Do you wear adequate eye protection while fishing?

Question

A fish hook in the eye is one of the most common 'on-the-water' injuries. Just imagine how painful that could be.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,270473,00.html

I was just hole-checking to make sure you good people practice preventative measures.
It seems as if you all have got the point!
If you enjoy stereo-vision you will protect those peepers while fishing with yourself or others.
I enjoyed reading your answers and thank you all.

Answer 1

Eric,

Put very simply, I never fish without eye protection. While it is not a common thing to have a hook hit the eye, when it does the results are horrifying. Let's face it, usually you are out in the middle of a lake or in a river and an emergency room is hours away. The eyes are two of the most precious things we have. Why risk loosing an eye by not wearing eye protection? There are other hazards out there as well, like branches of trees that whip back into your face, or bugs being blown by a heavy wind.

Another very good reason to wear eye protection is to have polarized glasses. Without them you seldom see the fish, the glare is too great off the water, and the suns UV rays are damaging your eyes.

Those are some good reasons to always wear eye protection. At the minimum just a plain standard set of sun glasses. I prefer to wear the Cocoon brand sun glasses. They give you maximum protection from the sun and stray hooks, branches and bugs.

To quote an old but very true cliché: "It is far better to be safe than sorry."

Larry

Answer 2

I always wear prescription glasses and still found myself getting stitches last year from a flying weight that got caught in the brush on the river bank.I know not to use the rod to get it out but as I could see a nice pike near by I did not grab the line and pull at knee height and that thing came flying at me like a bullet and got me right in the lip.So wearing protection in this case did not help I know how important it is as you never know what will happen when you get exited. STUFF HAPPENS! GOOD LUCK and KEEP FISHING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

I knew somebody whe had an incident just like Redwingnut16 described; he yanked on the rod to free the snagged lure, the line stretched, then busted at the lure and the lead weight came back at relativistic speeds* and nailed him right in the eye. Yes, he was in the middle of nowhere, and yes, the eye never fully recovered vision!

If you hate wearing safety glasses, you could keep them at hand and just put them on during the times when you are reeling something in. Who wants to have the nickname Patch-eye anyway!

* Relativistic speeds = approaching the speed of light.

Answer 4

No, I've never come close to hitting my eyes or face with a hook. I don't use a bg hook set because it is more likely to pull the hook right out of the fishes mouth. I just pull gently, then once it's on give it a vey light jerk. I keep my hooks sharp.

Maybe I should keep my sun glasses on with my one buddy though, because he's always setting the hook like a superhero. Scares me every time because it's all quiet then his whole body jerks....missed him!!! haha.

Answer 5

You bet, they ain't polarized but I never leave without the old and I mean old, old RayBan Wayfarers. One might think that gettin' a hook in the eyeball is pretty slim, but, "better safe then sorry"... Friend of mine was bass fishin' outta' the bass boat, had his wife with him and she got hooked in the forehead with a monstrous three treble hook lure. Thing about it is, she was at the stern of the boat behind him not even fishin' and with his follow through of cast ~ Whammmmo. Thank the almighty, the only thing that was hurt was her pride ie., she had ta' sit in the Emergency Room of the Hospital with that plug hangin' down between her eyes with quite a few onlookers ~ ah' it was Fire Tiger color...

Answer 6

I have fished since I was 5 years old and have never had a hook touch my face. Sure, A missed strike has puuled the hook close, but in order to get the hook to hit you in the head, you would probably hit your self with the rod first...

Answer 7

I never heard that a fish hook in the eye was common. Why stop with the safety glasses? Take your steel toe boots, elbow pads, ear plugs, hard hat, and inflatable dry suit. Buy a boat with air bags, turn signals, rear view mirrors, and of course, it must be a hybrid. I live in Minnesota and fishing is a part of regular life here - on a boat or on the ice. I've never seen anyone wear safety glasses. Maybe we should remove all sharp objects from our homes too.

Answer 8

I wear polarized lenses. Not only do they protect I can see through the water better.

Answer 9

i always wear polarized sunglasses whilst fly fishing one for protection and two it lets you see what fish are lurking about, got a pair of shimano ones and they are great