The weather is perfect, a gentle breeze on the back of your neck; you manage to make your way down to the river without getting turned around in the dense jungle of cedar and pine scrub. As you’re standing in the water you see there are a lot of fish rising to what happens to be the only fly you can tie very well. As you’re tying one on- a Great Orange Sedge Caddis, you notice a flicker of fur along the shoreline. Bobbing and weaving, trying to get a clear view of what it is, you lose your footing on the moss covered rocks on the river bottom. SPLOOSH!!! You plunge into the icy water and, after a minute or two of flailing, you manage to get to shore. Shivering and gasping for air, you hear a stick crack; turning, you realize the flash of fur you saw moments before was the raccoon that is now foaming at the mouth, making it’s way toward you. You somehow scare it off, then realize that your ankle feels like it might be broken. Could things get any worse? Yup. After noticing you’ve collapsed in a patch of poison ivy, you force your way onto one leg and start stripping your waders off, losing your balance yet again. This time you fall back and hit your head on an old stump, which is the current address of a nest of Brown Recluse Spiders.
Fly fishermen spend countless hours in the off-season planning and preparing for the upcoming season. We tie hundreds of flies so that when any hatch begins, we’re armed and dangerous. We study maps, research new gear and tune up old gear so when next year arrives, we’ll be ready. The one thing that is probably most overlooked is for when that "dream day on the water" turns into a nightmare. Yeah, the scenario I just described is pretty far fetched, but let’s face it, we risk a lot of dangers whether alone or with a buddy, on our favorite lakes and streams.
A very good first course of action is to sign up for a First Aid/CPR class. Why learn First Aid/CPR? Quite simply because it could save not only your life but the life of a friend or family member. Throughout the following, we’ll discuss some of the common and not-so-common injuries and illnesses we may experience while fly fishing and what you can do to manage your way through them with the things you have with you, until you can get more advanced medical care from a doctor or hospital.
Poison Ivy, Poison Oak, Poison Sumac The big thing to remember here is to wash the affected area with soap and water as soon as possible. This will prevent it from spreading to other areas of the body.
Animal bites Animal Bites carry the risk of rabies, which can be fatal without prompt treatment. Wash the wound with soap and water, control bleeding (covered later), and get to a healthcare provider right away. Do not try to catch an animal that may have rabies!
Snakebites are something I really don’t like to think about when walking around different bodies of water. If you’re bitten by a snake, try to get a good mental image of the snake so you can describe it to a healthcare provider. Unless absolutely certain it was a non-poisonous species, assume the worst. If you have a cell phone, call 911, or have a friend go for help. Do not apply a tourniquet, don’t try sucking the venom out or cutting open the wound to drain the venom. Unless absolutely necessary, do not move! Lie down and remain calm. Keep the bitten area secured and below the heart. Wash the bite wound with soap and water, and remove any jewelry or tight clothing before swelling begins.
Insect bites Spiders. We’ll only worry about 2 species here, the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse. Call 911; call immediately for the Brown Recluse bite. Keep the bitten area below the heart, wash with soap and water, and put a ice or cold pack on the area. A cold beverage or zip lock bag or something similar, filled with cold water, will work for this. Remember to have some type of cloth barrier between the cold pack and the wound.
Ticks. Tick bites aren’t poisonous but they can transmit diseases. Take your tweezers out and grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Now, pull up very gently, until the tick lets go. Pulling too hard could leave part of the tick in your skin. Wash the area with soap and water and see a healthcare provider as soon as you can.
Cold Emergencies
Having a normally crowded river to yourself in the winter is something many fly fishermen enjoy. Here in my home state of Michigan though, the weather can get brutal. Sub-freezing temps are the norm and frostbite or hypothermia can happen at any time.
Frostbite. If your skin starts to look waxy and white, gray, yellow, or bluish; becomes numb, tingly, or aches, or feels hard, chances are good that frostbite is setting in. The first thing you want to do is get out of the cold and into a warm environment. If it’s in your hands you can place them in your armpits to help warm them. If it is severe frostbite seek medical attention right away.
You are more likely to die from hypothermia in cold water than to drown. Symptoms include: uncontrollable shivering (shivering stops in severe cases), lethargic, clumsy movements and drowsiness. Pale, cool skin, even under clothing, slow breathing, and changing levels of responsiveness. Quickly get out of the cold and remove any wet clothing; a person in cold water or cold wet clothing cools 30 times faster than in cool air. Drink warm fluids. You want to warm your body from the inside out. Do not go home and get into a hot bath or use direct heat, because rapid warming can cause heart problems. When going out in cold conditions be prepared by having a change of clothes in your car, along with a blanket such as a good sleeping bag. Most body heat is lost through the head, so be sure to wear a quality hat. Layer clothing and choose a coat with a wind and waterproof outer layer.
Bleeding I haven’t figured out why yet, but fishermen are a very accident prone group of people. Cuts are part of the game. There are 3 types of bleeding. Arterial, Venous, and Capillary. Arterial bleeding is the most serious of the 3. Signs of arterial bleeding are bright red blood, spurting, and very heavy bleeding. This type of bleeding needs to be controlled immediately. Venous bleeding usually flows slower than arterial bleeding. The blood will be dark red and flows steadily, rather than spurting. Examples of capillary bleeding are shallow cuts or scrapes. Although the bleeding often stops by itself, you still need to take measures to prevent infection.
A quick discussion about blood borne pathogens (BP‘s). There are people carrying diseases such as Hepatitis B, HIV, AIDS, etc. Always think of yourself first. Wear some type of barrier device to try and prevent BP’s from entering your body. If your buddy is able to, have him make all the contact with the wound. It sounds selfish and I’ll say it again, THINK OF YOUR OWN SAFETY FIRST!
So your buddy just hooked into the biggest bass of his life. Neither of you thought to bring a net, so you just grabbed the fish by it's lip when he got it to the boat. But just as you started to slip your thumb into it’s mouth, it gave one last head shake and you now have a 2/0 hook fully impaled in the palm of your hand. This is something that will happen to everyone eventually, if it hasn’t already. The best thing to do is leave it in your hand; do not pull it out. There are lots of nerves, tendons, and blood vessels in your hand. By pulling the hook out you risk further damage that might end your fishing days. Leave it in. The object of the game of getting impaled by anything is to support it so that it cannot move from side to side. Think of tying in wings on a dry fly. You support whatever material you are using for them so that they stand up at just the right angle. If there is bleeding at the site of the puncture apply direct pressure to the sides of the object. Get to a doctor and let them remove the object. Bet you’re wishing you used barbless hooks about now, aren’t ya. What if you get a hook or something else impaled in your eye? Follow the same principle of leaving the object in and supporting it. Use a empty Styrofoam coffee cup to cover the injured eye. You want the eye to remain still, so don’t be looking around all over the place. With eyes another important thing to remember is that when one eye moves, so does the other. So, you’ll want to cover the uninjured eye also.
We all carry a pocketknife of some type when we’re out on the water. A knife is always useful. Unfortunately, we cut ourselves with them. Bleeding control is simple. Put direct pressure on the wound. If you have some gauze pads place them on the wound, applying firm but not extreme, direct pressure. Elevate the wound above the heart to slow the bleeding. If the gauze is completely saturated with blood, don’t remove it. Add extra gauze pads on top of it as necessary. By removing it you will do more harm than good by removing the blood platelets that were forming on the wound. A great thing to carry in your gear bag is a couple maxi pads. It’s amazing how much blood one will soak up. So, you’ve put direct pressure on the wound, elevated it and the bleeding still hasn‘t stopped? Now you want to find a pressure point upstream of the wound. For arms, the best place to do this is at the brachial artery. Feel that strong pulse in between your bicep and tricep on your inner arm? That’s it. If the wound is on a leg and direct pressure and/or elevation aren’t working, try putting pressure on the femoral artery. This is best done by having the injured person lie on their back. Now place the palm of your hand in the groin area between the genitals and the pelvis and apply pressure against the pelvic bone.
A quick note about tourniquets. The basic rule of thumb is to use one only when the bleeding is so severe that the person will die. “Life or Limb.” Odds are very good that if a tourniquet was applied, the limb will be lost if the victim survives.
There is a correct way to apply a tourniquet- you don’t want to just wrap a bandana around your arm as tight as you can. We’ll talk more about them in part 2. We’ll also talk about musculoskeletal injuries, heart attack, stroke, food poisoning, and what are some good items to have with you for a small first aid kit, and how to utilize some of the other things you already take with you and ways to use them for first aid emergencies.
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