Hooked..

Just came back from fishing trip with dad and his frens.. Been about 2 yrs since I went on this particular trip that takes us out to the open waters to fish, near Horsburg lighthouse, aka Pedra Branca.. (u know the land of dispute between us and our frenly neighbour) Yeah..

Hmm, so off we went. The thing I like about fishing trips is not so much about the fishing itself, though it is enjoyable, but more of being in the nature. Unfamiliar territory.. Seeing big sea liner cruise by at break-neck speed (in nautical terms).. Thinking how the sea and ocean "works" etc etc. It's a beautiful world. Or should I start singing "what a wonderful world". Lol..

Anyway, highlight of the trip.. Involves me in agony.. Yeah, here goes.. I had just caught a small fish and was unhooking it to put it in the ice box.. Was gonna catch another live bait to hook up and continue fishing when the highlight came.. I had just unhooked the fish, the hook was on the floor. I was wary of the danger so I kept a look out as I was catching the bait.. Den one of the uncles came by, I still took notice. But he had stepped over my fishing line, so I thought all was fine and let down my guard. Next moment (all in one second), he tripped on the rod, the rod followed his leg, I felt a sensation in my right foot, he managed to maintain his balance, I went "ARGHHH!!!"... The sequence of events in that one second....

I knew I was hooked. I was just hoping it was superficial.. But when I looked down. I saw the whole hook stuck in my foot. My thoughts: Fuck, this time hong gan already.. Cos I groaned, everyone turned and looked. So help arrived almost immediately from my dad and all the other uncles. Wasn't painful but I was just thinking how are we going to take that shit out of my foot. So I sat down and they debated how to do it. For those who dun fish, the thing with hooks nowadays is, they are all armed with a "reverse hook". Go in one way very easy, come out the other way, got another hook... So 2 options available: To push it forward (to avoid the reverse hook thingy) and cut the hook into 2 when the ends are visible and take out the hook from 2 sides. Or, to just heck the reverse hook and pull it out the way it went in..

First option was more or less the first choice because this is what docs will normally do. But dad tried moving the hook a little and found it lodged firmly, no way forward. Guess it's the bone (ie. metatarsal) blocking it. We were afraid there might be veins and nerves in the way also.. The boatman came by and said we should use Option 2.. But we debated awhile more.. All this while, my foot was iced to keep it numb to prepare for the minor "op". So yada yada, was going to do it already, but I think my dad cant really do it.. As in xia4 bu4 liao2 shou3.. So he left it to the boatman.. My foot was numb from all the icing already but not totally numb at the hook area, but all round it was numb as hell.. And so they were ready, option 2 it was.. I asked one uncle to hold my left leg, in case i kicked, a guy locked arms with me by the elbow, and then my left hand held on tight to a beam.. All juz in case.. Some of them had hooked experiences, but none had gone through what I had to, which is to do it right in the boat without professional medical care.. So I braced myself and looked away. I could feel what he was doing la, but just braced myself to get it over and done with..

With one short, strong pull, it was out.. I groaned again... At that moment, a bit painful. Quite painful actually, but it was restricted to that small area at least.. So not so bad. And den was the cleaning up part. Actually, up till now, never properly clean up yet. came home just used alot of soap to wash.. And sunday, clinic all closed. I think I probably will go see my family doc tml at his clinic, maybe get a tetanus jab, just in case.. It's a bit swollen also..

Oh well, the rest of the fishing trip will bore pple out, so wun blog about it. But on the whole, we caught alot of sotong (it is fun!) and also dad got a big fish that weighed probably 6kg or more.. Fun trip but probably won't go again till 2 yrs later again, after NS..