Ever had a bad day?

[kajun]

I was just kind of womdering what everyone's worst fishing trip was.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that has had trips where it seemed like everything that could go wrong did.

[Basstronaut]

What could go so wrong as to make a day bad?

'scuse the dumb question, it's just that I can catch nothing all day like yesterday and still have an awesome day, or my kid can get 50 yards of line all tangled up trying to untangle a little line and it's not a bad day. I suppose if I had a boat and the motor blew leaving me stranded or having to row back might contribute to a bad day, anyhat what ruins your day?

[kajun]

   I had one fishing trip in Alaska where someone told me about a lake that was supposed to be really good so they gave me directions and i went to drive there made it about 500 yards down a dirt road and got hung up in some muscag(not sure if that is correct spelling).  Needles to say once you get hung up in that stuff you are not getting out by youself.

   

[kajun]

  As far as a bad trip when I actually made it to the water.  I was floating a creek in a small canoe in western Kentucky one time and obviously since it was a bad trip I wasn't catching any fish and I was having a bad casting day and was losing lures in the trees and brush at a rapid pace.  Not only that but I made the mistake of listening to the weather man who said the chance for rain was slim to none.  Well he was wrong the chance of rain was good because it started to thunderstorm and I had no choice but to ride it out because I had to float the creek until I made it to my truck.  After two more hours of floating the creek in the rain I finally made it back to my truck just to find out that I had had my drivers side window busted out and my 7mm and my TC .50 cal stolen along with my CD player and CD's.

   Anyway that trip is one I definately wish I had not gone on.

[earthworm77]

I wrote an article about mypartner who I call mishap man. This guy has the freakiest things happen to him. Maybe I'll post it, its not all that politically correct but it is funny. On the home front I've had two really stupid things happen to me when I was a bit younger.

When I was about 15, I was at the cabin that my family had each summer. For me it was 24hrs of bass fishing almost every day for a week or two. I practically took my meals out on the water. I had a superstitious ritual in which as soon as we arrived, I'd go to a certain spot and try to catch a bass on a floating Rapala.

This particular time, I had just put on new Gammie trebs and on the first cast, I managed to hang a decent bass. As I was unhooking it, it flopped out of my graps and one of the trebs dug into my left middle finger knuckle. Essentially I am lipping the fish with my right hand and hooked with my left so I'm handcuffed. I'm also about 1/2 mile into the woods with nobody around and no tools to help out. Somehow I manage to get rid of the fish and take the lure off the rear split ring. Walking back to the cabin to tell my parents what had happened and the fact that we'd have to travel 50 miles to get to the nearest hospital was my shame. They took it ok though. When we got there it worked out but it pretty much ruined my day.

The next time I has an extremely embarrassing incident was when I was fishing in Florida with my girlfriend. I was on the back of a paddle boat chucking worms at some bass in a pit pond. I had a hit which was actually my worm snagging on a flexible branch. When I set the hook, my rig, bullet weight first came rocketing back towards me, now remember I'm on the back of a paddle boat, the wieght cracks me right in the family package and although I'm about 10 feet from shore in gator infested water, I essentially do my best Jesus impression and almost walk across the water to roll around the shore in agony. People saw it, people laughed like crazy, at my expense. I'm not proud but I made sure that it never happened again.

[Glenn]

Here's a few more:

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/bad_fishing_days.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/lightening_fishing.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/lesson_in_respect.html

https://www.bassresource.com/fishing/boating_safety.html

Ya, I'd say these stories qualify.  

[L.D.]

A couple of years back, I had a new client on board. The fishing was tough, high muddy fast river current, we could only fish the eddies where we could find them. We only caught 11 fish in 6 hours which is bad for a guide. Half way through the trip my electric trolling motor dies and I loose my drift control for the rest of the day. It starts raining very hard, client has had enough & calls the day. I let the client off at the access and beach the boat, client leaves. The wife had my truck and it would still be another hour until she showed.When she gets there, I'm soaked through because it never stopped rainning hard and now I'm cold also. I warm up in the truck for another 15 minites then back down the dirt ramp to the river. NO BOAT! Water came up 2ft after I beached it. It was out about 50ft from shore and headed down river.  I go in after the boat, hip boots fill and I'm in chest deep when I get my hand on the boat. Had a heck of a time getting in the boat with boots full of water , had to take them off before I could get in. Finally got back home and took a very long hot shower. That was a bad day!

[Basstronaut]

ok I take that question back, you can have a terrible day out fishing.

They say humour is someone else's misery, they're right, this thread is funny, hope you're looking back and laughing as well ;D

earthworm77

Maybe I'll post it, its not all that politically correct but it is funny

Share it please, if you're worried it's not PC enough then maybe post a link to it, besides people can choose if they want to read it or not

[Chris]

When I was younger I would sneak out and fish the ponds on the golf course down the road from my house. I had one lake that produced well and had some nice fish in it. One day i took off and fished it during lunch. I brought my tackle box at that time was one of those plano that looked like a suit case but had enough tackle in it to use as an anchor. Well right off the bat i caught a nice 3lb bass and i figured that i wanted to see how many i would catch. So i took out one of those rope stringers and tied it to my box and continued fishing. Not long after i caught a bass about the same size so i added it to my stringer. About 5 minutes later i caught one that would go around 5 lbs so i added it to the stringer with the others. At this point i had not moved but maybe 10 feet from where i started so i desided to move along the shore to find more fish. When i was on the other side i noticed that around my tackle box was some splashing so i figured the fish on my stringer was just being active so i didn't pay it much mind. Next thing i knew i saw a 5 or 6 ft gator rise out of the water with one of my bass in its mouth. All i could think about was the hundreds of dollars of tackle about to be pulled in and lost. So i ran over to my box and the gator ran back into the water so i grabbed the stringer rope that was limp. As i pulled on it all i saw was a head and my fish still sticking out of its mouth. So now i am playing tug of war with a 6 ft gator while fumbling with my knife to cut the line. Finally the gator turned loose of my fish just when i was about to cut the line. I then pulled up one and a half fish still on my stringer.

[Snag]

The only thing I'm gonna say is just remember to make sure your PLUG is in the boat. Everyone can use their immagination to figure what happend next. This was figured out AFTER take off during a tournament. Time lost, lessons learned.. lol

Tight lines,

Snag

[John Cullum]

I hear ya Snag.

A few years back my partner and I fished a open on Lake Michigan. The Chicago SunTimes ran a piece on it so it was getting alot of press. Mark Zona and a few other "local pros" were there. There was a pretty decent crowd at the take off and someone from the Sun Times had the loud speaker calling out boat numbers. (I think we were 26) A few boats before they called out our number I asked my partner why the bilige was running. His reply of course was "O' MY GOD NO PLUG". So we turn around and the next thing I hear from the loud speaker is "It appears boat number 26 forgot their drain plug". I didn't turn around to look but I could feel everyone eyes on us wonder what two guys it was.

[Klinger988]

2 stories for you:

The first one happened to me and it still gets me upset when i think about it! I had saved my money for a long time and had bought a real nice baitcasting setup. I was realy excited and ready to go... Well, i meet the guy that i go fishing with at the dock and it just so happens that this day is the first day of the year he was able to take his bass boat out. It had been in the shop for some work, and we had been fishing in a real slow 9.9 hp boat for over a month. Well this was going to be my first time in a real bass boat, (i have only been fishing for a year) and i was pretty excited to see what it could do. well in my excited stupidity i neglected to ask what the elastic straps were for on the boat deck, so i just throw my polls on the deck and hop in the boat. well we go flying across the water at 60mph and hit the wake of another boat. well u guessed it when we finally get to our spot my polls are long gone on the bottom of the lake! i think he felt worse then i did! well the stroy does have a happy ending, we entered a buddy tourn to try to win some money back to get me some new polls and it just so happened that we got first and lunker. that got us $400 bucks and some new polls. moral of the stroy: strap your polls down!

the second story dosent have a very good ending but i find it pretty entertaining:

This past year i was at Lake Kipawa in Canada on a fishing trip with my uncle. i didnt personaly see this happen, but let me tell you the entire town was taking about it. the week before we had gotten there lets just say a scuba team had to be called in... like i say this is just from hearsay, but here it goes: a husdand and wife were upset after a long week of bad fishing. they are at the dock and are pulling out their boat. the wife is in charge of driving the boat onto the trailer and the husband is in the truck to pull the boat out. for some strange reason they attach the cord from the boat to the trailer before its out of the water. the two were having a hard time getting the boat in right, and in a moment of frusteration the wife goes in reverse to try again. well she forgot the boat was attached to the truck. the husband couldnt react quick enough and the boat pulled the truck right into the water. Kipawa is a very steep lake, and just a few feet of shore it is at least 30ft deep. well the truck went to the bottom and a scuba team had to be called in to get it out. luckly they were able to get the cord off the boat before that sunk too! How bout that for a bad day of fishing?!

[Stickling]

As I was unhooking it, it flopped out of my graps and one of the trebs dug into my left middle finger knuckle. .

Before i knew alot about bass fishing i took my 4 wheeler out in the water and was fishing and i cought a bass. i was new at getting hooks out so i put him on my 4 wheeler rack and before i knew ithe was flopping and he hooked my middle finger. it didnt bleed at all but it was deep. i had to cut the treb with wire cutters and pull out the rest of the treb.

[Will]

I have had some days where I can't buy a bite, but I can break of every lure I throw. While on a family camping trip we had alot of things go wrong. Upon arriving my brother caught a good bass and broke the rod, my brother threw the top half of my two-piece rod in the water while swinging the rod, My best reel's bail spring broke, the trolling motor was on the back of the boat and when we hit a wave it broke off in the middle of the lake, and my little brother's rod was broke when my dad tried to get the snag undone.

[Big_Bass_Rich]

Well my only bad day that I really remember was a couple of years ago. The fishing was amazing, I mean we're talking nice bass almost every cast, a couple of pike and even a walleye (on a spinnerbait nonetheless!). It was going great. We were fishing from shore in a marina, which just happens to be a no trespassing area unless you're a dock slip owner, lol ... oops.  ;D

Anyway, I get a huge hit on my jerkbait. The bass seem to be in schools, so my dumb friend decides to run over with his Terminator spinnerbait and see if he can score some fish from where I got a hit. He rears back to cast as far as he can, and pulls forward and I go down on my stomach on the dock. It felt like someone hit me in the back of the head with a bat. I gained my bearings and realized that he had hit me with his spinnerbait in the back of the head! I reached up and could not tell if it was in the back of my head or my hat. I ask my friend to check, and he says no he can't because he can't stand the sight of blood.  >

So my other friend who was further down the shoreline comes our way and sees what's going on, and PANICKS like I've been hit by a train. I try to explain that its not a big deal and all we have to do is pinch or file the barb off and pull it out. I've got a huge headache and buddy #2 runs to get help from the marina owner!!  

She comes over and luckily didn't address the fact that we were fishing illegally in her marina, she just tells me I have to go to a doctor. But I don't have my health card, it's at home and without it I can't go to the hospital.

We call my parents who come down with pliers. Great they know what to do!! Thank God someone does! But we find that this Terminator hook is incredibly tough.. we can't cut or file it!

So we grab my health card and head to the hospital 15 min away. We get there, wait for half an hour (my headache is horrible) and finally get in. The doctor says "all you have to do is file or cut the barb off". Yeah.. right... never tried that.  :

So he tries with pliers and cutters, and can't do it. Dang that hook is strong he says! NO KIDDING.   So after giving some anaesthetic (finally no more headache!) he pulls out a file.. After fiddling for a while he tells me to get on my stomach and look at the floor, he's going to "try something new"...

 :'(

Now I'm thinking just leave the hook in, I'll be a trendsetter and start a new fashion for God's sakes! lol

All I hear is sawing, twisting and a very uncomfortable sounding crack... good thing I had anaesthetic, cuz I'm sure what he was doing was painful. Anyway eventually out comes the bait, in 3 pieces, and a hacksaw drops to the doctor's side.  

After all of this harrowing experience I thank the doctor, and get home to bed so I can go back out fishing in the morning!

Okay so it wasn't a horrible day, but it was an experience to say the least!

[JHall]

Well... I was fishing on Caddo lake with some friends.  We were all on one side of the boat looking at something, I don't recall.  The other two guy decided to moved to the other side of the boat.....  cause and effect, boat rocks.  However, as I am falling (in slow motion, mind you) I look up and who do I see, but this touring boat full of ( I kid you not) girl scout den mothers on retreat, watching and looking intently at me.  Just as I hit the water, i notice one start to stand and when I sufaced, click, four cameras went off.  And how, you might ask, did I know that they were touring girl scout den mothers?  Well, my buds and I stayed in a lodge that weekend, along with 14 older ladies.... who just so happened to be girl scout den mothers.  When we got in later that evening, they made me feel right at home and got me drunker than snot.  (pitty drinks) Dwars whiskey and coke make a goooooood many sympathy drinks.

[Nick_Barr]

i forgot to put the drain plug in then we finally got out on the water and a dang ski person gave me a wake and i fell over the side. next i didnt get a single gosh dang bite!!1 >

[davmac]

I used to live in a small town in SC where I coached the high school boys'  JV and Varsity Basketball teams.   A local farmer owned a beautiful 7 acre pond in the middle of nowhere with a single-wide trailer setup, picnic area etc, that NOBODY used. I

was one of 3 people he let fish the pond. There was a point where I repeatedly missed a big bass.

Well one Saturday about mid-day I pulled up to the point, determined not to move 'til I caught him. It

started getting really hot, in the mid 90's and I was wearing heavy winter Army pants. Well I decided since I was alone I would just strip down to my boxer drawers and cool off a little. Took off my shoes, got my pants just below my knees, plastic worm still in the water, and Mr. Bighead decides to take off with my rod. I lunged forward, caught my rod and began to fight. During the tussle the john boat caught wind,  moved around the point,  and I

looked up to see Mr. Farmer's wife and a couple of mini-vans coming down the hill, loaded with the girls' JV & Varsity basketball teams as well as cheerleaders coming to enjoy their annual team picnic, and there's Coach Mac propped up on his knees, in his drawers, losing that fish again. And you know, I will never be remembered for helping win championships.

[Redtail]

Went to my brother in laws house to do a little fishin in his canoe.  I went out by myself and was doing pretty good.  I was about as far away from his house as I could be when I caught this Largemouth.  I leaned a little too far over to one side to release him.  The next thing I knew I was upside down.  That is the last time I will fish in a canoe!

[njbassin]

Fishing all day, not getting skunked or nothing

but we were fishing in a canoe because the lake we were fishing had a lot of stumps and was very shallow. Anyway, I dropped a pair of pliers overboard and the water only looked to be about a foot deep so I reach down to grab 'em and fell backwards and the canoe tipped we were probably about 15yards off shore it was 50 degrees I had my cell phone, my fishing poles, the tackle boxes were floating away and the bottom must have been about six feet deep of compost. If there weren't stumps everywhere I don't think we would of made it. Luckily a guy in his backyard was watching us and he let was come up to his property and let us rinse off because we were up to are chests in compost. NASTY!!! Horrible day, but we laughed after it was all over.

[LUNKER]

About 1994 I was fishing a small pond in southern San Diego California. The illegals would move across the border from mexico in droves. I could see Ten pound bass regularly so I got myself a small boat to dump in and try and get after those lunkers. Then after a few trips a local Border patrol agent told me about a pond that was a little deeper in the thickets. I loaded my trusty little pond jumper up in my pickup. Somewhere along the way, I took the wrong trail. Found some heavy Sand and got stuck. Oh boy! A mile deep in the middle of nothing and no way to get out.

I hiked it back to the road, found a phone and called my wife for help. She gathered a few friends up and we went back to the truck. Apparently just in time. I could see the CB antenna dangling. The hood was popped. The illegals had already started stripping my truck where it was stuck. When I went to close the hood, the grill fell onto the sand. lol

A few pushes from my friends got it out of the sand with some good old fashion manpower. I gave up on trying the pond and came back toward the road. Engine still attatched. They had created a hill to keep people out of the area which I had entered. So you couldnt see traffic coming over the hill. I pulled up on the mound and saw traffic so I braked. I got the truck hung up on the mount on its frame. No tires touching the ground. lol  

Saw some illegals running bye but did not dare ask them if they had my hood ornament. Nor would I ask them for help to push me off that mound. Everyone that helped earlier had already left. The border patrol final came by and laughed of course. Then gave me a friendly shove. It ended well but its funny how far us fisherman will go for that Lunker. I called it a day. Unfortunately, I never fished those ponds again. Surely there are some nice fish in that Otay Mesa area.

Mark