook.

I have jigged perch on a dock, but you can't call that fishing. And I've helped Native people toss salmon from a weir, but that's still not fishing.

Even though I tried fishing, I never felt in any danger other than the power of the sea.
I did lose a friend on a boat out of Tofino that lost his life because he got caught in some rigging of a net on a commercial vessel, but for the most part, it's a pretty safe sport if you're doing rods and reals.


One of these days, sometime in the future, I want to catch a fish with a rod and real.

[edit on 20/7/2007 by anxietydisorder]

I don't fish or anything or watch fishing news, but I've never heard of any incident that your describing happening before.

Something Disorder made me think of:

Has anyone ever tried fishing the old fashion Island way?

The oooooL' trident?

I thought about it, and it might actually be fun. Finding a stream and some waders, and working my fishing arm.

Oh dude, a trident for catching a meal

More power to you if you can pull it off, but you would need to be very fast and need to anticipate the direction the fish will move when you break the water.

If you can master the skill, good for you, but we're not all Aquaman.
Next time I go out I'm binging a big net.....

HAHAHA, not the aquaman trident, that would be silly.

I meant a trident like the movie Blue lagoon. A long stick with three smaller sharpened sticks tied around it's outside equa-distant from each other.

Originally posted by Kingalbrect79

I meant a trident like the movie Blue lagoon. A long stick with three smaller sharpened sticks tied around it's outside equa-distant from each other.

Go for it, and see if you can spear something.
It's an art I'd want to practice before I needed it in a survival situation.

I think I'll go watch Blue Lagoon again just to check out Christopher Atkins' technique.

But he's not hard to look at no matter what he's doing.

whales kill fishermen:

next.video.msn.com...

www.smh.com.au...

two seconds of searching found that. it happens

Originally posted by Kingalbrect79
...and let's not forget the HOOK!

Sharp objects and soft skin are not a good combination, especially when you have a barb that keeps it from coming out.

...Actually, sharp objects & soft skin do make a good combination...They mix together really well...The better they get mixed together, the more painful it is though.

...And it's really hard to ignore that reflex-action to put your finger in your mouth (especially if you've already quaffed at least a 6-pack :w: )...And really yucky if you've just finished sticking that slimy 'ol worm on it when that happens! (And wind up guzzling at least another 6-pack :w: just to get the taste out of your mouth)

Then after that 12-pack is gone, you land a catfish that gores your hand open even worse than the hook did... ...Which gives the catfish a chance to wiggle back into the water & get away...

Then you reach into your cooler & pull out a baloney sandwich to find out (the hard way, of course) that it's covered with ants...

Then there goes another 6-pack :w:

Then spend the rest of the day with nothin' biting except mosquitos...

...Since the ant-sandwich didn't go down too good, stop at McDonalds for a fish sandwhich...


Yeah, great sport...I think I'll go out fishing again tomorrow!

[edit on 20-7-2007 by MidnightDStroyer]

Fishing is not safe, they can bite ya, they can fin ya, you can fall in the water,you can hook yourself or others, there are snakes, and mosquitoes and spiders, some places have bears, wolves, and wild dogs, sharks too, but I don't think there are sharks where the wolves are at, the ocean is dangerous, whales can capsize your boat and squid too, Icebergs are everywhere with polar bears on them, don't go near the icebergs you could catch a parania fish and get eaten by crocodiles or alligators, there are also many types of jellyfish, in some places hippos swim with the fishes, but not the jelly fishes, hippos may be cute but they are not friendly, there are frogs, frogs, many frogs and lizards that are poisonous, and posion ivy and sumac, yea sumac.

Ants, fire ants, worms, if you use worms birds may attack you for your bait, and pollutants, do you realize how polluted our lakes and rivers and streams are, the fish are full of pollutants, you will die from mercury poisoning, you can only eat three catfish a week.

Oh OH not to mention leptospirosis, you get that from contact with fresh water.

Did I leave anything out?

baloney sandwich

Oh, OH, speaking of, one of thoses gave me food poisoning while on a fishing trip and never drink warm beer that has been in a hot cooler you can get some kinda swamp fever,

I was waiting for someone else to reply, but they didn't,
Once while I was fishing at a farmers pond I was almost trampled to death by farm animals coming to the pond to drink, there were cows, pigs, sheep, and ducks and geese, watch out for farm animals. I had to run for my life

[edit on 21-7-2007 by Stormdancer777]

[edit on 21-7-2007 by Stormdancer777]

I think your forgetting one thing...

Hypochondriac

Hmmm never thought of it that way lol

I was wonder when someone was going to realize that I initially posted this a sarcastic rebuttal to my recent fishing trip rather than a serious inquiry.

Overall, it's interesting to hear the fishing horror stories, how many other drunk fish benders have you guys had?