Personal fishing bloopers

[Munkin]

We have all seen the Bill Dance ones but what have you done yourself? I have two that stick out and thankfully I was alone when they happened.

 

First I was throwing a Poe's crankbait on the Potomac trying to learn deep cranking. Well I feel something so I set the hook and the fights on! It takes off upriver against the current pulling like hell running back and forth. In my mind I am thinking about what my picture will look like holding the new state record smallmouth. Finally get my "trophy fish" to the side of the boat only to reach down to lip a 3 piece folding bathing chair. It seems it ran back in forth just like a kite does in the wind. I released my quarry onto a nearby dock so it could be with other chairs.

 

Allen

[Jigfishn10]

I was fishing a spinnerbait slow rolled bouncing bottom. I fell a thump and a couple of tugs. Started reeling in and "man, this thing is piggish!" Had a real heck of a time getting it to the surface. It's tugging and almost feels like I'm reeling it in against the side of the fish, like it's fouled hooked.

 

My "piggish" thing turn out to be a fresh water muscle.

 

The other episode was a hooked Ford F150 door mirror on the back cast. My drag had no chance...spooled me...

[j bab]

One time I casted real hard and well into the cast I got a sudden and aggressive backlash (using braid). I was holding the rod with one hand at this point, and the whole rod popped straight out of my hands and into the water! Luckily I was quick enough to grab it before it sank too far, but my shirt and jacket were soaked to my elbows and it was freezing out.

 

Another time a wasp got a little too close for comfort so I swatted at it with my hat, but I forgot that my Costas were on top so they went flying into the lake... I was kind of in shock and just stood there watching them sink, but my dad was in the bottom of the boat re-tying so he reached down and grabbed them.

 

A couple of close calls that would have been really expensive mistakes!

[Munkin]

Forgot to post the second story.

 

Fishing a heavy football jig on a lake for big fish. Make a long cast then my wife calls my phone. She knows how much I enjoy fishing so she will not call unless it is important. Short conversation and since the TM was on constant at a very low speed I never shut it off. Hung up so now back to fishing for the big ones. Engaged the reel and lift the rod to see the line start running on me. Figured it was a big one so I set the hook and almost had the rod ripped out of my hands. It was a big one alright, a 74 pound MinnKota Maxuum to be exact. Not paying attention talking on the phone I ran over my line with the TM and let me tell you it puts up one hell of a fight!

 

Allen

[ratherbfishin1]

One time I was fishing with someone and they set their rod down for a minute and looked away (I can't remember why) and something pulled it off the bank into the water.  I think it was probably a catfish or something judging by the speed that rod took off, it was long gone...

[Koz]

It was a slow day fishing so I let my then pre-teen son toss the iBobber out to see if he could see any fish out there with the downward looking sonar. When a fish swims under the icon has a red tag for a fish under 18" and a green tag for fish over 18".

 

He casts the iBobber out and calls out, "Red. Red. Red. Green. Red. Green" as fish are swimming by. I'm casting in that location, try different baits, and not a bite as he continues to call out the fish. I'm getting frustrated because with a school of fish out there I'm not getting even one bite.

 

So I take the phone from him to see what he's looking at on the app screen.

 

It was in demo mode. DOH!

[fishwizzard]

So I am wade fishing a small river.  It’s a spot where I have had a literal 100-fish day and a few others close to that.  It’s all tiny fish though, big Redbrest sunfish and smallies in the 7-12” range.  

 

It’s the end of the day and I am at the edge of a 3-4’ deep pool, casting upstream past it.   My lure gets slammed, the UL rod is bent double. It’s a smallie, maybe 16”, maybe 18”, the biggest I have ever seen in this river.  I set the hook and the fight is on.  I get him into the pool and he calms down.  This is when I get cocky and decide to get my phone out before the fish is landed. 

 

I take my hand off the reel and grab my phone.  As soon as it clears my pocket, the bass surges away.  I drop my $700 pocket computer and grab the reel handle.  Now, the phone is in a “waterproof” case, but it’s now in 3-4’ of water in front of me. The screen is lit and I can see it.  

 

I land the bass and get him lipped, but I can’t reach my phone. I am waist deep and the bottom of my pack is just skimming the water. I want a picture of this bass so I close my eyes and dunk my head under.  

 

As soon as my fingers close on the phone, the bass, now fully sick of the situation, thrashes out of my grip and swims off.  Some how my phone still works and I have a very soggy 3 mile hike back to my car.

 

This was three years ago and still see that bass perfectly in my mind’s eye.

[tander]

I was fishing The Rez in the summertime, probably been fishing all day. I pulled up to the dock, tied my boat off, and got out just like I always do. I was at the end of the dock looking at something in the water when it happen. It was if someone pushed me, in I went. I could not stop myself. I guess fishing all day, my legs were weak and tired. Of course there was someone to see me. He asked if I was alright, told him yea, sure is hot and I thought I would take a dip. I don't believe he believed it. The worse thing about this, when I came up from the water, my prescription sunglasses that was around my neck on a cord was gone. I got a Bagley's DB3 and started casting. Would you believe I caught them on the 10th cast. Other than being wet, I guess it turned out ok.

[OCdockskipper]

I posted this adventure in a similiar thread, but it is worth a repeat.

 

I am moving down a bank and come to a retaining wall that juts out into the lake & is part of a green belt area for people to fish from shore.  I see a bass pinning baitfish up against the wall, so I quickly fire a high arcing cast in that direction.  Unfortunately, I was so focused on the fish that I failed to notice the enormous tree right near the edge of the greenbelt.  My popper ends up about 25 ft up in the tree.  After grabbing a different rod and failing to catch the fish, I set my attention to freeing my lure.  I pulled & yanked from different angles to no avail.  Finally, I was directly under the tree and for some reason thought a good hard yank would work.  It did, kinda.  As I yanked, both my rod and the tree limb snapped simultaneously, the rod fell to the deck & the branch fell on my head.

 

But I got the lure back...

[EGbassing]

Last summer I was walking the banks with a rod in each hand and I tripped in this concrete water runoff thing; A second later my arms and face were really scraped/bleeding from the concrete but I somehow kept both of the rods from even touching the ground. ?

[N Florida Mike]

I was fishing one of my favorite lakes back in the day in my JB , with my gf at the time. I had only told her one rule- be careful when casting not to hook me from behind.It wasnt long and I heard and felt a Swoosh, and on her cast she had hooked my hat and threw it out in the lake. She was so worried Id be mad but I thought it was funny. I did not marry her tho.

 

Another time I was fishing with shiners off a dock in the river. I had a big shiner under a cork , and when I cast got a big birdnest, the shiner smacking the water 10-15 feet out. Im trying to pull it out and it starts tightening up. Cork was under . It had to be a lunker, because the shiner was 10-11 inch. I had no choice but to set the hook, but with no drag , the line  broke.

My favorite one happenned while fishing a nght tourney on lake Sante fe. It was around 2 in the morning and I had tried everything in my box to no avail. I had tied on a crankbait and just started trolling offshore. After a long time the rod suddenly loaded up and it felt good, real good. Im thinking Ive won the tournament and big fish... But it was not in the boat yet. I woke my partner up and he got a light and net. I would pull it almost up where I could see it , and it would take most of the line back I had gained. Not sure how long this went on and I tightened the drag a little, putting a little more pressure on it. Suddenly it came into view. A trot line. ?

I had hooked a dad -gum trot line. I dont think I had ever been that disappointed about anything before. Then I almost cut in in half in anger, but decided to just run it and see... Not even one catfish for my trouble.

I did not win the tournament...

 

[CrankFate]

One night I was fishing with a friend on a pier in the ocean many years ago. We’re hangin out with our rods in the water on a calm quiet summer night and his rod just shoots right in the water and disappears. Instantly. I was bummed about it, and wanted to leave, but he was like keep fishing, that had to be big. And we know there are fish out. So we stay there at least another 3 hours just hanging out. No bites, nothing. When all of the sudden, I get a bite and I start reeling in. It’s a big fish. I estimate 25lbs, about, maybe bigger. But whatever it is it was strong and never stopped fighting. So I’m reeling and fighting and as I’m about to get the fish out of the water, we see that I’m actually reeling up his rod! which I hooked with my hook in the top guide on the tip. It was like the greatest moment ever. He grabs the bouncing rod and starts reeling it up. He’s fighting and fighting the fish and as it gets close, it takes a quick turn pulling drag and runs around a piling right next to the pier, he couldn’t stop it — and pops the line! It was the best worst day fishing ever. After that, we decided it was time to call it a night.

[volzfan59]

One time me and an old buddy of mine were pulling my old Jon boat out of Station Camp Creek, Old Hickory Lake, TN. The trailer lights were up on three foot poles that had pvc rollers around them. Instead of securing the boat to the trailer, my buddy said "I'll just hold onto the light poles". He grabbed the rollers instead of the pole. I heard Bob holler, looked up in the rear view mirror in time to see Bob's head disappearing as the bow of the boat came up. I still chuckle when I think about it.

[rtwvumtneer6]

3 chatterbaits gone, in 2 casts.  

 

First cast off the day sailed into a tree.  It happens.  Tied on #2.  Snagged it on the bottom just far enough out that I couldn't reach it, or see it in muddy water.  Tied on #3 and tossed it (by hand) into the water, only to realize I cut my main line instead of the tag end.

 

Rough start that day...

 

 

[Bluebasser86]

 

[Arcs&sparks]

When I was first getting into fishing I was casting a crankbait from shore beside a bridge.  I hooked on to a decent sized pickerel and since I had no net or pliers, I had to try to get a good grab on it.  It’s mouth was pinned shut because it had a hook in both it’s upper and lower jaw.  What do I do now??  Hard to hold on to these slimey things... Well,  it slipped out of my hands and the other treble hook stuck to my jeans.  The fish wasn’t happy and neither was I.  Now I have this pickerel stuck to me flopping around like crazy starting to dig the hooks into my skin.  All I could do grab my jeans and pull it away from my leg so I didn’t get hooked!  Luckily my girlfriend was there and between the two of us,  we were able to cut the hook out of my pants with a dull keychain knife,  and I don’t remember how we got the bait out of its mouth but I’m not so sure it was a clean release... 

[Dirtyeggroll]

We used to fish small farm ponds all of the time when I was younger. Once my sister was holding her pole with a bobber and worm out in the water and sitting on a cooler focused on the bobber when a cow walked up right behind her and licked her in the face before she even knew what had happened. She took off across the bank scream carrying her Zebco with her. One of the funniest things I have ever seen.

[Jigfishn10]

Some funny things here! I think I've read through this thread about 4 times now and can't stop laughing. Great stories.

@Koz, don't ya love technology?!?

@OCdockskipper, I hate to admit this, but I'm a multiple time offender. I can't tell you how many trees have popper ornaments...LOL

@tander, let's just call it a senior moment, at least that's what I did in a similar situation...LOL

[EGbassing]

11 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

But you got the fish.

[Bluebasser86]

1 hour ago, EGbassing said:

But you got the fish.

Yes, but unfortunately we didn't win that night.

[Bankbeater]

A couple of years ago I was walking the bank fishing some rip rap in the rain.  I cast my baby brush hog parallel and felt a tap.  I go to set the hook and my feet slipped on those wet rocks.  I missed the fish and got a nasty looking bruise on my back. 

[junyer357]

I fish a pasture pond pretty frequently. Good fishing and alot cheaper and easier than hooking up boat for a quick trip after work. I had already caught a few, and moved to a diffrent spot on shallower end of lake, where i want to fish earlier, but the cows were there drinking. Moved on over, and a few cast later i had a good one. Stepped back to set hook, slipped in a fresh cow patty and then landed in it with my butt and back. Got up, landed fish, and brushed off what i could and fished for a while longer. Thankfully i still had my insulated overalls in truck toolbox, so i didnt have to get crap on my truck seats or ride out in my undies. Would have been really embarassing getting out to open gates then.  

[Munkin]

14 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

 

True dedication in landing that one.

 

Allen

[Bluebasser86]

17 minutes ago, Munkin said:

True dedication in landing that one.

 

Allen

I didn't mean to go in, just forget that I'd waxed the boat the day before. I did a good job, it was really slick.

[Arcs&sparks]

My good buddy and I were up north at Moosehead. We were fishing below one of the dams in this big eddy, deep heavy current smacking brookies and salmon left and right.  He gets a brookie and was struggling to get the hook out, he dropped the fish on the ground and I told him we should keep that one for dinner.  After he gets the hook out it slipped his grip again and flopped back into the water.  I immediately sprawled out on my belly on the big smooth rock I was standing on, reached out and almost had a grip on the fish when I started to lose my balance and slip. Uh oh! I’m going in, ever so slowly!  As I was slowly sliding into the river, my reaction was to throw my brand new Trout Series GLX/Supreme XT right into the current and caught myself before going completely under. His reaction was to sprawl out on his big rock and catch my rod by the tip, also almost falling into the 40* water as well, right before it was to be swallowed up by the raging white water spilling out of the dam. Luckily I managed to keep my right leg mostly out of the water which had my iPhone in the pocket, and I can’t thank him enough for snagging my rod and not trying to help me!! Almost lost my phone, and my new stick for one 10” trout lol.  We hadn’t been drinkin BTW ?