How to fish with no hands?

[VitalSpinner]

Aloha fellow sailors! I am currently Writing a novel that takes place aboard a 30’ Erikson.. I’ve come up with a scenario that I need a little help with. There is a character in the book who wants to fish without having full use of his hands. Both hands are injured, and so even touching the wounds is extremely painful. He is a salty old dog and pretty tough, so a little contact is okay, but he cannot grip or hold onto anything as both hands are bandaged. Buuuut he wants to fish. he demands to be able to fish actually...what do you think? How can someone fish with no hands? A device or method you can imagine? There is someone there to help him set it all up but she can’t help him beyond that. (**** is hitting the fan, they are headed into a storm) I’ve thought about wrapping the fishing line around a wench and having him reel in using his elbows to crank a wench handle...but truthfully, I’m a novice at sailing. So I’m asking the pros.

[Steadman Uhlich]

There are automatic reels that work like a spring, once tripped by the fish, it reels the fish in. People set these on banks when fishing for catfish.

These are typically called “YO YO reels” and you can learn more about them on YouTube or Google.

Hope that helps you.

IMHO: Instead of fishing, he should be preparing the boat for the storm and helping his crew (the other person).

[JPA Cate]

VitalSpinner, sometimes a person is willing to pay the price of pain to attain a goal. It depends on where your fisherman is, really. If he is in the shallows, in a place where the fish also like to hang out there, some people are quick enough to scoop the fish out onto the land, in a swooping motion, stealthily under their belly, and out. You could go try it sometime, you'd be able to write better about it. But, he'd be taking the risk of staph infection. There's lots of staph in seawater.

If he can chum with something, be might be able to use a landing net to lift the fish out. I would say that the degree of pain would increase with the size of the fish. And, he'd have to be to the point that he was pretty desperate to take on the pain price. If he's a proud old salt, he is unlikely to ask someone to help him with it, even if there were someone there to help. Also, if he's OLD, he knows if he waits 4 or five , a whole lot of healing shall have taken place--or not. If no access to help, gangrene is a possible issue as well, even today. [As an aside, my Dad told me that you can put maggots in an open wound, and they will eat all the necrotic tissue. I do not know if that is true, but it IS a gruesome thought!]

If you aspire to be a writer and have the sailing bits work for sailors, you should learn the differences between a wench and a winch. I'm sure you know in your own life, but that kind of error causes many of us to put away books with those kinds of errors. It may be simply a story devise to you, but for us, it removes the willing suspension of disbelief that is crucial to a story teller.

Ann

[StuM]

Originally Posted by VitalSpinner

Aloha fellow sailors! I am currently Writing a novel that takes place aboard a 30’ Erikson.. I’ve come up with a scenario that I need a little help with. There is a character in the book who wants to fish without having full use of his hands. Both hands are injured, and so even touching the wounds is extremely painful. He is a salty old dog and pretty tough, so a little contact is okay, but he cannot grip or hold onto anything as both hands are bandaged. Buuuut he wants to fish. he demands to be able to fish actually...what do you think? How can someone fish with no hands? A device or method you can imagine? There is someone there to help him set it all up but she can’t help him beyond that. (**** is hitting the fan, they are headed into a storm) I’ve thought about wrapping the fishing line around a wench and having him reel in using his elbows to crank a wench handle...but truthfully, I’m a novice at sailing. So I’m asking the pros.

"winch"! If you "crank the handles" on a "wench", you will get a slap in the face at least.


And presumably, than's an Ericson, not Erikson.


Depends a lot on what gear is available (boat rod, yoyo?) and what sort of fish you are looking at (offshore? coastal? how big a fish?) ?



Using a winch to reel in a line is feasible (but there are all sorts of issues with that). The biggest problem would be boarding/handling the fish with no hands once it is alongside.

[Pelagic]

Take a look at the Movie "My Left Foot" where a guy with cerebral palsy uses his foot (feet)

[Training Wheels]

Originally Posted by VitalSpinner

I’ve thought about wrapping the fishing line around a wench and having him reel in using his elbows to crank a wench handle...but truthfully, I’m a novice at sailing. So I’m asking the pros.

Always good to have a good wench onboard!

[VitalSpinner]

Originally Posted by Steadman Uhlich

There are automatic reels that work like a spring, once tripped by the fish, it reels the fish in. People set these on banks when fishing for catfish.

These are typically called “YO YO reels” and you can learn more about them on YouTube or Google.

Hope that helps you.

IMHO: Instead of fishing, he should be preparing the boat for the storm and helping his crew (the other person).

Yeah he should be helping, but there are actually pretty good reasons for him wanting to fish at this exact moment. Maybe he will be trying to do both, depending on the situation. It’s comic relief.

I know about the automatic reels but I need a more creative solution. They don’t have an automatic reel!

Any more ideas?

[VitalSpinner]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

VitalSpinner, sometimes a person is willing to pay the price of pain to attain a goal. It depends on where your fisherman is, really. If he is in the shallows, in a place where the fish also like to hang out there, some people are quick enough to scoop the fish out onto the land, in a swooping motion, stealthily under their belly, and out. You could go try it sometime, you'd be able to write better about it. But, he'd be taking the risk of staph infection. There's lots of staph in seawater.

If he can chum with something, be might be able to use a landing net to lift the fish out. I would say that the degree of pain would increase with the size of the fish. And, he'd have to be to the point that he was pretty desperate to take on the pain price. If he's a proud old salt, he is unlikely to ask someone to help him with it, even if there were someone there to help. Also, if he's OLD, he knows if he waits 4 or five , a whole lot of healing shall have taken place--or not. If no access to help, gangrene is a possible issue as well, even today. [As an aside, my Dad told me that you can put maggots in an open wound, and they will eat all the necrotic tissue. I do not know if that is true, but it IS a gruesome thought!]

If you aspire to be a writer and have the sailing bits work for sailors, you should learn the differences between a wench and a winch. I'm sure you know in your own life, but that kind of error causes many of us to put away books with those kinds of errors. It may be simply a story devise to you, but for us, it removes the willing suspension of disbelief that is crucial to a story teller.

Ann

HILARIOUS about the wench vs winch. I’m so embarrassed. The Ericson also, considering I actually cruised for a year on one. Not great with spelling. Especially on the iPhone. Please forgive me! I come to you humbly. Will write more eloquently once I’m at a desktop. Promise! Lol

[bill352]

If he had one of those cutlass-bearing wenches, she could stab the fish for him.

[boatman61]

We could introduce him to Zeehag..

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by boatman61

We could introduce him to Zeehag..

Oh Boatie, you'l pay for that one.

[Snore]

Finds a pre-rigged lure with a loop at the end of the leader. Takes some 1/4” line and ties a bowline knot with great pain and his teeth. Before throwing the lure in, he warps the line onto a self-tailing winch.

Fish hits, he uses a winch handle lashed to his forearm to grind the winch a 1/2 turn at a time. You could go Old Man and the Sea and have a shark eat most of the fish.

Best I can come up with, the lashing thing is a bit of artistic license, of course he uses a “Snore” knot

[Jim Cate]

Unless it is a very small boat, the self tailers won't work on 1/4 inch line.

Hmm... he could wrap the end of the line around the prop shaft and use that to wind in the fish (maybe)

Or use a magnetohydrolater to warp in the line...

Sheesh...

Jim

[Dave_S]

Attach the other end of the line to a bottle full of water. Pass the line around a winch (or wench as required). When he catches a fish kick the bottle over the side it will pull the fish in.

[RaymondR]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

VitalSpinner, sometimes a person is willing to pay the price of pain to attain a goal. It depends on where your fisherman is, really. If he is in the shallows, in a place where the fish also like to hang out there, some people are quick enough to scoop the fish out onto the land, in a swooping motion, stealthily under their belly, and out. You could go try it sometime, you'd be able to write better about it. But, he'd be taking the risk of staph infection. There's lots of staph in seawater.

If he can chum with something, be might be able to use a landing net to lift the fish out. I would say that the degree of pain would increase with the size of the fish. And, he'd have to be to the point that he was pretty desperate to take on the pain price. If he's a proud old salt, he is unlikely to ask someone to help him with it, even if there were someone there to help. Also, if he's OLD, he knows if he waits 4 or five , a whole lot of healing shall have taken place--or not. If no access to help, gangrene is a possible issue as well, even today. [As an aside, my Dad told me that you can put maggots in an open wound, and they will eat all the necrotic tissue. I do not know if that is true, but it IS a gruesome thought!]

If you aspire to be a writer and have the sailing bits work for sailors, you should learn the differences between a wench and a winch. I'm sure you know in your own life, but that kind of error causes many of us to put away books with those kinds of errors. It may be simply a story devise to you, but for us, it removes the willing suspension of disbelief that is crucial to a story teller.

Ann

Maggots are still used in hospitals for this purpose. However I'm fairly certain they are not collected from the kitchen rubbish skip. A multinational will have genetically engineered the common maggot and taken out a patent on it which they evergreen by making "significant improvements" just before the expiry date. And, being generous folks, they're probably only charging $5,000 per maggot for them.