About 4 years ago, while fishing with a guide, we got into a mess of these nucience catfish. With a lot of newbies on the boat, our guide decided to have a little fun with us and pull our leg a bit. He dared any of us to lick the slime left on the line by one of these guys, promising that the reward was an intoxicating experience. However, none of us fell for it!

I wish I would have paid a little more attention to him, not the prank but instead 1) that the slime of a Hardhead is toxic and 2) how to properly handle/release the fish. Turns out, late last fall, on a solo trip down to Port O, I ran into a good number of Hardheads again. On about the 5th one I caught, he completely shallowed the hook. Now common sense would have told someone to just cut the line, but I was determined to get my hook back. After about 15 mins, a lot of prying, and a ton of frustration, I managed to get the hook close to the opening of the mouth. Then I got this wise idea to just shake him off and be done with it.

Bad idea! While I was able to shake him free, as he was falling back to the water, his slime covered fin happened to encounter the back side of my hand. There were a couple of choice words in reaction to the initial poke, but it got flat out painful about a minitue later, once the toxins set in, as my hand began to swell and go numb. It became so painful that I could barely hold the rod to cast, basically ending my day of fishing.

Lesson learned, from now on I’ll keep my distance, and not leave home without a Baker Hookout (9.5″), and if it’s just too deep, I’ll cut my losses and cut the line.

ARTICLE: Antidote from Gaff Mag