For this photo I was teaching a Sunrise Weekly Photo Workshop at Wanchese North Carolina. We photographed this pattern of fish hooks on a trawler at the dock. They use these hooks for a style of fishing called long line fishing. The fishermen play out a long monofilament line and every so often they snap on one of these baited hooks. This style of fishing is mainly used to catch swordfish and tuna.
While we were photographing these hooks, a fishermen came out of the cabin and explained what they are to us. He had a bandage on his thumb and we asked what had happened. He had gotten his thumb tangled in the long line as it was playing out behind the boat and the monofilament cut part his thumb off. He told us that it was the second time that it happened to the same thumb. Fishing can be a dangerous business.