Personal fishing bloopers

[RB 77]

This one involves me and my cousin and his skiff in one of our bays. Bear with me, this is a long one, but the comedy that ensues is worth it.

 

So, he had been working on his outboard and wanted to take his skiff out to "test" it. Had it fired up at the house on the hose and was feeling good about things, so he rings me up and asks if i want to cruise with him. I ask him if we can fish a little bit and he says sure he’s already got all the gear in the boat.  I'm all in. We met up at his house and off we go. He backs me down the ramp and yells at me to fire her up. I yell back at him to toss me the keys... Oh crap #1. They're at the house. So we launch the boat any way and pull it over to the dock with a rope. Off he goes to grab the keys...

 

So as I'm sitting there and I notice the boat is taking on water... Oh crap #2. He forgot to put the plug in at the house. I scramble around looking for it in every compartment in the boat. It's nowhere to be found. For some reason he had it in his truck. Finally he gets back and jumps in the boat and sees what has happened. Off he sprints to go grab the truck and trailer. He yells to fire the boat up to trailer the boat... Oh crap #3. The engine won’t turn over. Out comes the carb cleaner/ starting fluid...

 

So we get the boat started and back on the trailer to drain her and he jokes about how he’s been meaning to "clean the bilge" anyway. We have a good laugh and put the plug in and off we go. We cruise around the bay and the boat is running great. We find a nice flat to drift and kill the engine and go to rig up... Oh crap #4. He left his tackle at home. Loaded the rods, forgot the tackle box. I had just what I had tied on and so we scrounge around find an old spark plug to use for a drop shot weight and a rusty hook lying in a storage compartment. If memory serves me correct we caught a short Halibut and maybe a Sculpin? Anyway, we finish our first drift and go to start the engine... Oh crap #5. Of course the engine won’t turn over. Only this time we can’t get it started. We have to flag another skiff down and get towed in to the launch ramp. Thankfully it wasn't too far.

 

I've had many fishing related bloopers over the years, but that was the classic "when it rains, it pours" trip of all time. We still have a laugh about from time to time to this day.

[YaknBassn]

#1.  Went on a river fishing trip with a few buddies.  Caught a few fish and a buzz.  Late in the day, I was bragging to one of them about how stable this kayak was.  I was tilting it side to side and over it went.  I lost a cell phone, a pair of Costas, a 3700 Plano box full of jigs, and two rods.  One of which was a brand new custom rod I had built specifically for river bassin'.  I was a bungee away from losing my truck keys.  I did have the custom rod eventually returned to me by a guy that dives that particular river.  

 

#2.  Fishing in backwaters, snakes are expected.  Most swim away, but there was one guy that wouldn't.  I intended to scoop him with my paddle and sling him the other direction.  It didnt work.  Landed right on the deck of my kayak.  

 

#3.  Fishing was slow, so I figured I would pick up trash from the water.  I picked up a styrofoam worm container floating upside down.  Turned in over and the biggest spider I've ever seen jumps out of the container .  I fell right off the boat into the lake.  

[Munkin]

22 hours ago, rtwvumtneer6 said:

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...

 

 

Never cut the wrong line but twice I have cut the tag end and thrown my pliers into the water.

 

Allen

[Way north bass guy]

25 minutes ago, Munkin said:

Never cut the wrong line but twice I have cut the tag end and thrown my pliers into the water.

 

Allen

I have also done that, all you can do is just shake your head ?

[Alex from GA]

Had many but the last one was I was at our dock last year and my boat floated away.  My dock mate's boat was there so I borrowed it to bring mine back.

[kjfishman]

I was by myself and launching my boat into a small lake. I had a rope attached to the boat and tied off to the trailer. All  went well until the rope broke. The boat drifts out to the middle of the lake and there wasn't anyone else out on the water to help me retrieve the boat. Called my buddy to ask him to stop by my home and pickup my kayak and bring it out to the lake so I could get my boat back.

 

 

[OCdockskipper]

This one falls less into the "blooper" category and more into the "no good deed goes unpunished" category.

 

Towards the end of spring last year, I was fishing and worked my way to the back of a small cove.  There is an abandoned launch ramp there, fenced off to stop non-residents from launching boats on it.  Using the ramp as a beach were a pair of black Australian Swans, who were tending to their 3 cygnets (baby swans).  There are about 18 Australian swans on our lake, all from 1 breeding pair that was brought in about 7 years ago.  Since this is the only home they have ever known, they have no fear of nor animosity towards humans, they look at us as potential feeding machines.

 

As I got closer to the swans, I heard a cry emanating from the opposite direction.  I look over and a baby Canada  goose, maybe 2 months old or so, has lost his way from his parents and in a panic, starts swimming towards the swans.  Immediately, the male swan takes this as an act of aggression and begins swimming towards the gosling.  Knowing what is about to happen, I pull my boat between the swan & the gosling, only to have the gosling dive under water, swim past me & the swan and pop up at the boat ramp right next to the cygnets.  All hell breaks loose! The adult swans pinned the gosling against the fencing and began hammering it with their beaks, feet & wings.  The gosling kept trying to get through the fence to get away, but couldn't.  I quickly got my boat up next to the retaining wall, and went over towards them.  The swans stopped, calmed down and just watched as I lifted the bottom of the fence up so the gosling could get on the other side.  No worse for wear, the gosling kept squawking, running down the shore trying to find his parents while the swans went back to their brood.  Feeling like Dr. Doolittle, I turned back to my boat...which was now floating in the middle of the cove.

[haleywp]

Many years ago, while at the camp we set out a trot line across the river and baited it up.  The next morning the river had raised some.  I get in the jon boat and start running the trot line.  It was raining a little so I put on my cowboy slicker (you know the one that reaches the ground and covers your saddle).  When I get to the end of the trot line where we had tied it to a limb overhanging the water I am looking at one of the biggest wasp nest I had ever seen.  They were all up and their wings looked like jets on the runway ready to take off.  Sure enough here they come.  I let the trot line go, one of two pop me and in the water I go to get away from the rest.  The slicker wraps around me like a blanket.  I managed to grab the side of the boat and get it away from the tree.

Invited the welding inspector at the plant we were building to go fishing.  As we were fishing I look at the back of the boat and he was getting ready to change baits.  I ask him what he was going to put on and he said a Texas rigged worm.   I said grab that rod it is rigged up already.  The rod was on its first trip.  He starts fishing and gets a bite.  When he sets the hook the back of the set brakes and he falls on the back of the casting deck.  As he is going overboard I run back there and grab his feet and pull him back in the boat.  The rod goes overboard.  We rig up some treble hooks with weights and start casting.  Luckily we catch the rod after pulling up every tot line in the area.

 

Pat

[Gundog]

My blooper happened on a windy day when I was out on my canoe at a local lake. I had drifted with the wind for about a mile when I decided to paddle back to the launch. I grabbed the paddle and started to paddle. After a few minutes the paddle slipped out of my hands and onto the lake as my boat keep going in the opposite direction. Luckily there was a couple in a v-hull behind me who helped me out and retrieved my wayward paddle and brought it to me using their trolling motor. The guy suggested I get a TM just in case. I actually thought about it.