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One lesson in safety I learned the hard way was to crimp your barbs and carry needle nose pliers w/ wire cutters.
One extra bit of kit I carry in my chest pack, is three feet of 80lb test Dacron (fiber type line - mostly used for Halibut fishing in these parts) for hook removal.
I was a Salmon fishing guide for a number of years - and found that guests showing up with no "sea legs", would often get a hook stuck in their hand (4/0 or 5/0 barbed hooks!) while trying to gain control of the leader in a wind and a lively sea-way.
This happened often enough that I got to try most of the accepted ways of removing hooks from flesh - ha ha!
By far the best way I tried, was the "Dacron Method" - as it removed even large, barbed hooks with the least mess and pain.
To use; loop the dacron around the bend of the offending hook - with the other hand, push straight down (hard!), against the flesh, on the eye of the offending hook - with a sharp pull (and follow through, thats important!) pull up and out with the dacron looped around the bend of the hook.
Voila! Pushing on the eye, and the up and out angle of the pull allow the hook and barb to exit in exactly the way it entered. It works everytime, hurts a lot less than pushing a hook on though the flesh, so the barb can be cut off - and will allow the hooked fisherperson to continue fishing, as only a very small hole is left in the flesh.