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Posts: 551
Location: Columbus, Georgia | I have a confession to make here guys.
During my season, I consistently have infections in my hands from numerous puncture wounds, scrapes, and gouges from hooks. Regardless of the slight amount of blood that might be drawn ... I am assured of a small infection that might take anywhere from three to five days (sometimes more) to clear up. My thumbs are constantly in pain.
The skin on my hands (especially my fingertips) becomes calloused and begins to crack and scale and this is also a source of pain. I have been using a hand cream called "Hemp" that was recommended and this has helped to a degree. A teller at my bank said that her skin would also crack and scale from handling paper money (which is filthy and full of germs and the like), and that this product had helped her greatly over the years.
I would be very interested to hear if this happens to other guys, or am I simply careless in the way that I am handling my baits. I am mindful to keep those hooks as sharp as I can, but whether I am sharpening hooks or not ... I always have some fresh woulds on my hands, and this almost always is a source of some pain and annoyance.
I remember when I was a kid and they had the commercial where they showed you two pair of hands and we had to guess which hand was the mother's and which was the daughter's (based upon who was using the dishwashing lotion that was being advertised).
No doubt anyone would know which hands belonged to the Muskie fisherman (me) if they showed my hands next to a guy who was not.
What say ye' Muskie hunters?
Craig
Edited by cjrich 4/23/2007 10:30 AM
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Posts: 8775
| I am lucky I guess -- I'm always getting nicked, poked, scraped, stabbed, etc out there, but I don't get infections. Sure, its a little sore for a couple days, but never more than that. I think it's due to the fact that I always make sure to squeeze out as much blood as I can from whatever it is. I know you're not supposed to do that, but I do it anyway. Another thing I think helps a lot is that Nu Skin stuff -- as soon as it stops bleeding, I get out the Nu Skin and paint over it -- lots of nasty stuff in the waters I fish that I don't want in there!!
Maybe an antibiotic cream like neosporin would help?? |
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Posts: 138
| Craig, Sometimes in the winter my hands crack and what I use is bag balm, during the winter months I carry a small tin of the stuff with me always and I found that if I catch it early and applied the bag balm often the cracking goes away.
Give it a try. http://www.bagbalm.com/
Jeff
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Posts: 5874
| Cornhuskers works for me. My hands are extremely dry and chafed from the last 4 days on the water. On app of cornhuskers, and the wife let me touch her again! hehehe
Doesn't do much for the little inflamation from the cuts, but if I get them, a good washing with anti bacterial soap helps alot. |
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Posts: 188
Location: Chicago | Craig,
My hands are fine, however 2 of the guys I fish with have issues from wet hands, cracking and basic skin failure. Nu Skin works pretty good, you may want to give yourself enough time to put a few coats on with drying time b4 fishing. If your index finger on one of your hands splits on the side from opening leaders, you may want to put a bandaid and then a few wraps of athletic tape. This will build a cushion and therefore avoid the pain you need to open a leader. They also sell 1/4 wide (i think?) medical tape which is like sports tape but thinner.
Backlashes really affect their finger tip and the skin kinda falls off. I usually end of helping at the end of a trip.
Good luck
Dr. Rob. |
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Posts: 132
| I get a lot of infected cuts too. Those antibiotic band-aids work like magic for me.
Edited by Partycrasher 4/23/2007 12:28 PM
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| in a word: Musky Armor! Well, two words. The gloves they make are great. Not a bad investment for the problems you describe. m |
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| Always said the best way to tell if someone is on fish is look at their hands..the one I hate is sawing the creases on your palm side fingers with superbraid yanking on snags etc it causesa papercut that hurts |
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Posts: 814
| One of the best moisturizers for your hands is udderbalm way better than cornhuskers, imo, can get at any fleet and farm or any agriculture store. |
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| If my hands get dry real bad i will load them up with lotion and put surgeons gloves on and go to sleep with them on. When you wake up your hand are real smooth and soft. Wow that sounds bad lol.
don |
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Posts: 1529
| my hands dry out woodworking. but fishing why do those slime cuts burn so bad. i use jergens cream. funny topic but a real good thought for sure. |
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Posts: 13688
Location: minocqua, wi. | i use a higher quality medical tape and just tape the knuckles and area on my hand that gets affected. no balm or lotion is going to prevent ... it's all treatment after the fact, but if you tape your fingers in the right place it will help you out quite a bit. |
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Posts: 20211
Location: oswego, il | My hands bleed at some point every day. Cuts, pokes, dry skin you name it. I had two fingers cracked wide open for almost 45 days without healing. One day this winter, I counted 11 spots from bleeding on one hand and 6 on the other. The only thing that would help is to put hand lotion on a bandade over the splits and keep it covered constantly. |
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Posts: 32885
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | Zims Crack Cream is very effective. I use it allot when guiding and when fishing the Goon because of all the Pike caught. Tears the hands up pretty good. This stuff and hand sanitizer (alcohol in a base of other stuff) heals and keeps the nasties away. |
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| Neosporin |
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| Hemp cream is good to help with dryness. Best I've used.
For cracks, bleeding...etc
Udder Balm works the best for me. Take it from a guy who spent 20 years fixing broken watermains is sub-zero temps in water that was soaked with clay that sucks your skin completely dry. Our crew made it through the winters with Udder Balm. |
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Posts: 929
Location: Rhinelander. | I agree with muskyboy ( NEOSPORIN) is magic. It even comes in a formula with a pain killer in it.
Pfeiff |
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Posts: 551
Location: Columbus, Georgia | What a great response. Thanks to all. I will definitely begin trying everything on this list until I find some better relief.
Great suggestions. I am sorry that you guys suffer too, but it's nice to know that I am not chopping myself up (hands) due to pure carelessness.
Craig
Edited by cjrich 4/23/2007 11:34 PM
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| Maybe this seems to obvious but why not just wear some surgical gloves during those times you expect to get your hands hit? In my neck of the woods here in Oregon salmon fisherman wear them all day to keep the scent off their lures...just a thought. The other thing you should do is keep some hand soap in your boat along with a small bucket...fill it with water and wash your hands periodically throughout the day...it will only take you a minute to do this and it might help considerably.
RM |
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Posts: 468
Location: Not where I wanna be! | My hands get pretty beat up too, but i have found that putting medicated bandaids on the wounds helps heal them quicker and keeps me from making them worse...
and i keep cuts and wounds from hooks as clean as possible.....
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Posts: 299
Location: Ontario, California | I used to operate and deckhand a charter boat in So California for 6 years. My hand were constantly getting torn up and getting infected with fish slime. After a few years of the infections... I saw another deckhand dunking his hands in a bleach and water mix. After I did that... I never had another infection from handling fish and other things on the boat (disclaimer.... I don't recommend this but I wanted to tell you what I have done). After I was off the boat for the night, I would use cornhuskers with rubber gloves at night.
I wonder if the bleach is what caused the brain damage though???? |
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | every week for my big wee long trip my fingers are sore from pushing in the snaps on leaders and reeling and getting poked by hooks, etc |
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Posts: 938
Location: NeverNever Lake | The last time I put hemp on my hands,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I can't remember what I was going to say!
http://www.eucerinus.com/products/hb_aho.html |
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Posts: 227
Location: Southeast Wisconsin | Neosporin and a bandaid is the best remedy for open wounds..
If you get cuts on your hands/fingers and your not using neosporin than your missing out on an early recovery and a lot less pain.. |
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Posts: 5874
| Yes, Udderbalm. I knew there was another that I was forgetting. I use cornhuskers for general moisturizing on the hands, and Udderbalm when the cracking gets bad. |
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Posts: 18
| Cracking, splitting and fissuring come mainly from the frequent wet to dry cycling of your hands while fishing. This acts similar to dyshidrotic eczema that is seen more frequently in the winter and one of the mainstays of treatment is keeping the skin moist. Lotions are absorbed and evaporate so an ointment is required (yes...grease!). One of the most effective techniques for this has already been mentioned - that of slathering the hands before bed with Neosporin or Vaseline and putting on cheap cotton gloves or surgical gloves while sleeping. This will maximize the healing power of the skin overnight while helping prevent further drying and cracking of the skin due to the wet-dry cycle that is repetitive in the boat.
Scott MD |
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Posts: 96
| I carry a roll of athletic tape and gauze pads for wound repair and comfort while fishing. The stuff I use is more a band aid feeling tape. A few wraps and I'm good for the day. Regular band aids don't work for me on the water.
Amen to the Neosporen!
My hands get tore up from a week of casting in Canada and this stuff has always kept me and anyone in my group from infection. It just works. |
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