Cranky stringray hooks Tweed fisherman
AT times you have to look after your own welfare before that of a fish you want to release.
Tweed fisherman Bill Tatchell learned this the hard way about a month ago when he beached a rather large stingray while fishing for tailor at Casuarina late one afternoon.
Bill wanted to do the right thing for the ray and remove the hook from its mouth before setting it free.
For some reason the ray didn't quite understand what Bill was doing and, understandably being a bit agitated, drove its poisonous barb into his wrist.
Fortunately the only three other people on the beach assisted Bill, applying a tourniquet to stop the bleeding and calling 000.
It took rescuers 40 minutes to get there and Bill was taken to Tweed Heads hospital with major nerve damage to his wrist, which he is still having a lot of trouble with.
The moral to this story is just cut the line and let it go.
