A bad day

[Mike]

About a year ago a friend got his new boat and wanted me to go out with him on his first "test drive". After a little while he opened it up a bit. Finally, full throttle. As we were cruising along in moderate waves, I heard a click. A few minutes later he throttled back, looked behind us, turned pale and said " look back". I looked at the back of the boat and realized that the brand new 9.9 fourstroke kicker was gone! We realized that we had no hope of finding the motor, so he tried starting the big motor, it wouldn't start. After we used up the main battery, we hooked up the bowmount batteries and tried to start. When we had used both batteries up I realized the fuel line for the kicker was sucking water into the main engine. Now we had no main engine, no kicker, and no bowmount. The wind was blowing about 20 mph. We blew into shore and came to a dock. It was everything we could do to keep from smashing into the dock. Finally a guy came out of a house, jumped into the water and rescued us.

This was a bad day. What was your bad day?

[Juls_WI]

I thought I WAS having a bad day until I read your story. Thanks for putting it into perspective for me. Wow, sorry to hear you guys lost a brand new motor. Hope it was insured.

Glad you got out of that safely. Your lucky.

Best wishes,

Juls

[REW]

A few years ago, my son and I were fishing on a local lake.
We were minding our own business - when a boat came roaring by - and proceeded to run a couple of circle very close around us. It appeared that the occupants were drinking heavily and just out for a good time.

About 1/2 hour later - as we were just getting into some good fish - I heard a roar and looked up just quickly enough to see at the far end of the lake - the boat - that had run in circles around us - rolling over on its side. The roar was the outboard motor - running wide open - with no water in the propellor. This was the sound just before the boat flipped completly over.

The boat next to me was a pontoon - and I quickly proceed to them and asked them to pull up their anchor and help me with the rescue. I thought that with their big deck - it would be easier to get the occupants to their deck.

I then went to the other end of the lake and found that all of the occupants were ok, and all holding onto the boat. I stayed near them, until the pontoon got there, and rescued all of the occupants. Then, I had the owner of the boat, tie on a rope - and we pulled the boat - upside down, to a nearby island. That way - the owner of the boat could stand on the bottom of the lake near the bottom and get enough leverage to roll his boat back over.

Afte the boat was rolled back over - we then proceed to pull the boat back to shore - where he used his trailer to get the boat out of the water. This was an older boat - with an even older motor and trailer. I don't think that there was even a winch - that worked on the trailer. Although the boat was full of water - I then helped him - he stil wasn't walking exactly straight -- although the cool water helped getting him sober - to get his trailer in far engough so that he could simply float the boat onto the trailer. Then I simply had him pull the trailer out of the water little by little - letting the water drain, as he pulled it out. I am sure that if he had even be able to pull it quickly out of the water - he would have either collapsed the trailer, or burst the hull of the boat.

Bottom line - all was well that ended well - and they didn't even get a ticket -- although they certainly deserved one. At least they didn't hurt any one else - and no lives were lost.

Just be careful on the water - and drink after you get OFF the water. Drivers and passengers.

Take care

REW

[cisco]

Even better, don't drink at all. What possible value is there in consuming alcohol? It scrambles the brain the same as other chemicals.

[waterwolff]

While backing down the ramp to pull the boat out of the river at Red Wing yesterday there was a trailer pulled over to the side of the ramp kind of throwen into a bank of snow with no tires or axels visable. Sitting in a boat at the bottom of the ramp was a young man cleaning stuff out of his boat, I said I hope that wasn't your trailer. With a pained look and a nod he replied yep I than had to ask where are the tires and axel were he just kind of pointed somewhere off the end of the ramp down river. Now that had to be a bad day

[205]

Gee Mike, sounds like you were," Up the Creek without a Paddle" :-) Least I had a paddle on one of my bad days. I was out setting trot-lines one time and my 25 Merc quit on me out in the middle of a lake. I pulled and pulled and couldnt get it to start. So, I yanked the top off and pulled the filter off. I shook the filter and in slow motion I could see the filter gasket fly up in the air and in the water. Sank like a rock. No one around all ya can do is look stupid. I had a paddle(one of those ##### 3ft. plastic ones) and it was half mile to shore and a half hour till dark. My boat was a big 16ft flat bottom and it seemed like I was getting nowhere. Eventually I made it to shore and tied up to a private dock, but the guy at the camp was nice and said it was OK to leave it there till I came back. Since he could see I was wore out. Well, had about a 3 and a half mile walk back to where my buddy was at camp. Finally, a couple hours after dark I made it. Told my buddy my demise and tried to get him to feel sorry for me . :-) All that came out of his mouth was "Why didnt ya use the trolling motor?" It was like I was hit in the side of the head with a brick! Duh! Stupid! With all the confusion with my self out there. :-) I forgot a had a trolling motor laying under all the junk in the bottom of the boat. Anyway, I'd say we've ALL been there with a Bad Day or TWO! hehe :-) ;-) Russell

[Juls_WI]

I would have liked to have been sitting at the campfire when you walked up. I bet the look on your face, after your buddy's comment, was priceless!

Too funny!

Juls

[Hawgeye]

Bad days make bad trips.

My wife, son and I decided on a nice June weekend to take a trip to a lake about 4 hour drive away. We left and were heading down the road. The wind was blowing in our face at about a 30MPH clip. We filled the tank half way there and proceded to drive. the wind had picked up to what seemed to be 40MPH. I realized we were getting low on gas about 20 miles from our destination and knew there was no gas station til then. We ran out of gas with about 6 miles to go. I did happen to think and use the gas in the tank of my boat to get me to the gas station. Unfortunately, all the goofing around wasted about 2 hours of fishing time.

Finally, at the lake. My 5 year old son always loved to be in the boat when backing it in the water. I disconnected the winch strap and started backing down the ramp as I always do. As I got within 20' of the water I noticed the bow start to raise up! What!?!? Apparently the safety chain became disconnected and all I could think of was what is my son doing. I DRY DOCKED THE BOAT WITH MY 5 YEAR OLD IN THE BOAT! I was terrified! When I got back to the boat, my son was trembling, a little shaken but OK. I couldn't say the same for the back of my boat. Crinkled the transom up, broke the skeg and bent the trolling motor shaft.

That was a long drive home!

[Man From the Busch]

Cisco

I feel sorry for people like you that don't drink. When non drinkers wake up in the morning, they feel as good as they are going to feel all day. :-)

[Booger]

How was the fishin at Red Wing yesterday?

[MIke]

I am noticing a common theme in people's bad day. Lets call it "Pilot Error".
Keep the stories coming. It gives us something to do on a cold day in March when we should be out fishing.

[VERN]

WIFE WAS TRYING TO LEARN HOW TO BACK IN MY NEW LUND 18 PRO-V
ONE THE FIRST WEEK AFTER GETTING IT.<GRIN> WELL WE THOUGT SHE HAD IT, WHEN ALL ##### BROKE LOOSE.
I UNDID THE STAPS ON THE BACK ,<gRIN> NOT WATCHING WHAT THE WIFE WAS DOING,JUMPED IN THE BOAT SAYING OK DEAR LETS DO IT.
WELL SHE WAS DOING OK ,WHEN ALL AT ONCE SHE HIT THE BRAKES ,UNLOADING THE BOAT ON THE CONCRETE.
MORAL OF THIS STORIE <GRIN> IS TO WATCH WHAT THE WIFE DOES TO.
WOW WHAT A RIDE.<NO FISH THAT DAY>

[EYESWON]

Well a couple of years ago while unloading my boat I was having trouble getting it off the trailer. I could not get it in the water far enough to slide so I backed it in farther still no luck so I backed in farther yet. Now the back of the boat is almost under water. Then it doned on me so I pulled it back out looked around to see if anyone was looking . Walked to the back of the boat and undid the straps. You would not beleive how muck differance that can make. Just another day for the bad brain cells and I was sober....

[REW]

Life is stranger than fiction.
This is actually a true story.
A few years ago - a fellow had bought a new 22 foot cruiser for running on the great lakes.
He took it out one morning - but shortly after getting it on the water - he found that he simply couldn't get it up on plane. He couldn't even get it going faster than about 10 mph.
Since he was well fixed - he called his nearby dealer and asked for assistence on his new purchase. The dealer - being an accomodating fellow - and not wanting to lose a new big spending customer - came right down to the dock.

After looking over the situation, he recommended to his customer - in a very tactiful fashion - that he back his tow vehicle back to the unloading ramp. Once he was backed down - he asked the fellow to hook up his trailer that was still strapped to the bottom of his boat.

Then he very nicely asked his customer to pull the trailer and boat out of the water.

Then he showed him how to disconnect the transom straps, undo the safty chains - but making sure that he leave the bow strap connected - he then asked his customer to back the boat and trailer back into the water.

At this point - he recommended that his customer undo his winch strap - and ease the boat OFF the trailer.

He speculated - that the boat would plane a bit better - if it wasn't encumbered with the weight and drag of a 2000 lb trailer under the boat.

Sure enough the customer was much more satified with his purchase.

This was simply a case of no training - and no prior knowledge of how thing were supposed to work. I have to admire the attitude of the dealer that he worked with his customer with him - and he was able to do it in a professional manner - without denegrating his customer and making him feel less than well trained.

A very tactful dealer indeed.

Take care

REW

[EyeBoy]

Whew!
Some days you eat the bear, some days the bear eats you...Best part is that nobody was hurt, other than a bruised ego or two. As I see it these are great training aids. Please keep posting.

ON-PLANE!!!TOM

[cisco]

I've been there. That's precisely why I have no patience with alcohol rationalizers. Incidentally, that feel good in the morning "joke" is as old as Winston Churchill's remark to a woman that in the morning he'd be sober, but she'd still be ugly.

[muskyhigh]

I watched a "first Time" owner drop his brand new bayliner cruiser off the hitch and straight into the water without unhooking the baot last year. It all happened so fast I couldn't help the guy before it was already done. No transome straps so the thing just hung there in relatively deep water. Quite a mess needless to say. -

[AquaMan]

Fishing opener 7 years ago on Ottertail with the "buds" from the hood. I trailered my boat, an 18' StarCraft SuperSport with a Johnson 140, walkthrough sheild and 40 gal fuel tank. I had just spent $2000 to have the boat converted from a ski/touring boat to a fishing boat. Pedistals, livewell, rod locker, new paint, carpet, bow mount, sonar, etc. "The Works" Now, I am a stickler for detail and preparedness and was touting the benifits of this renewed rig for months prior to opener, (OK, I was bragging) so we (I) were all in high anticipation of a little fishing and fun in the migty new shinny fishing machine.

We put in that Friday night at the launch on the lake and, after an evening of puttering around the lake and river getting a feel for the "rig", I beached the boat on shore near our camp on the river. Boy, she sure looked pretty sitting there ready for the morning. My bow seat, with the arms rests, sitting ready for it's maiden voyage of chasing big ones. Not a few but a limit! Everything glistened as the sun faded.

I had just bought the property and it was currently a work in progress. We tipped a few barley pops that night around the fire and got a late start the next morning. As I shook of the morning dew, one of my neighbors was walking back from where the boat was and he was laughing. He had a funny smirk on his face. The other emerged from the tent and asked what was so funny. I was curious as well, but was a little dulled yet.

Dennis said that the boat was going to need some more changes before we could fish that day. OK, Paul and I were stumped. What could it possibly need? I thew down a few asprin and we all walked down to the spot and, as I rounded the corner, I saw a horrible site. The bow of the boat was the only thing above water. The seat, sitting ready for the day, sat there mocking me and tackle floated all around the area where the boat had sat so high on the water the night before.

I was freaked! I sprayed the biggest list of profanity wittnessed at any one time. Both my buddies were rolling on the ground. Yeah, this was funny...maybe years later, but now it was a travisty!

OK, we made a management decision to go back to the tent and cook breakfast since the boat was not going anywhere soon and I needed to collect my thoughts and wash my mouth out with soap. After we were done, I manuvered the truck and trailer back through the woods and we positioned it under the bow. Now this is not a launch, mind you, but a little clearing on the shore. The ground was soft and mucky, but I had a Bronco II with 4WD and I was determined to get this boat out. I slide the trailer as far under the bow as I could without pushing the boat deeper. We hooked up the hand winch and inched the boat up the trailer. After about an hour of this we got about half way up and could not budge the boat any more. I suspected the the motor was digging into the bottom of the river. So I jumped into the truck and tried to haul the trailer up the bank. No luck the wheels of the trailer had fallen of a back edge and were buried. All I was doing was spraying mud in the boat and digging the truck into the muck. Be cool, get a grip and think! #*^&$*^&@#*&$#(&@^#&^@(&#^(*$)#*@^&%$()*@$ Sasafrass!

At this point the transom was just about to break the surface, so I reasoned that if we could bail fast enough the boat would float enough to get the trailer wheels over the edge. We all three manned 5 gallon buckets, climbed in and bailed till our backs and arms were screaming. SUCCESS! The boat was floating and there was a strange hum coming from the bilge. Ureka, the battery was driving the auto-bailer. Wait, the Auto Bailer???? Yeah, I spent $60 to have that put in. "How come we were doing this?", I thought to my self. But I was not about to admit this to these guys now.

We pushed the boat off the trailer and pulled the trailer up so I could drive it out. Then we pulled the boat back in and winched it up enough so I could pull the drain plug. As the boat drained, my thought returned to that auto bailer, Hmmm, it was working and I could see the water pumping out the bilge hole in the side. Had there been such a big leak the bailer could not keep up? My mind raced since I knew I could get this rig running, but would it sink again?

After tearing up the shore I got the mud laddened boat to a sunny level spot and tore into the motor. With the plugs out and the gas line connected, I turned the motor over to pump out the water. Once I was happy with the absence of water I put a new set of plugs in and tested the fuel for water. None. The motor fired up right away and those guys were impressed. In fact I got a beer! It was even cold.

We put the boat in at the real landing that afternoon and fished, unsuccessfully til about dark. We returned to the launch, pulled the boat out. The bilge was agian full of water and the auto bailer was not working.

We packed up the next morning, not wanting to screw around any more, and drove home. Of course, I tore into the bilge and discovered that the water pickup for the livewell was not clamped and water was able to enter freely into the bilge. Furthermore the auto bailer sensor was mounted such that there had to be over a foot of water before it kicked in. I suspect that the inbound water was far greater then the pump could manage and that is what sunk the boat. I fixed it all, but the old girl was sold that following spring in leiu of a lighter, easier, smaller tiller. :-)

The end, sort of! I still get grief from these guys since they are still my neighbors and fishing partners...and I laugh with them because it is funny...now!

AquaMan~~~~~~~~~~~~~

.·´¯° --- "It all begins and ends at the water's edge"

[badmisterevil]

This didn't happen to me, but it was still very sad. I was at Nehalem Bay on the Oregon coast with a friend. We had stopped to ask a group of guys at the dock how the salmon fishing was, and noticed the gear floating on the water. As we got closer we saw the boat sitting on the bottom in about 10 feet of water. The owner had launched it without putting in the plug, tied-up, and went to park his vehicle. Everyone was trying to decide the best way to pull it up because there was only one ramp, and no one could get in or out of the water. We never did find out how the fishing was.
Another time I got to watch a guy pull the winch-eye off the front of his fiberglass boat because his boat was snagged on something while he tried to winch the boat on to the trailer. My guess is his motor was down, and he just winched until something gave.

["Walleye Herbie"]

The family went on a nice week long walleye fishing excursion in wonderful Wyoming. We ended up at Pathfinder Resevoir and were hammering the Rainbow's and cutthroats as long as my arm. Being the dedicated walleye fisherman that I am the trout just weren't satisfying my needs. We asked for some advice from the guy who runs the marina on a better spot to catch the eyes. He recommended the infamous walleye bay. We had a 16 foot lund WC and for those of you that don't know this is a shallow v bottom. 25hp merc. Our marina buddy recommended driving around the lake and launching at walleye bay. No boat ramp but it will be no problem with our litte boat. Yea right! He drew us a map on the back of a snickers box and the next morning we loaded up the Kids.A six month old,a three year old,me and mama. Off we went our buddy said it would take about a half an hour to get there. Thirty miles of cow paths, six steel gates,and no wrong turns and we finally see walleye bay. We look for a spot to launch and finally find one as I head off over the cow pasture. My wife says OH MY GOD! In one of those tones that you know something is definetly about to ruin your day. I look back and the boat is sitting in the cow pies no trailer under it. Well time to check the damage right. Not bad Broken trolling motor bracket. Winch rope broke. Lifted and winched the boat back on the trailer and the wife still wanted to fish. She amazes me sometime. Got the boat in the water and passed a few walleye tourney guy's who said they had not boated a fish. Went about a hundred more feet and caught our first eye of 14 fish that day. All's well that ends well.

[Botomfeeder]

Last October we had a fairly large group fising Bay de Noc in the UP. With Lake Michigan water levels being down, we were hard pressed to find usale boat landings. We found a couple of cabins on a bay on the north end that had a useable landing where we could leave our boats in the water overnight. The first morning we took some of the boats out fishing. While we were out, a big north wind blew up. After a while some of the boats in our group started going in. We finally decided to go in and when we got close to the landing we saw all of the other boats sitting in the water about 1/4 mile from the boat ramp. The big north wind had blown the water out of the bay and we now had a sand bar between us and the landing. One by one we saw the occupants of the boats getting out of the boats. We had to pull each boat across the sand bar. When we finally got all of the boats on trailers, we saw that one of the boats we had left on shore was no longer in the water. Have you ever tried to pick up a 17' fiberglass boat with a 90 on it and put it back in the water? A few hours later the wind died, the water came back, and we all we went out fishing again. We weren't there to play cards you know.

[Mike]

Sounds like a bad day to me.

[W.C.Fields]

W.C. Fields coined both of those lines.
In the late 20's or early 30's.

[FlyBoy]

Is that Red Wing Minnesota? Where are you putting in... I've got a brand new rig I am ITCHING to test drive, but nothing is open near me?? (Western Wisconsin)

Thanks,


John

[Wallydoc]

About 10 years ago my buddy and I took my new boat up to a small lake in Wyoming in late April to fish for walleyes. We fished the first afternoon, then came in to the beach where we were camped for dinner. He had hip boots on so he jumped out and pulled the boat up where I could jump onto shore. I proceeded down the beach with the dog so she could do her business away from our camp. I turned about 100 yards away and saw to my horror that the boat, which I presumed he had pulled up and tied off, was now heading off to sea with an offshore breeze. I yelled to my buddy, who emerged from the tent, waded in until he got near the top of his boots, and then stopped and watched it drifting away. He was only a couple of steps away, but by the time I got there it was 100 feet offshore and going fast. I stripped down to my shorts and dove in. I gained on the boat initially, but as I tired and it picked up more and more wind I noticed I wasn't getting any closer. I also noticed I was exhausted, way over my head, had no life jacket and was in very cold water. I rolled over and laid on my back a moment to fight off the panic that was trying to get the best of me, then put my head down and gave it all I had. When I looked up next I was at the boat, and got around to the swim ladder. I just hung on because I was too weak to get in, then finally collapsed in the bottom of the boat and laid there awhile. A happy ending, realized in retrospect how stupid I had been. I've dropped a fiberglass boat off a trailor on a concrete ramp and it didn't bother me nearly as much as almost not making it to my boat.

[MrFish]

I moved up froma 17' basstracker with a 45 on it to a 20' with a 200HP. I was itching to go out, so when Braidwood opened (first cooling lake to open) I was out with my brother. We launched first thing in the morning, about two hours later a very heavy fog rolled in and it started to pour, but the fish were biting, so we kept fishing. After about an hour, you couldnt see the end of the boat, thats how bad the fog was.

We decided to go back. My brother said no way, we cant see! I said, dont worry, I have this new GPS, we can just follow the plotter back. My brother was amazed with the technology... we slowly motored back following just the plotter. Then the screen went blank. No more plotter.... we were screwed. Because I was watching the screen, I had no idea were we were, then all of a sudden the prop is chewing rocks. 1' of water. Sucks to be me...

Finally we get back after hitting rocks a few more times, and I start to put the boat on the trailer. I never had a 2ooHP before, and being new, didnt open it up, so had no idea of the power. I drove the boat up the trailer, and went to give it a little gas to get that last foot..... then up the roller on the roof of the suburban. The nose kissed the truck. It took 5 people to lift it off.

That was a bad day....

[cisco]

He was well aware of publicity covering Churchill's dinner parties in England.

[Dave in Mpls]

John-

There are two ramps used to access the River (Pool 4) at Red Wing. The best one (right now) is at Everet's Resort, on the Wisconsin side of the river. There is also a public launch a little further down river, but I believe it is still a bit iced in (not so much the river, but the landing itself).

Email me and I'll shoot ya an address for a web site which has the best up to date info.

Regards

[PRO-V]

Vern,
We had a very similar experiene this past weekend. However, I didn't have a wife to blame. My father, uncle and I went fishing for the first time this year. Between the three of us we have almost 75 years of boating experience. Well our desire to get our lines wet overpowered our common sense, and before I new it I am in the boat staring skyward! Not a good feeling.

I was wondering how you fixed the boat. We are trying to get a hold of Lund, but I would like to view other options. I have a vacation the first week of July and I would like to get this taken care of right away.

PRO-V

[Hans]

Now c'mon, REW, you KNOW that story is supposed to be told with the owner being this knock-out-jaw-dropping-beautiful blonde in an itsy-bitsy-tiny-yellow-polka-dot bikini out for the first time in her new Bayliner.

Hans

[bob oh]

Right Hans, believe that is an urban legend ;-)
Bob

[GullGuide]

This is kind of a multiple bad day story.
Last fall we were Night fishing on Mille Lacs. We put in at the acsess just North of the Casino. For any of you who have been out there, you know what the channel is like out to the main lake...very narrow with rocks only a foot below the surface on either side. It was about 10pm when we decided to head in. It was late enough in the fall where they had taken the lighted bouys from the channel. The wind started to pick up and started to howl out of the east, making the acsess shore very rough. Anyways, we slowly followed another boat in towards the channel, but I had a feeling he was heading too far to the right. luckilly we had a good spotlight with us and just missed the shallow rocks. The other boat was not as lucky. He ran right up into the rocks where the waves began to pound him up further. We wished we could help him, but if we stopped, we too would be in the rocks. we loaded the boat and could only watch as he and his buddy struggled to get the boat back in the channel. this would have been bad enough, but by that time, the lights on his boat were like a beacon to other boats comming in. One by one they all began to run aground on the shallow rubble. Within a half an hour there were a dozen boats being pounded onto the rocks on both sides of the channel. Only those who had spotlights in their boats made it through unscathed. That was a nasty night.
GullGuide
>"////=<

[Mike]

So what was worse? The dented truck, or the dented prop?

[mrfish]

6 of one, half dozen of the other...they both sucked

[Mike]

The motor was insured, but we had a hard time finding bad day insurance.

[steve(IL)]

A bunch of us were camping in a semi-remote area. One guy was thrilled to be breaking in his new 4X4 extra cab. His trusty golden labs were along for the trip. Earlier, one of the other guys complained about having a bad stomach - the result of some bad Chinese pineapple chicken eaten the night before. He went in the woods to relieve himself. He came out feeling considerably better.

Later on, the guy with the labs volunteered to make the beer/ice/ munchies run - about 40 mins each way. He was happy for any excuse to run his truck. He whistled for his dogs who came bounding out of the woods and jumped in the cab.

3+ hours later, the guy returns to some angry stares "where have you been?!". He explained that the dogs had gotten sick in the back of the new truck and he had to get it cleaned out. He said the weird part was that he founds chunks of what looked like pineapple in it.

We all burst into laughter.... now that was a bad day!

[Rich S]

Ok here goes. My cousin called me up one day and wanted to go fishing. We don't get to go together very often so I jumped at the chance. I wanted to take my boat but he had just bought a used Sunbird(not what I would consider a fishing boat) and wanted to get it out on the water. He said he would pick me up at 4:00.

4 came and went and he did not show. 5 came and still nothing. Finally at 5:30 he shows and I am not extremely happy but figuered he had a good excuse. Come to find out he was pulling out of his driveway and remembered the keys to the boat were still in the house. He gets the keys and as he is walking out of the house he sees his dog in his truck...peeing on his seat.

We take off from my house and while driving down an extremely busy road I notice his automatic bilge pump is on and shooting water into the parked cars parked along the side of the road. Only a few had their windows down but that was enough.

We finally make it to the ramp and unload the boat. We fish for about an hour and start the drive home. Half way there the motor makes the most god awful noise a motor can make and we slowly come to a halt. My cousin uncovers the motor(it is an inboard) and all I see is smoke. There is also a terrible odor coming from the battery. Needless to say the battery is shot so we can't even attempt to start the motor (wich would not have started anyway). It is now getting dark and we are still a couple of miles from the ramp. We try to use the 3 ft oar with little results. My cousin boldly jumps in and takes the bow rope and starts to swim the boat into the nearest shoreline.

Finally we make it to shore and he pulls the boat to the landing. We did get stuck on a small rock pile on the way. Good thing was that I did not know it was there. By the time we get there he is filthy but has a change of clothes in the boat.

He backs the trailer in and we attach the boat. As he is pulling out I hear this scraping noise. The motor is still trimmed down and the battery is shot! We unhook the trailer and use the truck battery to trim the motor. He is in shock at this point and I told him someday we would find this funny.

We are almost back to my house and it is almost 2 o'clock in the morning. We are just going over the Oshkosh Ave bridge when again we hear a strange noise and feel the truck jolt. I turn around to see the boat rolling down the hill slowly back towards the bridge. We couldn't believe it! I jump out and try to stop the boat from rolling and he is backing up so the two don't get too far away from each other. Let me give you all a piece of advise. Don't ever try to hook your 2500lb boat up to your truck on a hill, It is VERY hard to do. Finally we get it back on and I get home.

That was the worst trip I have ever been on. The motor had serious damage and so did our ego's. Sorry this was so long but I had to tell it. It really did happen!

[Bigeye]

Hang around a boat ramp long enough and you'll see it all. Saw a guy pull in and let his wife out to go get their motorhome and trailer. She starts backing it down the ramp and jackknifes it first thing. Boats are stacking up and the husband is screaming , not a pretty site. He finally ties off to the dock and jumps in the motorhome and screams backwards down the ramp. He then loads the boat and attaches the front strap, gets back into the motorhome and screams up the ramp. At the top of the ramp he discovers that he had put the trailer in to deep and the boat had floated off to the side and he had just dragged it up the boat ramp. What a mess , everyone around just got ahold and pulled it back down into the water so he could load it again. Have always wondered if that couple is still married.

[RMB]

A good friend was on a remote flyin a few years back in the Northwest Territories. This camp wasn't a top notch place or anything, more of a rough it kind of place. There were 6 of them dropped at the camp by plane and unless heard from. There would be noone back to get them for 4 days. First afternoon they go in for a rest and one of the guys has a massive heart attack. They find him unconcious and try to revive him to no avail. and on top of that one of the fellows tries to call camp on the radio and it doesn't work. Turns out some one left the radio on hooked up to the battery and the battery was dead. The pilot never checked it. Pretty upset with no one to contact and no where to go. They of course say some prayers and have a couple of cocktails in his honor. What to do now.....Knowing that they are stuck there and paid good money, they decide that there friend would have wanted them to go fishing. One problem though. They don't know what to do with him. If they leave him sit out he will most surely not be smelling too good very soon. One of the guys gets a thought. Put him in the crystal clear ice cold lake. At least he'll keep till they can take him out of there. So with ropes and rocks (they had no anchors for the boats as they didn't need them for the Lake Trout fishing they were doing)they lowere him down in about 15 ft. of water at the end of the dock and there he stayed for 3 more days! Every time they came and went they talked to him and let him know how much they wished he were there. Guess you gotta do what you gotta do. I just don't know how I would of dealt with it. That's a FEW bad days.....

[TangledAngler]

You have got to be kidding me!

[TangledAngler]

About 15 years ago, a friend and I were wading for trout in a creek in April. It was starting to get dark so we headed back to camp by walking along the shoreline of the creek ( which was the backyards of many people who had camps right on the creek). After walking about 50 yards, we heard a vicious growl coming from the back deck area of one of the camps. Because it was dark, we could only see two glossy eyes fixed on us and quickly coming toward us. We immediately made a beeline to the creek. Unfortunately, we didn't see a burned out mattress box spring laying on the bank of the creek. As we were sprinting toward the creek, we both tripped over the box spring, fell head first into the frigid water and our waders filled up. It was cold. And, to our dismay, the @#$%&% dog was chained up! My brother, who went back to camp a little earlier than we did, had a great laugh at our expense when we finally arrived back at camp. We had to come back the next day to find some gear. Our hats were found the next morning a little downstream of where we took the plunge. I still laugh about that night.

[BGunn]

Well, this isn’t a “Boating” story, just a bad day(s) fishing story.
It all started about 6 weeks ago, when one day I went ice fishing at Silver Lake in New York. It turned out to be an exceptionally warm day for Feb., warming up to 45 – 50*F. Later in the morning, it started to rain a little, but built up to a downpour by about 1:00. I wasn’t to concerned, “What the heck”, I figured, I was dry in my hut, and the fish were cooperating. Well at times the wind would really come up, and the driving rain was starting to come down in sheets. There wasn’t much if any snow on the ice to absorb the rain, and it started to pool on the lake to the point that it seemed that the whole lake was trying to drain down my hole on the ice. That made it hard to watch for the bites, so I packed up my gear on my 4-wheeler, ( getting soaked to the a$$), towed my hut to the shore, packed up, and left.
That all happened on a Wed., and almost every weekend, my friends and I go to Lake Simcoe in Ontario for some of the best perch fishing you could ever imagine. So off I went on Saturday at 3:00am, heading up north. The weather did a little change in those 3 days, and north of Toronto, it was severe blizzard conditions. The snow was heavy, and all horizontal. You couldn’t tell which lane you were in on the 3 lane highway, and of course there was the occasional idiot that had to pass everyone. With the wind gusting over 50mph, and a temp of -5*F it wasn’t a fun drive in the dark. When we got to the lake the wind was still blowing about 40, and it was still snowing, and cold as #####. The first thing that happened, was when I went to unload the 4-wheeler off the truck, I noticed that my seat was missing. I don’t know if the wind got it, or someone at the restaurant we stopped at figured that they needed the seat more than I did, but never the less, it wasn’t there. I used a cushion my buddy had for a seat, and unloaded the Honda. Then I got my hut off the truck, and started to set it up. Well the moisture from the rain at Silver Lake immediately froze as soon as I opened the hut, and the entire thing turned into a frozen sheet. I ripped a 8” hole in the hut with one of the support poles, because the fabric was like a thin sheet of ice, and the plastic zipper pull split in two, so I couldn’t zip the one of the doors closed. I wasn’t going to let that stop me from a fun day of fishing. I left the door on the other end of the hut alone, as to not break that zipper too. This would at least make my hut a semi-enclosed windbreak. I loaded up my electric auger, fishing poles, and heater, and off we went. We drove about 6 miles on the ice to our spot, and after digging about 3 feet of snow out of the hut, I set up to fish. Well, the fish were biting, but with the wind and snow, and the open door of the hut, the heater was useless. I was dressed warm, but my holes kept filling with snow, and freezing over. I decided that the only thing to do was to sew up the broken door with fishing line. I straightened out a # 2 hook, flattened the barb, and using 4 lb test line doubled up, I started to sew. Have you ever tried to sew up a flapping tent door in a 40 mph blizzard, at –5, with no gloves on? Using a straightened out fishing hook for a needle where the eye of the hook was a bi&*% to pull thru the fabric? Well it took about an hour and ½ to get it done, and when it was finished I had sewed myself into the hut. I had to wait for the heater to thaw out the other zipper, and of course the fish quit biting at that spot while I waited. After getting the other zipper thawed out, I decided to move out to where my friends had found the fish biting. The drive out on the lake in the morning wasn’t that bad, because we were going with the wind., but now I was 1/4 ing into the wind, and the traveling was brutal. The wind was so strong it had my hut traveling along side the 4-wheeler, instead of behind it. I couldn’t see more than 50yds., and my hands were getting cold. The snow was packing in behind my glasses, and if I closed my eyes, my eyelashes froze, and my beard was a block of ice.
After traveling about 20 minutes, I knew I wasn’t where I wanted to be, (notice I didn’t say “LOST”!!??), but I was to cold to mess with my GPS, and I was pretty sure that I was somewhere in the middle of the bay where the water was about 40’ deep. I shut down the 4-wheeler, and drilled a couple holes. I dragged my hut over the holes, started up my heater, and set up to fish. When I dropped the transducer for my Vexilar in one of the holes, it only showed 14’ of water! I knew right away that I went to far south on the bay, but wait…, Looking closer at the signal on the Vex., I noticed that the “bottom” was moving! I was in 18’ of water with a 4’ high school of perch. I couldn’t get my jig in the water fast enough, and although there were allot of dinks, about every 4th fish was over 10”, and soon I had 38 nice keeper perch! The snow died down a little, so I called my buddies over. (We use the FRS radios, to keep in touch) We all did very well on the perch, but the ride back to the trucks was the ride from #####. We were now traveling fully against the wind. We had to stop about every 2 miles to warm up our hands on the exhaust of our 4-wheelers, and hide behind out huts to get out of that wind for a few minutes, on the 7 mile trip back to the truck. When I got back to the truck, all the electronics were messing up on my 4-wheeler, and the electric shifter must have gotten some moisture in it. I was able to shift it manually to get it up on the truck.
Being as how the ice was over 2’ thick, we drove our trucks out to our fishing spots on Sunday. The only problems I had on Sunday , was that the switch on my electric auger froze up, but I was able to thaw it out on the exhaust of the truck well enough to use it.
I spent the next week at home, sewing up the hole in the hut, and fixing the bad door. I had to buy a new seat for the 4-wheeler, and I also disassembled the 4-wheeler so I could fill all the electrical connectors with dielectric grease, to keep the moisture out. Now I was ready for another fun weekend of fishing.
For last weekend, I invited a buddy of mine that never ice fished before. I usually like to fish in my hut alone, but this guy is allot of fun, and always good for a few laughs.
This trip the weather was very cooperative, and we were making real good time getting up there. We were driving north of Toronto on the 400 at about 5:30am, just cruising along about 70mph, listening to Hank Snow on the tape deck. I just happen to be passing a 18-wheeler, so my friend was gazing out the side window, looking at the truck. All of a sudden I seen this big black “thing” floating, and flipping thru the air coming at my truck at a very high rate of speed. A vehicle in the oncoming traffic had lost a wheel, and tire. It had bounced over the center median, and was heading straight for our windshield! At first I thought it was going to hit right in front of my face, but it drifted to the right. It’s amazing of all you can think of in about 1/3 of a second, but I never had a chance to swerve, or yell “Look Out”. The tire hit right in front of my friend, hitting the cowling just short of the windshield, and the upper frame. It bounced back, making a pretzel out of my antenna, came back, and exploded the rear view mirror, right in front of my buddy’s face! It all happened so fast that even though he was looking out the side window, he never seen the tire! The noise was unbelievable! He yelled “What was that?” Talk about an adrenaline rush! I bet we both could have run 5 miles in about 4 seconds right then!
Well other than my buddy leaving an open container of Mousy Grubs in the motel room that night, with about 50 of them crawling all over the floor in the morning ( I told you he was good for a couple laughs!), it was a super trip, and we all had allot of jumbo perch to bring home. My other fishing pals told my friend that with the run of luck I’ve been having, he might want to ride home with someone else!
Well I got a new mirror on the truck, and the dent in the cowling is a good conversation piece, so it’s back we go this weekend. I guess I didn’t scare my friend that bad, as he wants to go back with me.
See you all out on the ice! Can’t wait for the soft water, I’ve got a new Lund to try out this year.

My girlfriend says I never “commit” Heck, I’ve been fishing since I was 4 years old!

[205]

Remind me to NEVER GO FISHING with B-Gun. Thought I had fishing on the brain bad! LOL :-) ;-)

[Moose]

Well it happen back in '94.it just got my new Lund Pro V,I had ask my uncle to come test drive it with me.We went from the 24th st. boatlanding to the island north of Oshkosh.On are way back my uncle asked if he could drive,I said sure.we got out in front of monkey island a/b a mile out,all of a sudden the motor started to spuddering ,I ask what did you do to my new boat?
Nothing he said.a/b min. went by and he said well you are out of gas!!!!!! well just happens a storm was rolling in, winds were out of the east a/b 20mph.We started to drift in which was good but it was straight in right for the island .We tried waving down a/b six boats, one that was a/b 20yrds. away, right passed us.That guy was called some really bad names.All we had for a paddle was a livewell divider,no trolling motor.
The s*** started to hit the fan now, the winds picked up a/b 35mph.Now we were getting really close to the island.
We threw the anchors they held for little while,then slip and then the boat was 3ft away from the island.I had one leg inside the boat and one on the rocks.Right b/f it got dark out a really nice person saw us flashing our lights and called the copps to come pull us in. Well the reason I didnt look at the gas was b/c the dealer said there was gas in it and it would take a while to burn that up. That was the first boat I had with gauges and I was really excited. Stuff happens!!!

[BGunn]

The Ballad of Bad Luck Bill

I took a contract to bury the body of bad luck Billy Gunn,
Whenever, wherever or whatsoever the manner of death he done--
Whether he die in the light o' day or under the peak-faced moon;
In cabin or dance-hall, camp or dive, mucklucks or patent shoon;
On velvet tundra or virgin peak, by glacier, drift or draw;
In muskeg hollow or canyon gloom, by avalanche, fang or claw;
By battle, murder or sudden wealth, by pestilence, hooch or lead--
I swore on the Book I would follow and look till I found my tombless dead.
For Bill was a ornery kind of cuss, and his mind was mighty sot
On a dinky patch with flowers and grass in a civilized bone-yard lot.
And where he died or how he died, it didn't matter a #####
So long as he had a grave with frills and a tombstone "epigram".
So I promised him, and he paid the price in good cheechako coin
(Which the same I blowed in that very night down in the Tenderloin).
Then I painted a three-foot slab of pine: "Here Billy Gunn does lie",
And I hung it up on my cabin wall and I waited for Bill to die.
Years passed away, and at last one day came a squaw with a story strange,
Of a long-deserted line of traps 'way back of the Bighorn range;
Of a little hut by the great divide, and a white man stiff and still,
Lying there by his lonesome self, and I figured it must be Bill.
So I thought of the contract I'd made with him,
and I took down from the shelf
The swell black box with the silver plate he'd picked out for hisself;
And I packed it full of grub and "hooch", and I slung it on the sleigh;
Then I harnessed up my team of dogs and was off at dawn of day.
You know what it's like in the Yukon wild when it's sixty-nine below;
When the ice-worms wriggle their purple heads
through the crust of the pale blue snow;
When the pine-trees crack like little guns in the silence of the wood,
And the icicles hang down like tusks under the parka hood;
When the stove-pipe smoke breaks sudden off, and the sky is weirdly lit,
And the careless feel of a bit of steel burns like a red-hot spit;
When the mercury is a frozen ball, and the frost-fiend stalks to kill--
Well, it was just like that that day when I set out to look for Bill.
Oh, the awful hush that seemed to crush me down on every hand,
As I blundered blind with a trail to find
through that blank and bitter land;
Half dazed, half crazed in the winter wild,
with its grim heart-breaking woes,
And the ruthless strife for a grip on life that only the sourdough knows!
North by the compass, North I pressed; river and peak and plain
Passed like a dream I slept to lose and I waked to dream again.
River and plain and mighty peak--and who could stand unawed?
As their summits blazed, he could stand undazed
at the foot of the throne of God.
North, aye, North, through a land accurst, shunned by the scouring brutes,
And all I heard was my own harsh word and the whine of the malamutes,
Till at last I came to a cabin squat, built in the side of a hill,
And I burst in the door, and there on the floor, frozen to death, lay Bill.
Ice, white ice, like a winding-sheet, sheathing each smoke-grimed wall;
Ice on the stove-pipe, ice on the bed, ice gleaming over all;
Sparkling ice on the dead man's chest, glittering ice in his hair,
Ice on his fingers, ice in his heart, ice in his glassy stare;
Hard as a log and trussed like a frog, with his arms and legs outspread.
I gazed at the coffin I'd brought for him,
and I gazed at the gruesome dead,
And at last I spoke: "Bill liked his joke; but still, goldarn his eyes,
A man had ought to consider his mates in the way he goes and dies."
Have you ever stood in an Arctic hut in the shadow of the Pole,
With a little coffin six by three and a grief you can't control?
Have you ever sat by a frozen corpse that looks at you with a grin,
And that seems to say: "You may try all day, but you'll never jam me in"?
I'm not a man of the quitting kind, but I never felt so blue
As I sat there gazing at that stiff and studying what I'd do.
Then I rose and I kicked off the husky dogs that were nosing round about,
And I lit a roaring fire in the stove, and I started to thaw Bill out.
Well, I thawed and thawed for thirteen days, but it didn't seem no good;
His arms and legs stuck out like pegs, as if they was made of wood.
Till at last I said: "It ain't no use--he's froze too hard to thaw;
He's obstinate, and he won't lie straight, so I guess I got to--saw."
So I sawed off poor Bill's arms and legs, and I laid him snug and straight
In the little coffin he picked hisself, with the dinky silver plate;
And I came nigh near to shedding a tear as I nailed him safely down;
Then I stowed him away in my Yukon sleigh, and I started back to town.
So I buried him as the contract was in a narrow grave and deep,
And there he's waiting the Great Clean-up,
when the Judgment sluice-heads sweep;
And I smoke my pipe and I meditate in the light of the Midnight Sun,
And sometimes I wonder if they was, the awful things I done.
And as I sit and the parson talks, expounding of the Law,
I often think of poor old Bill--AND HOW HARD HE WAS TO SAW.
By Robert W. Service

[Bottomfeeder]

Hey Moose, anything happening on the river in Oshkosh yet? Any landings open?

[curt quesnell]

i could bring tears to your eyes...but the worst possible day
of fishing (short of life ending) happened to someone at one of
the boat ramps at the rainy river a couple years ago.

the emergency brake on a new ford ranger 4x4, with a 4 wheeler in the back, releases completely on its own while the owner
is standing in the bow of the boat just about all the way on
the trailer. everyone heard the brake release and wondered what
the noise was.

the truck, 4 wheeler, trailer, boat and owner drift off into
the deep water just off the landing. (this gets worse). the
owner frees the boat from the trailer, jumps into the back of
the truck and just stands there wondering what to do, while
the better part of 100 boats and 300 fisherpeople look on,
also wondering what to do.

i think that if a boat would have gotten on each side of the
floating ranger pickup, they could have grabbed a rear view
mirror and floated the truck to the landing and solid ground.
i was only a few feet away from all of this with dead batterys
and zero gas.

the truck floated for an amazingly long time. the owner, at one
point, jumped into the cab of the truck trying to do who knows
what, when he crawled out he of course fell into the icy waters
of the river (it was april). finally the big event, the water
got up to the windows and down went the new ford ranger. bloooo
sssssh....a few seconds later the 4 wheeler bobbed to the
surface upside down.

the new ford ranger was completely submerged and out of site.
the trailer was UNDERNEATH the ford ranger. the 4 wheeler was
floating down river. the whole kit and kaboodle as blocking both lanes of the launch site with a river full of boats waiting
to pull out and dark setting in quickly.

none of my bad days of fishing come close to this one. my
stomache still get queezy just thinking about it. and i was
only a spectator

curt quesnell

[erik]

Cisco -
Not everyone who enjoys a beer now and then is a drunk. Don't want to attack, just want to make a point. I would also never assume that one needs to drink.
take care

[waterwolff]

Yea that accsess sure can suck in low water. The one and only time I used it last fall I ended up throwing the waders on and walking the boat in

[Badger]

I had my life flash before my eyes once in a boat. We had taken our boat in to have the lower unit replaced, and when we got it back, my parent's asked me to take it out to see if everything was working correctly (I was probably 15 years old). Anyways, I threw the battery in the back of the boat (it was one of those models where both the battery and fuel tanks sit underneath a vertical tarp). I jumped in the boat with some friends, and off we went. Well, the boat ran great. Once we were finished cruising around, we headed back to the dock. Everyone climbed out, and I proceeded to grab the one almost empty fuel tank. To my surprise (or horror), I realized the battery had tipped over, and the positive and negative posts had arced themselves to the other full fuel tank. Sparks were flying, fuel was leaking all over, and there I sat less than 6 inches away.

Needless to say, I jumped out, ran to the pay phone, and called 911. Within minutes, a small troop of fire trucks came tearing down the ramp. I was utterly amazed at the courage these guys showed. One of them jumped into the boat, and worked to tear apart the battery from the fuel tank while another stood on the pier pointing a fire extinguisher at him.

I was told by the firefighters that if the tank had been less than full, I would have been dead for sure.

Guess there's a reason why batteries need to be covered and secured. What a way to learn a lesson...

[MarbleEye's]

So was the bilge pumping out battery acid onto those cars???

[Bottomfeeder]

Unbelievable!!!

[Gunga Din]

It's titled the Ballad of Blasphemous Bill, at least in my Robert Service book. Either way, good stuff!

[MIke]

I am sure this has never happened to anyone else before.