HAZARDS OF CATFISHING


It was a nice Saturday morning and the boat was loaded for a day catfishing with a new friend from the coast. Nothing was different from any other morning other than the river was not moving as fast as normal. We caught several eaters and was set up for some bigger ones. A small 5 pounder had hit the line and while removing it from the hook it fell in the boat and flopped around, it grazed my ankle, nothing bad just a small scrape. I thought nothing of it, the fin had just made a mark on my ankle and not even any blood, this was about 10 am. We fished all day and I had an increasing feeling in my ankle, by the time we took out my ankle was swollen and red and had a lot of heat in it, I still thought that it was nothing, typical man thing. I loaded the boat and began the cleanup after a day catfishing. My ankle was swollen and really sore.

Sunday morning the ankle was so swollen and painful I could not walk on it, again I let it go and did not think much about it. On Monday the thing was so bad I had to call the doctor. The doctor took one look and sent me to the ER. They said I had a bacterial infection and said is was in the tissue and I needed a major IV antibiotic with an oral antibiotic for two weeks. I was thinking all this from a little scratch. My doctor said it can kill and if not treated it can cause me to loose my leg. I started to panic. I then calmed down and started doing some research.

To my surprise I found little on this. What I did find was really interesting. Many water borne bacteria cause this and with the less than normal cold this winter the bacteria and fungus in the rivers and lakes are at a much higher level. Many water borne bacteria are not harmful but some are, the flesh eating strain of strep bacteria are all water borne and most can mutate to fight off the antibiotics. This is where the damage control the doctors do comes to play, they first start off with a major injection of IV antibiotics of the strongest nature for the person they can. Then it’s the same for the oral antibiotics. This lasts for anywhere from a week to three. If the antibiotics work, if not then it’s back to the IV and a new antibiotic. This can go on if the person don’t do what the doctors tell them, bed rest and elevation and not walking on it.

I did call the doctor back with some questions and was able to talk to him at length about this. I found out that a simple thing like wiping it off with an antibacterial wipe might have prevented it. Also simple wipes found in the medicine isle of any Wal-mart will prevent many infections and complications. The type of bacteria varies with each body of water, the saving grace of this is that most can not survive outside a host (I.E.: water, fish mucus, and muck off the rocks and such) the life span off their host is in minuets, therefore a simple alcohol wipe will kill most if not all bacteria.

So just goes to show that a simple day fishing can lead to a major endeavor with the hospitals and doctors and might even put you life at risk. So be careful and pay attention to all the little scrapes and cut you get while fishing.