Lessons You've Learned The Hard Way!

[roadwarrior]

Interpreting weather forecasts: Winds 15 - 20mph really means 15 + 20 = 35mph

[FrogFreak]

I have several that come to mind from last year.

 

I don't care what the dealer says, check your battery connections. i was all the way back in a canal with my son when my trolling motor just quit. Had to run back and took an hour or 2 to diagnose the problem. I had the boat for about 2 weeks at that point.

 

If you don't use your windshield for much, take it off your boat. i was winging a frog when it caught on my windshield and d**n near broke my thumb. That was 7 months ago and it still hurts.

 

When you're in your kayak, take your Oakley's off of your hat before you lay back to take a break. Or at the very least, use a floating lanyard. Just an FYI, on the same trip, my son dumped a brand new rod and reel into the lake. All in all, that was about a $500 day.

 

Thought of one more after reading Red Earth's post below. Have the net ready. I had a 5 pounder on last year. Caught it drop shotting and it was at the side of the boat. Went to lip it and she came unbuttoned. The net was right where I left it,  back in the battery storage compartment. Dooohhhh!

[Hyrule Bass]

always be prepared. bank fishing off a dock one night at the lake and the water was kind of low. well i happen to hook into a fish on a bad cast, the fish eats my night crawler on the fall at that. so i set the hook and started reeling in. this thing takes off and starts stripping drag at a rate in which i just stop reeling and let it run. it slows down and i start cranking in again, fish takes off again and goes on another run, in all this fish made three runs like that. i finally get the fish in to see what it is, and its a huge 20+ inch crappie. problem is i dont have the net down at the dock with me, its up in the garage of the house. i debate with myself, run up to the house and get the net leaving the fish hooked up and in the water, it was laying on its side by then it was so worn out. or lay down on my stomach, and pull the line up to me until i could lip the fish. i chose method 2 as its a steep hill back to the house and laziness go the better of me. just got the fishes tail out of the water and a couple inches from lipping it when SPLASH. the fish falls off into the lake and takes off like a bat out of hell. wish i had that net with me and now i never forget it, wouldve been a hell of a picture and i probably wouldve had it mounted. the culprit, my hook bent from the weight of the fish and it fell right off without thrashing or anything...

[papajoe222]

If you must take your i-phone with you when fishing, keep it in a plastic bag and store in somewhere other than your pocket.  I had to buy two new ones within a year after falling overboard with my phone in my pocket.  Yes, I learn from my mistakes.  I just need to make the same one more than once.

[00 mod]

No matter how much you know, you will still make mistakes. I fished a tourney with a guy who had 10+ years of tournament experience under his belt. And he forgot the plug when we launched! Which leads me to the next point, never give up. We were about an hour late to launch all told, and went on to win. I ended up catching my pb smallmouth at 8lbs.

 

 

8lb smallie!  Holy smokes! Would love to see a pic of that beast!

 

Jeff

[Catt]

Rain at 70 mph hurts!

[A-Jay]

No matter how much you know, you will still make mistakes. I fished a tourney with a guy who had 10+ years of tournament experience under his belt. And he forgot the plug when we launched! Which leads me to the next point, never give up. We were about an hour late to launch all told, and went on to win. I ended up catching my pb smallmouth at 8lbs.

 

Congrats on the tournament win and the Documented 8 Pound Smallie !

 

That fish should have had it's face splashed on at least a couple of magazine covers . . . . .

 

 Please post up all your pictures of that Beast - ASAP !

 

A-Jay

[mnbassman23]

Rain at 70 mph hurts!

Might as well call it hail. 

[retiredbosn]

Seems that everything I learn is the hard way.

[FlipnLimits]

_{Goodness!  I just typed a long reply and scrolled back to see a post and lost everything I wrote, ugh!  The short version........}

 

_{Thanks for your great replies, some funny, some really informative!}

 

_{Flyingmonkie, 20 more years and you'll be a free man! Just kidding   Kids grow quickly.  Save your dollars and you'll have the rig of your dreams soon enuf.}

 

_{WIGuide, those smallies sure are squirly!}

 

_{FrogFreak, yup, whacked my windshield slinging a frog several times over the years, luckily didn’t break it.} 

 

_{MacMichael, rest assured, I always have TP in the boat!  The coffee can is a great idea, I’m gonna borrow that idea from you, thank you!}

 

_{Catt, up here, sleet will bruise your face at those speeds.  At 70, mosquitos and flys go down smoothly too J.  Maybe this year I’ll try a face mask for Spring.}

 

_{Too many great posts to reply to, sorry if I didn’t reply to your post.}

 

_FL

[Munkin]

Braid needs backing line on a baitcaster, I must have screwed with the drag for 1/2 an hour before giving up and putting the rod in the locker. You carry a net for a reason so use it in the tournament instead of flipping fish over the boat and back into the water.

Allen

[Americanzero]

Hard to see but the largemouth was actually smaller than the smallie! Caught them both on Pickwick. The tourney was hosted by Southern Fishing News, they hosted a group of us for a wounded warrior outing. Biggest smallmouth I have ever seen!

[bartdude186]

even though a used outboard runs great while testing before you buy, DO NOT run 5 miles down stream on the first trip. lesson learned.

[reb67]

Actually just discussed this at the office today!

 

I made the mistake of not buying a bass boat before I got married.  Now, I've got a wife and baby at home, and another on the way.  I can't justify spending $$$ on a bass boat, even though it's the one THING I want more than anything else.  Instead, I fish (sometimes, competitively) out of the world's most modded-out, okie-rigged, goofy looking pontoon boat. 

 

Lesson learned (for all you young whipper-snappers): Get everything you want while your single, because if you're blessed like me, you'll end up being the least important person in the house.

I to have a modified pontoon boat, only been bass fishing a couple of years just put a 400.00 trolling motor on the  boat and it rocks.lol

 

You have to look at the bright side.

 

Gets to hot pop up the top and cool it in shade

 

Real bass fishers pay no attention to you

 

More on topic

 

I backed the boat into the water got in the boat started the motor when I climbed out  to finish backing it down while standing between the truck and boat looked up and noticed the back up lights were on..

After I stop shaking I thought holy crap that was stupid.

 

Lesson learned SLOW DOWN AND PAY ATTENTION TO WHAT YOU ARE DOING.

[AK-Jax86]

Always be prepared with a scale you never know and don't want to leave it to a guesstimate (happened to me twice where I caught a giant and didn't have my scale 2nd time was last Friday night at around 11:40p) fish always seem bigger when they aren't on a scale and always seem bigger when they are on it too lol

[A-Jay]

Hard to see but the largemouth was actually smaller than the smallie! Caught them both on Pickwick. The tourney was hosted by Southern Fishing News, they hosted a group of us for a wounded warrior outing. Biggest smallmouth I have ever seen!

 

 

Was that part of Southern Fishing News  - Operation HOOAH ?

 

What year was that?  Looks like a great time and very cool event.

 

A-Jay

[Americanzero]

Was that part of Southern Fishing News  - Operation HOOAH ?

 

What year was that?  Looks like a great time and very cool event.

 

A-Jay

Yea, it was just this past year. Ronnie is one heck of a guy! The other anglers were awesome as well, it was something else.

[geo g]

Don't try to teach someone anything about fishing, when they think they already know everything!!!!!

[MarksHooked]

i had read that you should put some backing on a spinning reel when putting on braid last year.  I had picked up some Fireline on sale for $12, and put it on a reel that cost even less.  Honestly I was intimidated by the idea of tying a line to line knot lol and just tied the fireline directly and filled it.  Within a week of fishing it had started to spin around on the reel with no traction when fighting a fish, I lost a decent smallie one day and learned a valuable lesson.

[NathanW]

I keep a pair of clear safety glasses in your boat for those low light or nighttime runs to keep the bugs out of your eyes.

 

Also, always wear sun glasses/safety glasses while flipping/pitching heavy tungsten. I have had a very close call. Got the chills just thinking about it.

[Fishes in trees]

If your reel spool is small and won't hold much backing, a few dabs of super glue, works as well as backing, better actually.  I've made all the mistakes mentioned here, and then some.

 

Once upon a time, I lost my glasses while  on a fishing trip at Truman.  Looked all over, not to be found.  I am real particular about where I put my glasses, so I figured that they were going, fell out of the boat while I was running or something.  Anyway, couldn't fish no more, packed up all my stuff, drove home, then drove to KC to buy more glasses.  Got some new glasses.  I had several more days off, didn't want to drive back down to Truman, so I thought I'd fish more locally.  Anyway, while going through my truck, deciding what goes & what stays, happened to look in a bag of soft plastics and at the bottom of the tackle bag, amongst 6 or 7 gallon zip lock bags of soft plastics, there were my glasses, in the case, which was the same color as the bottom of the bag.  If I hadn't felt them, I never would have seen them.

 

I keep my glasses in a colored case that stands out now.  $350 lesson learned.

[lmbfisherman]

Actually just discussed this at the office today!

 

I made the mistake of not buying a bass boat before I got married.  Now, I've got a wife and baby at home, and another on the way.  I can't justify spending $$$ on a bass boat, even though it's the one THING I want more than anything else.  Instead, I fish (sometimes, competitively) out of the world's most modded-out, okie-rigged, goofy looking pontoon boat. 

 

Lesson learned (for all you young whipper-snappers): Get everything you want while your single, because if you're blessed like me, you'll end up being the least important person in the house.

Amen brother. 

[Raul]

My friend Pedro and I have gone through a lot of stuff throughout the years here are a few ones that had made us miserable:

 

Forgetting to put in the plug seems a popular choice, we´ve done it at least two times, not only he checks but I check and we always carry an extra plug.

 

A broken wheel bearing in the trailer made us stay an entire day in the middle of nowhere, as usual, these things happen on Sunday afternoon, now we carry two extra bearings and believe or not, in one ocassion we had to use both.

 

One spare tire ? heck, carry two ! guess who has needed an extra spare ?

 

Bilge pump ? two makes you safer.

 

Tie downs ? an extra aside the ones you already carry won´t hurt you.

 

A tarp comes in handy and it doesn´t take much room to store it.

[.ghoti.]

 Never take sleeping pills and laxative the same night.

[Cast_And_Blast]

 Never take sleeping pills and laxative the same night.

 I bet that would make for one fun night!