Stupid things we do

[Gottalaugh]

Just wanted to add a little humor to the message board and was wondering what stupid things everyone has done while out fishing? I just had my second really dumb accident yesterday. Put the anchor overboard without the rope to it 2nd time in as many weeks. And to make matters worse had 2 treble hooks from a rattle trap get barried in the back of my head. Not a good day on the water for me and my set the hook crazy buddy of course he came home unskaved.

[Mike_Jensen]

I actually lost 2 anchors in one day that way!! On
a boat that I borrowed from my father in law!

I often, almost everytime I pull my drain plug, forget to put the plug in!

Mike

[Unky Mer]

I'll add my embarrasing moment to help things along. At a tournament two years ago, after waking up really early to drive up that morning, three-plus hours to meet my partner and finish the four-plus hour drive to the event, launched the boat and discovered I forgot the keys to the boat. Needless to say we didn't cut a check. Still haven't lived it down.

[Art/CO]

Yeah, I was showing off to the father -in law. Set up a three way rig with a 1 oz. jig and a thunderstick off of the back. He said never seen that kind of rig before. Then I proceeded to throw the rig overboard without attaching it to the line. I turned red faced and said" don't worry you will never see that again for that matter.

[Pikeman]

I was out fishing for pike. I had a fish take the lure deep, so i put the brand new jaw spreaders in his mouth. I then un-hooked the fish and released him. A couple minutes later i couldn't find the jaw spreaders. What happened was i had released the fish with the spreaders still in it's mouth!
Not to bright!
Pikeman
P.S. I wonder how that fish is feeling??

[ufda]

Yeah, I leaned a rod against the far gunnel instead of putting it away like I should have. Turned my back and cast toward shore. You got it, hooked the other rod and flipped it overboard in 15 feet of water. Stranger yet, fishing in the same area next day, my partner hooked the 2inches of line that were between the rod tip and the floating lure and retrieved my lost rod and reel.

[ufda]

Also remember when I was young, going ice fishing with my dad and a friend of his. Dad had borrowed a nice ice spud for chopping holes. When I went to use it first he looped the rope over my head with a joke about if dropped I wouldn't fit down the hole. After I finished, he looped the rope around his arm and proceeded to chop. When the spud went through the ice it slipped from his hand. He reached for it which allowed the rope to slide off his arm and the spud went down in about 10 ft. of water. The look on my dad's face was priceless when his friend looked at me and said, "boy aren't you glad you didn't do that". Dad said, "you're right, he would have caught #####".

[Smitty]

My first boat & my family was at the lake swimming. Decided we were done so everybody in the boat and away we go. I thought the boat seemed sort of sluggish when I took off and all of a sudden came out of the water like a rocket. I looked back to see my anchor rope flapping in the wind. Oh yea, and the plug thing a time or two as well.

[EricCO]

If that's all, I feel really stupid. Here's my list:

1. Tied up a spinner rig, baited it and threw it overboard only to notice I didn't attach it to the bottom bouncer.

2. Back boat in without plug. Long line at ramp and my courtesy for others made me go the back of the line while my bilge pumped out all the water.

3. Get to lake and forgot keys to boat.

4. Get to fishing spot and forgot smokes. (only a minor issue for myself)

5. Get to lake and forgot to charge battery, so I had to pull start motor. (found out later the battery needed replaced all together.)

6. Go night fishing and forget lights for boat.

7. Pulling up to dock for first time and did not know it was okay to throw motor in reverse while moving forward to slow boat, and whammo! smacked the dock and about knocked everyone off of it.

8. Dropped motor link to kicker in Big Mac first day of fishing trip.

9. Left huge tackle box full of tackle in ramp parking lot 2 weeks before tournament.

other than that my boating trips have been pretty smooth!

[crash]

On my way to do something stupid right now, Saltwater jetty fishing at night!! woo hoo slippry slime covered jagged rocks that go out a half mile into the ocean! And I'm heading out on them, Please somebody talk some sense into me!!!
If I don't post monday somebody call the coast guard!!

[Ness]

Uh, Eric, considering how long your list was, ummm, how do I say this nicely??? Please don't go out alone.... We'd miss ya :-)
And to date the stupidest thing I've done is swamp the canoe in November... brrrr...

[EricCO]

about 80% of my time is fishing by myself. I have started leaving the whiskey at home.

Canoes.....let's see, ah yes, I remember dumping my friend and his tackle box in the lake. He has not invited me back since.

[cisco]

Those of you who use (or have used) J-Plugs are familiar with the hook harness tied directly to the line (no snaps or swivels or it will not ride up). Yup, I've slipped the plug up the line to tie on the hook harness, only to learn the plug was on backwards (up side down). If I had only done it once, I could understand. But....

[Neal/CO]

Tried to make the run from the Pipeline area to Lucerne Marina at Flaming Gorge in a 14 ft rental boat during a severe thunderstorm. I realize most people don't know how stupid that is, but trust me we were very lucky to make it back alive.

I've also done the anchor thing before. Not to mention dropped out of college, got married, bought a Isuzu Rodeo and went to work at Webcom Communications.

[Eldon]

One day as I was attempting to launch my boat, I couldn't figure out why the trailer was floating and why I wasn't able to pull away from the ramp.
I had forgotten to remove the tie-down straps on the back of the boat. The "EYES" must have been on my mind!

[EricCO]

I've actually heard a story of a lady who bought a brand new boat, took out to the lake and then after driving around the lake, came back to the ramp and was complaining to people standing there that it wasn't running right.

Someone had to point out that the trailer was still attached to the boat.

[FJH1]

Ok, the most stupid thing I ever did was several years ago. Took off with the Waterspike anchor still in the water. Those things tend to plane upwards at full throttle. As the thing shot out of the water like a bullet it put one of the flukes through the hull and the anchor sailed past my partners head missing him by about a foot. After I cleaned out my shorts we fished the rest of the day with the bilge running constantly. He still gets a little twitchy every time I suggest anchoring.

Best Regards,

FJH

[Sheila]

As a few of you know, I -occasionally- have trouble backing in some of -your- rigs at some of these ramps across country. Nerves, ya know when it's not yours? OK, but mind you the 100's of times I've done this without a glitch! Still guess I got little spoiled when I had nice dock in Mich and dry-storage (they do it fast) in FL.

Was doing easy thing recently up at LOTW at narrow State park ramp (not wheelers) - just had to pull out Tom Darr's truck/trailer, boat unloaded, and park. Piece of cake -eh? Doesn't get any easier crap. Well, no mirror look, no think, and too many beers night before, KABOOM over a post!!! Stop. Jump out. "Is anything broken?" Tom says, "yeah, ya knocked a tire off." Cut it too short, too fast, and boy what an idiot i was. Felt only tad better when everyone later observed how bad the weld on axle was. Maybe, just maybe a pothole in road could've done same. Tom was a sweetie to me (thanks honey), as sorry as I was.

[Road Kill]

1st attempt to launch a new boat with a new to me roller type trailer left stern on concreat 3ft short of water, bow pointed nicely at the sun, but still resting on trailer. I found out you don't unhook aboat on a roller trailer untill you have a little water under boat. I did have the motor up but did have a good dent at bottom edge of boat. She never did leak, good old Starcraft. Seems funny now but wasn't at the time. lol We were able to crank her back on trailer and get her launched.

[Juls_WI]

1. Getting foot caught in anchor rope when stepping out of the boat onto the dock, and going head first over the side of the boat, and into the water. Whacked my shoulder pretty good on the dock. That hurt.

2. Motoring from a channel on Bago out to the main lake, and went about two miles before we realized the anchor was down.

3. Taking a new boyfriend out in a canoe for his first canoe ride...you guessed it...over we went.
Right into about two feet of water, and 10 foot of that stinky methane muck. What a mess! He should have never tried to stand up..hahaha

4. Well, by now, everyone knows about my brand new St. Croix and Mitchell reel going over the side of the boat, and getting swallowed by a tree monster, in the bottom the Illinois River....

5. Crankbait hooks stuck in my hand after landing a Northern, and having to paddle a canoe back to my parents dock with one hand. (Luckily the wind was at my back)

Hhmmmm, that's all I can think of at the moment..

There are a few more, but there were no witnesses..;-)

[Gilligan]

1 Worked too close to shore on a drift, when I tried to push the boat away from rock pile with wood paddle it snapped and in I went.
2 Fishing at nite and forgot to turn off livewell. when I stepped down off front deck I was standing in 12" of water.
3 At least 3 anchors now residing on bottom of area waters.
They don't call me Gilligan for nothing!

[CI_Guy]

Three of us in a 12' boat casting for northerns in Ontario. Snagging a lazy ike in a tree branch. Then tugging on the line till the lure came whipping back at us at 100 mi/hr. right between the heads of my two buddies. :o

[Dodge1]

Drain plug, two times.

First time out with my new Skeeter I found out that the livewell discharges into the bilge but only after running it non-stop for a couple of hours. Kind of sluggish getting up on plane. LOL

Had a fishing buddy offer to get my truck and when I handed him my keys he proceeded to drop them into 12 feet of water. He did find them but only after playing deep sea diver for 10 minutes.

Forgetting to bring along extra motor oil. Only happens on the other side of big lakes.

First time I took my wife out. Told her to hold the line to the boat while I backed it into the water. Just when the boat came free of the trailer she dropped the rope and took a diver trying to catch it. Lucky enough to catch all the action in my rear view mirror

Second time out with my wife. She put the truck in reverse while attempting to pull the boat out. Then when the front tires were just about in the water, she realized her mistake and put it into drive and floored the throttle. Of course I was in the boat standing up with my vocal cords in full action but the standing part didn't last all that long. LOL

First time out with wifie at a fishing resort. Handed her my fish finder while tied at the resorts dock. Found out that fish finders don't float all that well and their advertisment of "waterproof" was not exactly correct. Thank god it was the cheap one.

[Eric]

Here goes.....

How many of us have left bait sitting at home, on dock, on counter in bait shop....

Hit a small island @ 45 miles an hour, thank god for 9.9 merc kicker, nice weather, my dad and self not hurt. Amazing how stainless steel can actually disappear after hitting a rock.

Dad broke key off in ignition with his knee 10 minutes before start of tournament. Bad thing was spare keys hanging at house 250 miles away, good thing is that we could push in with broken half and get to start.

Took off fish finder while waiting to load boat and dropped over board. Good thing I like to swim, it was July and only in 6-8 foot of water.

I don't know if this is a true story but if it is it will take the darwin award for fishing.

Group of guys took vacation and headed north for some ice fishing. One of the guys had bought a new Ford Explorer and volunteered to drive. They thought they could best get a hole in the ice for spearing with some old fashioned dynamite. Lite a stick threw it on the ice(all seems reasonable so far)but someone didn't hold on to one of the gents black lab. The lab being a well trained retriever decieded to fetch the stick. The wise fisherman started yelling at the dog(not exactly mans best friend in this situation) he got nervous and ran under the new explore with the TNT in mouth. It went up in smoke and as physics would have it, what goes up must go down especially when parked on ice in 20 foot of water.

I guess you could say that it was a blown fishing trip.

Makes our foolish mistakes seem pretty reasonable, wouldn't you agree.

Happy Hook Sets!!

[eric]

Well.....

How many of us have forgot our bait sitting at home, on the dock, on the counter of the bait shop...

I hit a small sunken island @ 45 mph. Thank god for 9.9 kicker, nice weather, insurance, and only injury was to my pride. Happened second day of tourny that we were looking at cashing a check in, not only didn't we cash a check but had to write a check for all the repairs. It's amazing how a rock can make a stainless steel prop disappear!!

My dad broke off the key to the boat 10 minutes before start of tourney 2 weeks ago. He hit the key with his knee and it snapped off. Only got worse when I asked where he had put the spare key I had given him and his reply was "hanging on the key ring at home." His home was 250 miles from where we were sitting. Luckily we figured out that we could push in and turn with the broken key and still get it to start.

Don't know if this is a true story but if it is it will recieve the darwin award of fishing.

A group of southern gents deceided to take a trip to the northern country to do some ice fishing. One the men had just recently purchased a new ford explorer and offered to drive. When they finally got to the lake they had the bright idea of using a stick of dynamite to create a hole for spearing. (apparently I was told one of the men was in the business of demolition and therefor the TNT). The plan was to light the dynamite toss it out across the ice and let it do the work. (sounds simple enough) Yet someone forgot to inform the black lab that had accompanied the men on thier vacation. When the "stick" was tossed the lab thought he should fetch. The men started yelling at the well trained lab as he was returning the dynamite to it's rightfull owner. The lab(at this moment, far from man's best friend) got nervous and it ran under the new Ford Explorer. They both went up in smoke, and as we all know what goes up must come down or go down especially when parked on ice in twenty feet of water.

You could say their trip was blown.

Makes our mistakes seem minor doesn't it?

Happy Hook Sets!!!

[Nofish]

Hey Unky Mer,

Boy, do I know how you feel!!

I did practically the same thing. I had been just raving about my new Ranger to a friend and he was finally going to see what I was talking about.

So, I met him and we drove for about 2 hours to get to the spot. We launched the boat and guess what? No ignition keys!!

I just haven't done that in a tourney........yet.

Have fun....R

[Ness]

Poor Fido :-(

[jeff reed]

Nope, that happened in Michigan with DNR guys. Who said you had to be smart to work for the goverment.

[slick2526]

Well, my most stupid and funny thin I did is me and my cousin Chad where fishing a mud flat the ancor got stuck and i pulld to beat ##### and it came loose and i fell off the boat.l

[Nofish]

Hey Ness,

I thought I was the only one who went swimming in November, no wait, it was December.

The water sure is cold that time of year, isn't it?

Have fun........R

[Nofish]

Gotcha beat Cisco,

I have tied the harness on with the plug sitting on the deck!! Imagine that, not even with the line through it. And I too say, once, well maybe. But I think I did that a few times. Hmm......:P

have fun......R

[Nofish]

Hey CI Guy,

We have a term we yell when a lure is sailing back like shot out of a gun. It started from night fishing. You know, when you snag a tree, stump or dock and your pulling hard to remove it and you feel the line go slack really fast.

Many is the time when you would be down the lake from my boat and hear one of us yell, "Incomming!" followed by the sharp whack of the lure impacting on the side of the boat. That is actually a real impressive sound off the side of an aluminum boat.

Kinda like yelling four on a golf course.

Make sure ya duck.......R

[EyeBoy]

DOG-GONE!!!!!!

[fordnut]

I`ll bet you`ve done worse, just to ambearest to tell the truth. I`ve been there done that- all at one time or other. sucks to be me! sh%* happens! I think they call luck (good or bad)?

[fordnut]

I`ll bet you`ve done worse, just to ambearest to tell the truth. I`ve been there done that- all at one time or other. sucks to be me! sh%* happens! I think they call luck (good or bad)?

[Nofish]

Hey Gang,

Heard this story myself, a while back, on two local radio shows. One reported it as a news item. The other is a local rock station. They have a strange news, or stupid news bit.

There is more here. The guys were out, as the post says, but as the dog ran back towards them and the brand new truck, the one guy freaked out, grabbed a shotgun and shot the dog.

Now, what type of guy has a shotgun, or explosives for that matter, while ice fishing, I ask?

The dog was, uderstandably, shocked, wounded and scared. It ran under the truck.(Gun loaded with bird shot, and shooter was a bad shot). Oh, by the way, it never dropped the dynamite.

BOOM!

Of course this all got the attention of everyone for miles, including the local and state law agencies. On top of the charges from the DNR for the ensuing pollution and retreival of what was left of the truck, add - reckless use of a firearm, illegal use of explosives, reckless endangerment, and(obviously)cruelty to animals.

This is not done yet.

Remember this WAS a brand new truck. He had not made one payment on the vehicle and now it was in, on and all over the lake area. The truck/dog owner had to pay the full amount for the truck as his insurance company practically laughed him off the phone when he tried to file a claim

Now first off, I can only think there are a few losers here. The dog for one. I can't hardly think what was going through that poor animals head. No, I am not an animal rightist, but come on. One minute Fido is fetching the stick, and the next?

The other losers (literally) are the two guys who went ice fishing with dynamite and (a) shotgun(s). Now, I trhought I was up on all the new techniques, but this one has escaped me.

I guess it takes all kinds..........R

[RMB]

Launched my rig out into the ole' Miss. with my 50' of anchor rope tied off on my hitch...problem is, the fellow who fished with me the day before and hooked my winch strap on at the end of the day unhooked my anchor rope from the front eye and tossed the loose end in the boat! This was in early March and needless to say there wasn't any one around with a boat to help. Managed to run down the shore and grab a shore fishermans crankbait rod, snagged the boat carpeting, and held it out in the river till a boat came by. With the high spring waters she'd of been long gone in no time. Talk about the power of prayer! Also launched without undoing the back tie down straps once. Two lessons you only need to learn one time!

[Rick/Wy]

On a night fishing trip somehow I managed to fall off the right front side of my boat. Now, I did manage to catch my left foot on the side of boat and then grabbed a hold of the side too with my left hand.

After completing that, I then hooked my right foot over the boat side and used my right hand to support myself.

The end result was I straddled the hull, only from the water side. Fortunately my buddy pulled me in over the front of the boat. Would have been quite a picture had a camera been available. I hardly even got wet! Well just a little on my tailbone.

One a less postive note, that front cleat did not feel very good as it crossed my fly when my muscular buddy pulled me back in by the back of my neck.

[Backwater Eddy]

Several years ago near my home town there is a lake that had a good population of nice walleye and was restricted to closing at dusk due to it was on a Wildlife Refuge, witch will remain nameless.

I speculated that there were lots of big walleye moving into this shallow bay that was feed by a large culvert on a major county road running past the refuge. This was fall and dark hit at 5:30, more or less. I disagreed with this night time closing thing so I let it get to me enough to form a plan.

I had a friend drop me at the culvert with my rod and favorite crankbaits and waders and off he went leaving me to chase my foe, the waskel-walleye. This was around midnight and all was well,he was to return at 2:30am to retrieve me, this was the plan.

One nice walleye after another and all were released unharmed, fishing was great, life was good! My carefully doctored Rapalas were HOT, and the new Excalaber Teflon hooks never missed!

I had situated myself near the culvert on the road side of the bay when a vehicle came slowly down the road from the south. This was the direction that the refuge manager lived, just 1 mile away, oh-#$%@!

I carefully slipped over to the mouth of the culvert to hide as best as I could and not get washed into the bay by the current. Well hid I took one more cast as I thought I had plenty of time before the car passed. THUD-two feet from me a piggy hammers my Rap! Very nice fish and thrashing about in the backwater at my right. The vehicle I had heard earlier now peaks over the hill 1/8 mile away and slows to a stop right above me, on the road, next to the culvert! Fish is thrashing around, I am a bit nervous, and I am too stubborn to let it run! She surfaces next to me and I don't bother to reach over my shoulder for a net just in case it was seen in the moonlight. A quick lunging grab and I had her, a quick head shake and she had me too! Two Excalabers buried in my thumb and forefinger, and she was in a mood to shake! OW~~weee~!

Now she is shaking, I am grunting, and the vehicle above me opens the door and someone walks up on the culvert right above me--Doe! Fear of incarceration was a strong pain reliever as was the adrenaline surging through my veins out my finger and into the lake! This was not good, bad idea , bad idea!

The bars just south of this lake in SD close at 2:00am and this was a apparently a patron from one? Who,don't know and didn't care at the moment? The individual inspired by the running water proceeds to relieve the last round of drinks over the front of the culvert, just missing me in the process! Fish shaking, me biting my lip, and near miss's at every turn, what next? I was a bit relieved myself because I was fairly sure now this was not the refuge manager stalking me! The individual whistled his way back to the vehicle and off he went, much to my pleasure. With a great deal of pain I pried the trebles from my finger and thumb, released a nice 7 lb. walleye, and prayed for my buddy to extract me soon.

In a half hour another pickup neared and tapped the horn 3 times , a carefully set signal, and I rushed the truck and off we flee. This plan was never repeated and by the following year the time limits on no fishing after dark was lifted and changer to 10:00pm. No more midnight trips were needed or desired.

This story is all true, believe it or not? I have the scares to prove it! HA!! But I will never forget it as long as I live, kinda fun looking back? (:

Backwater Eddy.......><,>

[WAeyes]

Backwater Eddy, That has to be one of the best fishing stories I've ever heard! Has a little bit of everything: humor, danger, mystery, humility (under the urine shower), pain and all for a chance to catch some nice fish. I love it. Hope you don't want exclusive rights to it because I'm going to print it out and show my buddies. To include my own stupid story, I have to bring back a painful (to my ego) memory from last Fall. It was in October on the night before pheasant season opened. My buddy and his cousin were camping in the same campground that I was. They were there to hunt pheasants in the morning and I was there to night fish for a Fall trophy. My buddy brought a couple of rods with him just in case they had time to throw out a line. He had been to my trophy walleye hole before on a special invite and was sworn to secrecy. He asked if he and his cousin could tag along with me and knowing that his cousin was not an avid fisherman who had never caught a walleye in his life, I figured it would be harmless for them to come along. After 2 hours of tough fishing, with strong winds it looked like they were ready to call it quits. Then it happened, the cousin gets his #14 black &silver Husky Jerk slammed and he begins fighting a huge fish with less than quality trout gear. It took a while to get it in close enough to net but when I finally got the net on it and lifted it out of the water, I knew it was the biggest walleye I had ever seen. We unhooked the fish and weighed it on my 15LB Normark scale. It zeroed out the scale! He told me he would get alot of meat off this fish. I told him if he doesn't mount this fish that I was going to let it swim away! He agreed and we put the fish in a cooler until the next day when we took it to a taxidermist and it officially weighed 15LBS 4OZ. Not bad for his first walleye huh? Beginners luck? Maybe, but that walleye could have had my name on it if I had fished alone as planned. This was the biggest walleye reported for this lake in '99 and 1 LB short of the lake record. Needless to say, I'm feeling pretty stupid for bringing in a beginner to a spot I've been searching for my whole life!

[gpare]

Backed boat into lake, transom saver still atached to motor with bungee, drive away and hear a clunk. New ransom saver on order.
Gary Paré

[gpare]

Backed boat into lake, transom saver still atached to motor with bungee, drive away and hear a clunk. New transom saver on order.
Gary Paré

[Backwater Eddy]

Good one! Well you made yourself look good anyway! Not many guys are that nice to put there buddy onto a fish like that! HA!! At least for free that is? Could use a bit of blood and gore though, I was expecting that he got up early and cleaned it for breakfest! HA!! Imagine cleaning a fish like that, what a waist! Better to see her swim away! Good one though WAeyes!

[woody]

Went to ramp to pull boat out, had the emergency brake on for the truck could not roll back. Started to pull out without releasing the brake. The torque from the motor snapped the drive shaft in half, the shaft cracked my tailshaft on the trans. Had to drive 70 miles home in 4 wheel drive at 45 MPH. The hole ordeal cost me about a grand.

[Tyler Campbell]

Well, I just drove under the bridge at Mosquito tonight with my stern light on and proceeded to play a great drum pattern on the I-beams under the bridge. Wasn't used to the water being so high...Needless to say I need a new light. I'm sure I gave some guys anchored there some laughs.

[Airwave(OH)]

Two things come to mind:
1. Hey mother and father in-law lets go for a ride in my new boat! Yep drifted on the rocks off North Bass(Looking for Smallmouth) and mucked up the prop up trying to get it off. Limped back to the dock and had everyone onboard scared we weren't going to make it.Good impression!!!

2. Raised the down rigger ball up to just below the surface(it doesn't bounce around that way)-was in a hurry cuz I had to be back for Thanksgiving dinner and forgot the ball was still out. You would not believe the sound they make spooling out at 40mph.

3. Could tell a story of getting a trolling bag rope wrapped around the prop. :)

[Hans]

Can't count how many times I left a fishing spot with stringer/basket/bait bucket flapping behind the boat at WOT!

Most embarrassing was taking a whiz in a secluded little bay and in full stream when a fella with his wife and kids suddenly electric-trolls into view around the point about 15 yards away!

Hans

--
"There is nothing; absolutely nothing; half so much worth doing,
as simply messing about in boats." :-)

[Cort]

>Just wanted to add a little
>humor to the message board
>and was wondering what stupid
>things everyone has done while
>out fishing? I just had
>my second really dumb accident
>yesterday. Put the anchor overboard
>without the rope to it
>2nd time in as many
>weeks. And to make matters
>worse had 2 treble hooks
>from a rattle trap get
>barried in the back of
>my head. Not a good
>day on the water for
>me and my set the
>hook crazy buddy of course
>he came home unskaved.


Just bought my boat and decided to take it out on the susqhanna river along with my buddy and his girlfriend, Everything went fine caught some fish had a good time. Well we headed back to the launch, got the truck all set up on th ramp, the three of us are in the boat and just as I got it on the trailer the truck popped its emergency brake and started to roll back into the river. I screamed at my buddy to jump in and stop the truck , well hes wasnt moving fast enough for my taste so I leaped into the bed of the truck and then realized that the boat was still in gear and heade d back out into the river with his clueless girlfriend sitting in it. I then proceeded to leap for the boat and managed to smash my .... between my body and the gunwale of the boat (you talk about pain) took control of the boat just as it headed for the flooded timber. My buddie got the truck out (the seats were soaked) and we did get the boat on the trailer with nothing more than a brusied unit (my unit that is).

[buzzer IA]

been there, done that

[Sheila]

Or I suppose Juls & I could tell everyone about that drift bag rope - what a mess it was! hehe... two things come to mind: 1) we were afraid of losing Brion overboard in frigid April Erie water as he untangled the mess 2) good thing all the pwt pros didn't see that one

Lastly, did you ever figure out what that buzzer warning was going off for?

[buzzer IA]

Was hoping that I'd NEVER have to tell anyone this, but after listening to all of these beauties, I guess I gotta throw myself to the lions as well..Was casting cranks one night on the Mississippi and it was just about dusk, but about 30 minutes before dark..tried to put a little more "uumph" into the next cast with my ABU 5500C when I felt something strange when I started the rod forward..Looked down at the reel and saw a gigantic "proffessional overrun" on the spool had developed..What flipped me out was, when I tried to locate my crankbait, it was imbedded into the breast of a bird--that was STILL FLYING!!!Not wanting to miss an opportunity, I clicked the button and started picking at the "birdsnest" on my spool, and started to feed line out, all the while shouting,"Fly you sucker, FLY!!!"..Suddenly, birdsnest was gone and I was into "good" line again..NOW what to do?!?!?!Well, I didn't set the hook, but let's just say I altered the flight path of my buddy, the flying crankbait bird, all the while retreiving line..Tried to do some "delicate" surgery to remove sharp trebles from my feathered friends chest, and set him in a tree to recover..Want to know what the first thing I did after this ordeal??I looked around to see if I had been spotted performing this "birdbrained" surgery and such...THERE, I've got it off my chest for all the world too see-and I think I feel better...Any morals to this story anyone??

[LQP1]

I did the same thing my 2nd time out, but with my new 620 Ranger with a bunk trailer. It was in March and we were out the day before and the carpeted bunks froze. My buddy unhooked the strap and I was sitting in the boat while we proceeded down the ramp and their I sat about 20ft from the water on the concrete. I did very little damage, the motors were up and it just scraped the very back of the boat. My buddy said he thought my eyes were going to pop out of my head.
I haven't unhooked the straps until I'm partway in the water since that day.

[Aquaholic]

Interesting stuff,anyone else ever lock the keys in the car,running ...backed down the ramp,with a handfull of anxious fishermen waiting to use the ramp?Lots of fun! And in the excitement,I let the ***** winch handle catch me just above my left eye as I unspooled the rope.The steady stream of blood probably helped quiet the crowd as we worked to "coat hangar" the locks.
This spring while getting a pole baited for my wife as we perch fished Erie,my line with a shiner was hanging just over the edge of the boat.A nice malard drake swam up and chomped down on the shiner...and my hook.Put up a good fight on a short line until I got ahold of him and pinned his wings down.Luckily he just had the hook in his bill and I was able to get it out without much trouble.First time I have ever turned one of those tasty critters loose...made me feel like a true conservationalist for a few minutes!

[SPRINGBOBBER]

I very seldom tell this story, but my wife seems to think it's really funny. I was getting ready to head to a small lake for a couple of hours one evening and my wife talks me into taking HER german shepherd along "oh she will just love it and she won't be any trouble at all" YA RIGHT I thought but went ahead and took the dog with me against my best whishes. On the way I had to stop at the bait shop and pick up some crawlers when returning to the truck the dog had steped on the door lock, and you guessed it I had left the keys in the truck, boy was I ever !#!# off. Lucky for me a police officer had just pulled up to get a pack of smokes, he was kind enough to get my truck unlocked but not without asking me to see if I could talk the dog into unlocking the truck HA HA. Oh it even gets better once at the lake and launched the dog thinks it needs to check out everthing in the boat, step and all the rods, bark at everything that moves. finally after about an hour of total confusion the dog lays down and I can get to the task at hand ( a mess of walleye for dinner). The evening went on and I had all but forgotten about that dumb dog being in the boat, turning around to check on her I notice Buss bedding in her wiskers SHE HAD EATEN ALL MY CRAWLERS!!!! thoughts of using my ancher and a short piece of rope were running wildly through my head. I had decided it was time to cut my losses and pack it in but before I headed to the dock I had to take a whiz, so I steped up on the back of the boat and braced myself against the motor and started about my business and the next thing I know I'm in the water and hear comes my boat over the top of me sideways, I made a grab for the port side but missed, there goes my boat across the lake with that !#!#! dog setting on the foot control of my trolling motor. After being rescued by a couple of bass fisherman that was laughing almost to hard to steer their boat I finally caught up with that mutant mutt and regained control of my ship. the story at the local bait shop, coffee shop and just about every place I hang out was my crew got tired of my demanding ways so I was made to walk the plank.
NO MORE FURRY FISHING BUDDYS FOR ME!!!!

[Pops]

Last August my Wife and I were staying at an outpost cabin on LOTW. We had just come in from a morning of fishing. I was going to watch a movie and she was going to go sit on a rock, read her book and watch a bobber. I am just getting into my movie (just falling asleep :-) ) when she comes in soaked from the waist down muttering something under her breath about "****ED EAGLES".
I asked her, when she came out of the bed room in dry clothes, what had happened.
Well, you know how bobbers will shift in the wind, it did and the hook caught on a rock. She steps out to get it unhooked, reaches back to hold onto a branch to steady herself and, You guessed it, there was anh Eagle in that tree and it took flight right in front of her face! Next thing she knows is that she is standing waist deep in water watching this Eagle fly away.
I'm rolling on the couch laughing and all the while she is muttering something about "Roast Eagle".
Keep your rod bent and watch out for low flying Eagles. LOL :-)
Pops

[Airwave(OH)]

Sheila thats what # 3 above was with the rope around the prop. and the buzzer problem is fixed. Bad Relay on buzzer. What timing huh!!!

[OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!]

n/m

[gardenhackle]

In a hurry and left the big motor down after loading. Skag was about three inches shorter by the time we got to the next lake. Couldn't bring myself to laugh when I say a guy leaving a spark trail at night while driving down the interstate a year later.

Pulled up to a boat in the middle of the lake that looked abandoned only to find the occupants in the middle of a private moment.

[hartwig]

1-saw a jeep and trailer completely underwater at a ramp, but their boat was floating above it. How did they manage that?

2-saw a guy roast his engine pulling a large boat up a very long, steep ramp. said his boat was sluggish and the bilge was constantly running. i kindly pointed out that his bilge only spewed one stream out the back, the second was coming from the unplugged drain hole. his suv's engine blew half way up the ramp--expensive trip!

3-i went out to test the ice on a very windy day. ice was thin, crystal clear, and EXTREMELY slipery. long story short: got blown across the lake (1/4 mile or so) like i was surfing, watching weeds and perch zoom past beneath. i couldn't lay down or i would stop in the middle of the lake. it was so slippery that you could not walk. i had to go with the wind clear ice like that is creapy especially when it's much less than 2 inches thick. i think my body is still trying to replace all the adrenaline i lost that winter.

4-caught a chunky bass on a triple trebled rapala. she promptly flopped up, caught me behind the knee and continued spazzing until nearly all the hooks were nicely placed in my calve. all i could do is lay down to take the weight of the hooks until someone came to remove my dancing partner.

i'm still young, so i'm sure i have some doozies yet to come.

[Juls_WI]

Oh Geez, I'm laughing so hard my eyes are tearing up, and my cheeks hurt! Too funny! Your wife was right about that story.
Thanks for sharing it...;-)

Juls