Fishing Pranks Gone Wrong

[Jack G]

There is an interesting and humerous thread running now about fishing pranks.

What about pranks that go wrong? For instance the guy who is warming himself in front of a red hot pot belly stove and someone "gooses" him and he jumps forward and severly burns himself. Or someone reaches into a container and finds a harmless snake that scares the bejesus out of him and he jumps back, breaks a window and cuts himself so badly that he dies.

When a prank goes wrong, how do you feel about the perpetrator? Well an apology cut it or would you hold the guy fully responsible for the results of his actions?

Practical jokes are to be expected among those of us that fish, trap and hunt but I have seen many of these that did not go wrong but the potential was there when you think of the things that might have happened.

In my opinion if you are not thinking "safety" you should not be playing practical jokes.

Practical jokes gone wrong worries me and that is why I made this post. It was not my intention to criticize any individuals story or actions.

Jack

[Gilligan]

Jack.. good post. I say that because some years ago a girl in a shop where I worked was distracted by a practical joke, accidentaly air clamped her finger to a drill jig and drilled a 3/16" hole completely through the first knuckle of her index finger. I wasn't the practical joker but could have been and I never forgot it.

I love to practical joke but try to think them out and the consequences. And never around machinery.

[jim c]

Your post made me stop and think.I also feel the safety factor important. I feel the joke should be sharred by everyone not used aganst someone for the entertainment of others.I dont think a dead fish stink hidden somewhere weeks later is funny,thats mean.The joakster has the responsibility to entertain everyone using his wit and expertize. funny is the fisherman I saw come out of his cabin on the steps was his toiletries. clean water pitcher, and pee bucket( no pluming) brush his teeth and gargle with pee bucket(he replaced it with a can of beer that you could nt see) and spit out big yellow flow of liquid. thats funny.. jim c

[Hawgeye]

I also think precautions need to be taken. In my younger years, when I and my buddies drank a little too much and too often, a buddy of mine drank too much and fell asleep in the chair. Another friend of mine thought it would be funny to magic marker his nose all black. So yes, he had a nose covered in "Sharpie!" The next day when he awoke, he realized he was late for work and drove to the store. He noticed that in his mirror, he had a nose that was black as the ace of spades. He was lucky he caught it before he went to work. He did get the marker off however instead of having a black nose, he now had a red nose from the drinking and the rubbing!

On a related note, I heard of some guys who also thought it would be a great prank to paint there buddy blaze orange the night before deer hunting. After passing out from drinking too much, the orange spray cans came out and painted his body. Unfortunately, the man became asphixiated and died from it. The pranksters are up for murder and could be in trial any day. I heard this story on the radio in November and I assume it to be true. NOW THAT IS A PRANK GONE BAD!

[THUMPER]

I have too often seen these "little jokes" escalate and get physical. Painting someones nose or putting a stinking dead fish in someones boat is a sure way to push someone "over the edge" and result in physical confrontation :-(. This is not a joke but vandalism. In my college years "jokers" eventually went overboard with the wrong guy and got a good beating. This cured them of their antisocial stupid behaviour.

[Starfish]

I agree, it's important to think through the consequences before joking.

On a brighter note, I spent a whole day river trolling with a friend for salmon with no action. He reached over while I was distracted (I was running the kicker) and kicked the butt of my rod, making me of course jump at the "strike". But apparently the abrupt twitch of the lure was at the right place and time, because a 30-pound chinook grabbed it. You should have seen the look on my buddy's face when my "fish-on" turned out to be for real.

[JAG]

A couple of years ago 7 of us were on a Canadian fly in trip. We were setting up for shore lunch one day when my nephew walked into the woods to answer a call of nature. My 12yr old son decided to play a trick on his cousin. He wanted to cause a rustle in the brush as if an animal was close by. He picked up a good size rock and threw it on the opposite side of the trail that his cousin was on. The rock hit a tree, bounced off and flew directly at his cousins head. His cousin came screaming from the woods with blood running from his scalp down his face. That stunt cost us a half days fishing, a shore lunch and me $700 for and extra plane ride to get the kid stitched up. My boy learned a valuable lesson that day. Have some fun, but safety should always come first, especially when you are in a remote location away from immidiate medical attention.

[Suzuki]

I'm with you guys. I don't appreciate elaborate practical jokes. I think it's much funnier when someone does something to themselves and everyone gets a good laugh. Also I cannot IMAGINE how scaring someone with the fear of death can be considered funny.

[pdfalada]

There is nothing better than a prank that goes wrong in a favorable way like this.

When I started reading your post, I thought the end result was that your $300 outfit went overboard. Glad it didn't

[DarrenB]

I agree that some of the jokes go too far, and have apologized to my fishing friends from the stunt we pulled on them a few years ago in Canada. The potential for disaster is pretty great sometimes(as in our incident), but in a lot of these cases it sounds like good clean fun.

Nothing wrong at all with the socks in the pillow, cutting a guys line and watching him cast his lure a mile away, twitching his line/rod into thinking he has a bite, or removing his bait leaving him "biteless" while you catch all the fish. C'mon. These kind of minor jokes and ribbing are harmless, and are nearly expected when you get a group of guys together doing their favorite thing(fishing). It adds to the fun, builds up some competitiveness and makes for an overall good time. You expect the guys to be sportsmanlike about it, while are willing to be a good sport yourself when the joke is on you.

[eyewinder]

Some guys love to play practical jokes, but are not particularly good when on the receiving end.

Several years ago I called a jokester and told him that the previous night's rain (this was in early September) had flooded the area where he hunts deer. I also told him (knowing that it's human nature to believe the worst) that drowned deer were strewn about the countryside like bales of hay, and that Game & Parks was considering calling off the deer season.

Turns out he called Game & Parks to confirm, and was treated like a complete idiot.

Bad news: I don't think he's ever forgiven me, and we don't hunt or fish together anymore.
Good news: We don't hunt or fish together anymore, and I don't have to put up with his practical jokes!

[Backwater Eddy]

You wouldn't happen to be from the South now would you be Suzuki
?

Yes, some jokes do go too far, I do agree on that.

Especially the ones played on me!

;)

[Eyewitness]

Good point Jack. Safety should be first and formost ALWAYS when in the woods or on the water. This happened to me in my younger days...
A buddy and I went out ice fishing and were borrowing a guys house for the day which had a wood stove. The kind of stove with a flip up top lid in front. Realizing there was no kindling left in the house and no paper to get the wood going, I decided to use some of the white gas out of my lantern to get it going. I poured just a little bit in the stove and as I was leaned over fumbling with my matches, my buddy who's behind me throws a lit match over my shoulder just as I'm leaning over the thing ready to light it. Figured he'd scare me. Well, needless to say, when that thing went up all I saw was a huge white flash and I was blinded for at least 5 minutes. It really scared the crap out of me. So much so that I wasn't even thinking about being mad, I was just plain scared I had been blinded. My sight did come back around though and the smell of burning hair was overwhelming. All the hair on my head (and I had longer hair at the time) was burned and white and was coming out in clumps. My moustache was all but gone. He felt terrible and couldn't quit apologizing or I'd of surely layed him out right then and there. There is a humourus end to all of this however. About 10 minutes after it happened, a warden came knocking on the door to check licenses. We had ours, but after taking one look at me, he just said, and I quote, "I was coming to check your licenses, but you guys look like your having enough problems as it is". He then asked if I was Ok and after telling him we did have em' he left shaking his head. I'll never forget that look in eyes when the door opened though. My buddy and I laughed so hard we cryed when he left. Probably saved our friendship at that point. Anyway, it could of been a lot worse..........

[Suzuki]

No hard feelings Backwater. Its just your prank sounded so terrifying it struck a nerve. I'm in Minnesota and I love the ice.

[Backwater Eddy]

None taken here either Suzuki.

In younger days we were notoriously cruel when it came to jokes or in getting even.

Practical jokes can be like a brush fire. Once they get rolling they can snow ball into a messy dangerous business.

Like my Mom used to say, "It's all fun and games tell someone puts a eye out!"

I wish I had a nickel for every time I heard that or comments similar to it.

Backwater Eddy....><, ,>

[JBL]

One year at deer camp, someone did the "put womens panties in the luggage" trick. The guy they did it to had a wife who was the mistrusting type, she would call a couple times every day and he took a lot of ridicule because of it.

When she found the panties, I guess WW3 broke out, they nearly were divorced over it, and the guy never did come back again for hunting season. So it ended up not being funny at all.

[jim c]

In study hall when the teacher was out we had a rubber band paper clip shooting battle and yes one kid got hit in his eye,,he still only has one now. I wasnot the one who shot him but Ilearned the lesson that day and swore I would never put someones safety in danger again for just fun. jim c.

[Westy]

When I was 11 years old, I am 34 now, I was riding in the front end loader of our tractor while cutting down sunflowers in the beanfield. The driver jiggled the bucket while I was in it and scared the crap out of me. Later, the bucket started to lower/dump to the ground again, due to a small child in the cab pushing the lever, and I didn't turn around this time because I thought it was another joke. My legs were hanging over the edge of the loader. I was driven into the ground and we went for about 10-15 feet with the tractor on top of me. In the panic, the tractor backed up, but before raising the loader off of me. It drug me backwards for another 10-15 ft before it stopped. My right leg was severed at the knee and the left leg was hyperextended completely and turned backwards. Many surgeries and exhausting rehab followed. I had to learn to walk again and I still have no feeling below my knees to my ankles. Long story short, it took me a very long time to recover the use of my legs, but the doctors were able to save them. I healed and went on to live a very healthy, athletic life. I have the scars to prove it. The point is that a seemingly innocent prank turned out to be a life threatening injury when seen by a child that didn't know any better. As an adult, I tend to think of these things before I do something that could turn a prank into something not too funny. However, I do appreciate a really good joke...as long as it is a good joke and not something dangerous that could change someone's life if it goes bad. Just my story..