Most people would give up for the day if they lost their finger to a shark during a fishing tournament, but not James McFadden and those on board the “Sea Prowler” during their 37 hour experience at the 2nd Annual Ocean City Big Fish Classic.
The crew caught many fish their first day, but at 4 a.m. on the second leg of the trip they hooked a shark that was 200 pounds of pure anger. The shark made a run at the bow of the vessel while McFadden was standing with his hand on the rail. The sharks dash at the boat caused a piece of wire to catch his hand, taking a large portion of the tip of his finger off.
“I saw it coming and tried to stop it, but it was too late,” said Josh Ensor. “Jason lost the tip of his finger and I got some slashes across my hand from the wire, but my injuries weren’t nearly as severe as Jason’s. So we were standing there bleeding all over the deck and we could see the bone in Jason’s finger. We tried to look for the finger to no avail and now it’s somewhere in the Washington Canyon.”
Image: Jason McFadden
“He was starting to lose feeling in his hand and was turning white and was in a lot of pain, so the only thing to do was start to head in,” said Ensor. “I was really concerned about infection and the cockpit of an offshore fishing boat isn’t the healthiest environment for an angler that just had his finger ripped off, with fish and blood all over the place, so I made the decision to get in and get him medical attention.”
After losing his finger while battling with a shark at the Maryland tournament, McFadden could’ve easily given up. Instead he went to the hospital and had surgery while his team continued fishing and met them for the weigh-in once he was out of recovery.
Ensor urged Jason’s father not to take him home just yet and asked them to meet them at Sunset Marina so they could pick him up.
Image: Jason McFadden
Themishing team aboard the “Sea Prowler” ended up placing in several categories, accumulating in a rand total of $15,705 in prize money.
If he had to lose a finger, at least he won.
