Idol threats Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Hi All I thought I would let you all know about a catfish encounter that I have had which may help people to beaware of the dangers in handling the ugly fish of the Hawkesbury. Last Sunday fishing with the soon to be brother in Law we set off in hope of Jews , Bream , Flathead ETC but too our dissapointment all we could do is catch Catfish , hundreds of them!!! after releasing the 99th Catfish with the berkly grips this small slimy fish decides to jump into the boat and land smack dead on the top of my foot , a small puncture wound of about 3mm long and a tiny trckle of blood , and followed by the most intence pain I have every felt , the brother in Law new to fishing is looking at me as if I am a wimp saying how can such a little cut hurt so much. No more than 2min had passed and the pain was unbearable and I was looking for the knife to cut my foot off , when I remembered that I had a bottle of ice in the esky , ( point one never put ice on a Catfish sting it makes it worse).Rolling around the deck and swearing alot I remembered that it was hot water that would surpress the pain so I motored back to the ramp and started the drive home , lucky for me the sting was on my left foot , arriving at the wisemans ferry approach and having to wait a couple of minutes for the ferry to arrive on my side of the river the pain got worse and I threw up what little contents I had in my stomach. Evetually got home and hobbled into the house and filled a bucket up of hot water, placed the foot into the water and had almost instant relief from the pain , although when the water started to cool the pain came back , I put up with this for a couple of hours or so and the wife said that she had enough of me swearing and took me to the Hospitail , by this time my foot was the size of a foot ball and a very pale purple. I saw the doctor and his first words to me was you have broken your foot , well I explained the situation and without a second thought he admitted me into hospitail ( I hate hospitails) in a nut shell 4 days in hospitail , 13 needles 24/7 drip with antibiotics and follow up antibiotics out of hospitail. I will attempt to put up a picture to warn people of the dangers , if I catch another catfish in the future I will be cutting the line before their ugly head even breaks the surface. Best wishes to all Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrmoshe Posted February 3, 2008 Share Posted February 3, 2008 Wow Matt...That's a shocking story. They must have some serious toxins in them to do that. That pic of your swolen foot looks extremely painful. I'd say you've landed your last catfish. Glad you are fully recovered now, but a good lesson for all of us. Hope you feel better now, Cheers, Pete. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Soprano Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Ouch! That's nasty mate. I hope you make a full recovery and don't suffer any further ill-effects from it... To be honest I've always tried not to touch them but that's only cause they're so ugly, I had no idea they could do that sort of damage to you! Thanks for sharing your story, hopefully you'll educate a few raiders and stop it happening to someone else. Cheers Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gretsch Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Not good at all.. I hate those little mothers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brad Duffell Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Thanks for that mate ill remember that for next time i catch one of the buggers Caught heaps of them and carelessly handled them and obviously been lucky not to get stung. Cheers, Brad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh88 Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Thats pretty serious mate, didn't know they could cause such damage. Was it the big dorsal spine that went into your foot because i've heard thats what causes the most damage. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrt11n@hotmail.com Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 F$%k me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laredo Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 (edited) gee. I've never heard that catfish were dangerous in any way. Thanks for the cautionary tale. sounds pretty darn serious do you mind if I ask what they actually did in hospital (treat poison/ fight infection? etc) Edited February 4, 2008 by Laredo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landbased Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 I got hit on the thumb by one of those hawksbury catfish about 5 weeks ago at the start of my day of. Damn people will NEVER EVER understand the amount of pain that they cause. the guys I was fishing with thought I was being a big girl all day. I still feel a bit of pain in the thumb. I feel for you man i really really do. I hope the foot gets better and I hope no one ever gets one of them. p.s poisons information said to my wife when I told her that the catfish spike is like the spike from a stingray but stronger get better soon mate and I hope it stops hurting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Little Hooker Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 holly smokes i heard that the pain was bad but not that serious!!! I was told (different country) that if you get stung by a catfish you should cut of abit of his fins off and apply on the cut with it. Its not proven or anything but i surley be givin it a shot if i ever come across what happen to you!! It could help jus that slight bit. hope your feeling better right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idol threats Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 Thanks for the get well replies to answers your questions , the recovery in hospitail was too be put on a drip 24/7 , (4 days worth) with antibiotics every 6 hrs followed by 2 antibiotics tablets throughout the day , total bed rest and I had to keep my foot elevated.It has been Ten days now since I was stung and the blistering has gone but the foot looks like it has been stung by a box jelly fish with red rashes all over and as itchy as hell. The spine that got me was the side spine and further warning to those want to be catfish handlers the little ones are the most toxic as they use it as a defence mechanism. Regards Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ Garn Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Matt Even without the Catfish damage you've got a rough foot there mate!!! They say when you're catching catfish on the Hawkesbury it's time to go home anyways!!! I hope you're feeling better and sorry to hear of your misfortune!!! I've never been jabbed by a Catty but have experienced Red Rock Cod spikes from time to time... I find the best relief is to squeeze the affected area (to release the poison) and just keep on fishing, usually the pain subsides within about an hour or so!!! I guess that some of us are more susceptible to the toxins than others!!! By my experience the Catfish are around because of the amount of fresh going into the system at the moment, a couple of weeks and things should be back to normal!!! Cheers PJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idol threats Posted February 5, 2008 Author Share Posted February 5, 2008 Matt Even without the Catfish damage you've got a rough foot there mate!!! They say when you're catching catfish on the Hawkesbury it's time to go home anyways!!! I hope you're feeling better and sorry to hear of your misfortune!!! I've never been jabbed by a Catty but have experienced Red Rock Cod spikes from time to time... I find the best relief is to squeeze the affected area (to release the poison) and just keep on fishing, usually the pain subsides within about an hour or so!!! I guess that some of us are more susceptible to the toxins than others!!! By my experience the Catfish are around because of the amount of fresh going into the system at the moment, a couple of weeks and things should be back to normal!!! Cheers PJ Thanks PJ , my wife says the same thing , some people have ugly heads and others have ugly feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PJ Garn Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Thanks PJ , my wife says the same thing , some people have ugly heads and others have ugly feet. And some have both!!! Thank God I have nice feet!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mondo Rock Posted February 5, 2008 Share Posted February 5, 2008 Matt - sounds like you may have an allergy to the catfish poison as I've not heard of anyone having as bad a reaction before. I've been jabbed a couple of times up in NT whilst chasing barra and, whilst I agree about the pain being quite severe, the trauma died down for me in each instance after a couple of hours. Having said that I should admit that in both cases the guide rubbed catfish slime into the wound, telling me (as per Little Hooker's suggestion) that it would relieve the pain. I didn't think it had worked at the time, since it made no difference from my perspective, but listening to your story I'm starting to think that maybe my quicker recovery time was a direct result of the slime. Regardless, good to hear that you're recovering well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bullfrog Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Did anyone see 'Adventure Bound' on Channel 31 last night (Thursday), arguably, one of the better fishing programmes in my opinion. One of the presenters caught a catfish and did a full Rex Hunt impersonation and actually kissed it before throwing it back! Was he very very lucky not to get spiked or are there different species of Catfish around Australia which aren't as dangerous? I think this programme may be repeated over this weekend so you might be able to see the actual clip I am referring to. I'd be interested in your thoughts if you happen to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flightmanager Posted February 22, 2008 Share Posted February 22, 2008 Oddly enough , a member rang me yesterday , she was fishing with a friend , and he copped a catfish sting on the thumb , and wanted to know what to do . As the pain was starting to radiate upwards , I advised a compression bandage from the wrist to the elbow , and take patient to the nearest hospital. Several hours , and lots of antibiotics later , he was released , but the immediate treatment is water as hot as you can stand it , with some bi carb soda added . Seems that they are not only ugly , but toxic as well !! Ross Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpac Posted February 23, 2008 Share Posted February 23, 2008 (edited) caught one of them for the first time ever on thursday..... omg can't beleive how ugly they are..... remembered this thread and din't get near it. ..... it no joke would have weighed 3kg, it was huge. to say we got a mixed bag was an understatement..... 1 catfish 1 rock fish (or something) 2 taylor 15+ bream 2 flounder and a hand foll of toads. 0 Jewfish This is off a wharf in parra river. Edited February 23, 2008 by dpac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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