Fishhook in Finger

[MargaritaMike]

I hurt just looking at your photos. I have never had a hook experience but have been entangled in monofilament line. At the time I carried a BFK with a line cutter hook on it. Luckily it got me free because I was solo setting up a search and recovery object for an AOW class. I was lucky because I wore the knife on the outside of my calf. After that, I moved it to the inside of my left thigh where I can reach it with either hand. Since 2002 I haven't been wearing a knife because I have been diving in the marine park, and they aren't allowed. After reading of other incidents here on SB, I now carry four "cutters". I have 2 DGX Sharp Cut w/ Sheath, a Titanium EMT Shears that I keep in a sheath that I got at Mil-Spec-Monkey. I also have a folding knife that I can open with one hand (I have practiced this). It was carried in a pocket, but now it is on a retractor and banded to a strap on my BCD. (I can't spell bp/w.) I keep one Sharp Cut on my waist strap as well as the sheath with the EMT shears. I keep the other Sharp Cut on the strap of the computer on my left forearm. The shears also work well to cut off Lion Fish spines.

I appreciate and agree with your lessons learned and wish you didn't have to go through your ordeal to learn them. Hopefully, your misfortune and subsequent posting will save another diver from a similar ordeal.

Cheers -

 

[islanddream]

Yikes - glad you eventually go the medical attention you really needed - and more than one good lesson here.

So ... when we first started diving I got a nifty, spiffy, very expensive titanium dive knife and felt like Lara Croft for my first few dives ... and then stopped carrying it because it felt conspicuous and I worried it would go missing out of my checked bag. So that means that I'm diving without a cutting tool. I went to divegearexpress to see about the trilobite and am wondering what everyone likes the best. There are a few cutting tools to choose from. And how do you carry them? Do you hang it from your webbing on your BC? Obviously, not in a pocket. I have the Zeagle Zena and am wondering if a cutting tool would work well hanging on a D-ring? Love to hear opinions.

I have a trilobite that I wear on the wrist band of my dive computer. It's so easy to remove and put back in the sheath. I also carry shears and a knife, both of which are in sheaths and zip tied to my Zena.

 

[tursiops]

I have a trilobite that I wear on the wrist band of my dive computer. It's so easy to remove and put back in the sheath. I also carry shears and a knife, both of which are in sheaths and zip tied to my Zena.

Can you reach the trilobyte with both hands? Or the other two devices?

 

[Kimela]

I have a trilobite that I wear on the wrist band of my dive computer. It's so easy to remove and put back in the sheath. I also carry shears and a knife, both of which are in sheaths and zip tied to my Zena.

Would you be willing to post pics of how you carry the trilobite on your wrist band AND where you zip tie them to your BC? I don't have a trilobite and don't remember seeing one in person. How likely is it that I can slice myself by accident if I reach in the wrong direction?

 

[Steve_C]

Would you be willing to post pics of how you carry the trilobite on your wrist band AND where you zip tie them to your BC? I don't have a trilobite and don't remember seeing one in person. How likely is it that I can slice myself by accident if I reach in the wrong direction?

I was looking at one the other day. The blade is protected to large extent.

 

[tursiops]

It would be very difficult to cut yourself.

 

[tursiops]

Had some questions about how it is going....
Here is the finger 7 weeks post injury/repair.
Almost back to normal....still a little tender, but better each day.

I'm going to add a cutting tool or two to my basic dive rig; the Trilobite is really very good at what it does. but it doesn't do everything.

I was lucky. Luck, like hope, is not a strategy.

 

[islanddream]

Would you be willing to post pics of how you carry the trilobite on your wrist band AND where you zip tie them to your BC? I don't have a trilobite and don't remember seeing one in person. How likely is it that I can slice myself by accident if I reach in the wrong direction?

 

[islanddream]

The trilobite and knife are very easy to get to. The scissors aren't as easy but doable. There's no way you can hurt yourself since everything is in a sheath.

 

[Cali_diver]

Ambon.... I can't think of a worse place on Earth to be hooked... I am glad you are ok. My husband had his BC hooked there but we were able to unhook without injury. Needless to say we are very wary of line and diving under boats in harbors.