How Do I Avoid Angler's Thumb? (A fishing question.)

In My Humble Opinion
1

Here’s a problem I bet a lot of you fishermen wish you had.

I’m catching too many smallmouth bass.

When you catch and release smallies, it’s very important to avoid contact with their flanks, because you can wipe off their protective coating of slime and make them more susceptible to parasites and disease.

So instead of grabbing the fish like a jumbo hotdog at the ballpark, you “lip” it by placing your thumb in his mouth and grabbing it by its strong lower jaw. Then you use the other hand to quickly remove the hook.

Smallmouth don’t have teeth, per se. Rather, their jaws are covered with a surface not unlike the stiff side of a strip of Velcro, except that it’s needle sharp. Sharper than needles, actually.

The problem is that after catching a few dozen of these guys in an afternoon, it tears your thumbs up pretty bad. Last Saturday I had to quit the day because both of my thumbs were bleeding, and my right thumb has yet to fully heal.

So, I need a thumb-guard. Something that’s waterproof, that won’t interfere with the operation of my spinning gear, and won’t prove to be a nuisance. I have on occasion seen archers using some sort of thumb-guard. Anyone know if those will work? Duct tape is an obvious solution, but believe it or not I’ve tried this, and when it gets wet it just slimes up and falls off.

There’s a good chance I’ll be in the river this evening, using my left hand, and if I enjoy the same spectacular success that I have had recently, that means I’ll be out of commission until I come up with something.

Thanks for all your suggestions and heck, while we’re at it, why don’t you folks tell me what you think about fishing?

2

How 'bout one of those rubber finger covers that are used to make sorting paper easier? You could get one from the office supply store.

Here’s what I mean.

3

There are a couple of different types of landing or “tailing” gloves that people use around here that help protect against loss of scales and “slime”. They are mostly used for steelhead and salmon, though, and being a bass fisherman, your buddies would probably laugh you off the water. You could try mashing down the hook barbs and fishing barbless for faster release, and maybe using a landing net. I’ve seen people use fishing pliers to “lip” walleye and other fish with large teeth, also. I’ve found that using barbless hooks, a landing net and forceps to remove the hook allows me to avoid teeth.
As to fishing, it’s my absolute favorite pastime. I mostly flyfish, and tie my own flies. I’ll be heading up the Columbia gorge in a couple of weeks to flyfish for smallies in some of the ponds along the river. They’re a fun fish to catch and come readily to poppers and baitfish or damselfly nymph imitations. Good luck with the thumb. It may just be that you have to sacrifice it to the fish gods for catching so many.

4

Hey, thanks for the input, both of you! The thumb-nodder might be just the trick, but I’ll look into the gloves, too.

I’ve been using Gamakatsu hooks, sometimes with the barbs depressed, and rarely have trouble extracting them, although I do keep a pair of needle-nose pliers on hand for those times when I fear I might hurt the fish. My main trouble is getting the little guys to sit still long enough for me to make the grab–smallies never stop fighting.

As for fly fishing, well, I bow to your superior angling skillz, Godfrey. The biggest thing I ever caught with a fly rod was… me. That’s about the same time I went back to the trusty old Shimano spinner.

5

We use gloves. Screw what the other fishermen think. Your fishing supply store should have them. We’ve also had Pfisteria scares in the last few years, so the way I see it the protection works both ways.

6

I think letting up on fishing is the best route to take. I mean think about it, bass are fun to catch but aren’t good to eat because they taste like mud. You should let up fpr a while and try catching something that tastes better, like catfish.

7

Aww, your widdle thumb hurts because you are catching too many fish? My heart bleeds a torrent, you poor bastard. My sympathy knows no bounds, so here are two tips that might help.

For most people, I would suggest that for every fish you catch, sit back and drink a beer. For you, that might not be a good idea though. One, you’d probably turn into a wino and two, I wouldn’t want to be responsible for your next complaint on how you still not only have a sore thumb from too many fish lips, but also a blister on your beer can opening finger.

Try doing what I do occasionally. Get a golf glove or two, and cut the fingers off at the second knuckle, and the thumbs off halfway between the tip and the first knuckle. They are cheap, light and breathable (especially the mesh backed ones), and you’ll have the thumb protection as well as free fingers for line tying and some added grip on the rod which really does help with hand fatigue, even if you don’t know you have any.

8

As far as fishing goes, there isn’t much better, maybe except for sex and golf. I’m mainly a catfisher, but love trout, bluegill and crappie too. I enjoy catching bass, but I’ve never deliberately fished for them except when nothing else is hitting. I don’t like the taste or the texture. Tying into a smallmouth on an ultralight rig is the closest us landlubbers can get to marlin fishing :wink: