dumbest thing you've done while fishing

[MrsBass]

Well, I'm going to blame my hubby on this one, but I'm the one that ended up looking stupid.

About 5 years ago, we are trolling along in the lake, heading for our favorite haunts, but my husband wants to troll for Northerns on the way there.

No biggie, we are tooling around and my husband sets the darn hook so hard on a bite that the tiny northern and the huge lure both launched out of the water and hooked me badly in the back of the arm. You know that soft spot, okay well you are mostly men, but the soft tender skin right in the back of the arm? Well I had a huge treble hook AND a fish stuck to my arm.

(it was too painful to try and get the little pike off so I wrapped him with a ripped towel to my arm to secure it and the lure)

This is before we had heavy duty wire cutters in the boat (we keep them always now) so we had to go back to shore with me, a big pike lure and a small northern all stuck to my arm.

Ended up going to the ER with the lure inbedded in my flesh, thank God we managed to remove the Northern first

Do you think I bring this up to my husband regularly ??

[flyboy]

I was fishing a tournament about 30 years ago and ran full out to the first place I wanted to fish. I caught great fish on this spot for a month prior to this tournament and had all the confidence in the world in this spot. When I got there, three boats that were not in the tournament were camped out on "My Spot." I was so mad that I basically crossed my arms on the wheel to turn while running full out and launched my partner about five feet into the air and fifteen feet or so from the boat. That was bad enough but the worst part was he was one of my best customers in the business I was in at the time.

[ArmyAngler]

I was running a frog through some thick stuff in a cove, trolling at a good pace. A gator darted out the brush and lunged at my ribbit. I yanked my line to avoid the tie-up, and sent the bait hurling through the air directly at my face. While setting my feet for the "matrix" move, I stepped on the foot control and it jerked the boat out from under my feet. As soon as my head surfaced the water I saw the two dark eyes pointed in my direction. I scrambled for a handle on the boat, knowing the gator was only 20 feet away. Safely in the boat, I switched to deep water tactics.

[MrsBass]

I was running a frog through some thick stuff in a cove, trolling at a good pace. A gator darted out the brush and lunged at my ribbit. I yanked my line to avoid the tie-up, and sent the bait hurling through the air directly at my face. While setting my feet for the "matrix" move, I stepped on the foot control and it jerked the boat out from under my feet. As soon as my head surfaced the water I saw the two dark eyes pointed in my direction. I scrambled for a handle on the boat, knowing the gator was only 20 feet away. Safely in the boat, I switched to deep water tactics.

I am just not used to fishing places where things can and would eat me!

[BassmanDan]

I have always fished out of rented jon-boats in NC. One March morning I was throwing a spinnerbait on opening weekend for this lake and hooked the biggest bass BY FAR I had ever caught...(had to be over 10). By the time I got her in I was literally shaking with adrenaline. Now the stupid part.

My "system" back then was to grab a stringer and put the fish on just long enough to snap a pic and get the weight. But I wanted to leave her in the water and so I unhooked her (1st mistake) and held her in the water (2nd mistake) while I fished for the stringer in my bag with my other hand. I had done this many times before without a problem but been warned by my buddy that one day it would backfire on me.

About then she came out of her tiredness from the fight and wallowed that big head and I lost my grip...but she was still out of it and I was able to grab her again!! I was thinking..well actually not thinking at that point about how lucky that was and then CONTINUED to hold her in the water and fish for the stringer (3rd and last act of stupidity). Another two seconds and she shook again and I lost her...again!! My luck was over and I grabbed at her again only to have her slide through my hands and swim off. That day was one of those special pre-spawn days and one boat caught a limit of 6 and 7 pounders...my bass would have ate them for breakfast...and I didn't tell that story at the dock.

[MJB_215]

When I was younger I was with my brother and another friend fishing for panfish in a little creek. Well out of nowhere I had to take a dump. So I went behind a tree and did my business. But I needed something to wipe. Well I found this bush with some decent leaves on them. Turned out the bush was poison sumac. It was all over my bum and even eventually made it around front. That was the worst. So stupid

[PondBassin]

I felt compelled to respond to this topic even though it was started a year ago. I was fishing in a small paddle boat in 20 degree weather and when trying to bank the boat on a high shore, thinking I had the boat run ashore jumped off into the water about shin deep. Ended up with frostbite on at least one toe. What's even worse is that I pushed the boat out to open water where some friends had to retrieve it for me, then proceeded to fish for another 2 hours in bare feet. Very dumb decision...

[lizardcaster]

Took my wife fishing, and she outfished me...Ill never make that mistake again...

[shimmy]

Took my wife fishing, and she outfished me...Ill never make that mistake again...

Get used to it. It is eerie...very eerie. They always do it. Unbelievable. I gave up trying to beat her. She could fish with her pole hanging off her lap reading a book, do nothing, and catch bigger fish than me. It will never end.

Loved all these stories and a part of my self-esteem has been repaired when i realized i am not alone in this universe. Aside from the 95% of the time i launch i forget to put the plug in and actually have more time preparing to bring buckets and other bottles in case i need to bail, my favorite story was with my brother and dad. The engine just died while fishing since my brother revved it too hard out of the water and it wasn't well oiled and we were left to a trolling motor. My dad was angry as you can imagine but never yelled at us and was always able to forgive us immediately, even though his temper flared up inside. The next cast my brother pulls back, misses the fish and snags my dad in the thigh with the hook and i hear a scream. Look back and it is stuck there. After a minute of removing the hook, my brother got silent and was really feeling bad and my dad just kept quiet and we both knew not to bother him. A few casts later i pull back and miss my fish and my hook comes flying back, i duck, and it punctured my dad in the neck. Luckily it only stuck in a little and easily came out. He then said it was time to go and we left. We were able to laugh about it later in the week. Never stop laughing about this story.

[gr8outdoorz]

I took a 14ft jon boat on a 40,000 acre lake on a 4th of July weekend. I know...I know...but I wanted to fish Going out in the morning all was good. Started to head back to the boat ramp by 10 to try and miss the traffic and my big motor craped out took a LONG time, but the TM got us back. Fighting 3ft waves in high traffic on TM told me I never needed to do that dumb mess again!

[Shinyboy]

I grew up in a small town in upstate NY right on the Oswego River. Upstate NY is known for it's record snowfalls and HUGE spring runoff and HIGH, raging water levels in the river. On a quick melt year, all of the riverside fenced walkways we would fish from as kids ended up completely submerged under raging torrents.

I was about 12 years old, a year with an extremely bad winter and incredibly high river levels. A buddy and I fished whenever we could but certainly knew the dangers of the high water levels and our parents were very aware of where we fished as well. One morning, we were loading up our gear to fish and were told by both of our parents, "Do NOT go to the river. If you do, you won't be fishing for a long, long time." "Of Course", we replied.

Well, being 12 and full of p i s s and vinegar, a little high water wasn't going to scare us away from our favorite fishing spot! We'll just go where we told our parents we were going and then after a bit, head for the money hole! Great idea, no one will EVER know!!! Well, that plan worked great until about 24 hours later when my dad showed up from work and unrolled the newspaper.

There we were, in all our glory on the front page of the newspaper in about an 8x10 color shot fishing near the raging torrent. The caption below reads, "Two local teens braving the dangerous waters for a chance to land a big one! Turn to page 10 for more photos!!" Turn to page 10 for 6 more shots of me and my buddy, posing with our rods, tackle and a couple fish happier than pigs in slop that we were going to be in the newspaper. Funny how at 12 years old, you don't really think of the consequences of posing for a full spread of glamour shots in the local paper when you're fishing in a place you've been forbidden to go!!

Well, after a nicely reddened rear end, a good tongue lashing and a couple weeks of no fishing. I "think" I learned my lesson. I *never* did anything dangerous after that (I swear)!!!

[tate]

Out fishing with my wife….. she catches a nice LMB…. I try to help get it in the boat but ended up kneeling and crushing her Costa sunglasses. Then back at the ramp I am taking her jacket out of the boat and drop her cell phone in the lake. Oh well it could have been worse …….

[tugsandpulls]

one funny thing as a kid i put my brandnew rod and reel on a y stick to go pee well a big ole carp grabbed it and in the river it went my dad went swimming for it but never could catch it lol

[Diggy]

I havent had any mishaps since falling into a lake trying to catch shiners when I was a small child, but my friends have gotten my tackle stuck in trees 14-20 feet high. Loaning them the tackle seems to be my stupidity...they are restricted to old unused rusty rattle traps and soft plastics.

Ive also lost multiple lures trying to retrieve lures that broke off.....lost 3 additional lures trying to snag and recover 2 frogs that snapped off a bad spool of PP. I then went to walmart to buy boots thinking I could walk out to get them all only to find out it drops down to like 10 feet. I then paid a kid on a kayak 10 dollars to get my frogs back.....he got one and the other sunk...expensive day there.

4 lost lures (20 bucks)

10 dollars paid to kayaker

New line needed after pulling the old line off in a rage 15 bucks

Boots 25 bucks, but returned them

[fishnla]

Reach to far over front of boat to get a bait off of a stump, while a "GOOD" friend had control of the trolling motor. I guess he realized I was getting hot.

[whitwolf]

This was before I hit the lake. I was In a hurry to get to the ramp , rushing around getting everything loaded into the car and meet my buddy at the ramp for a fine day of Spring fishing.

I pull out of the driveway and think it would be a nice gesture to stop get a couple of biscuits for me and my buddy so I stop, get the biscuits, and head to the ramp.

I get there and get out and see something funny on the back of the car.......It's my sweatshirt, two worm bags, and a gatorade. I felt sick as my big tackle box with all my spinnerbaits, crankbaits, topwaters, etc Is not there.

I backtracked but never found the tacklebox. I was sick . I went back home and picked up a few crankbaits and spinnerbiats I had in the tackle room and headed back to the ramp. I was determined to have a good day regardless of the morning and hopped on the boat . I bent over and right off my head my sunglasses went Into the water and sunk.

When all was said and done i estimated I lost close to $300.00 in a few short hours. It pays to be prepared, take your time and do things right and always be aware of what you're doing. :-)

[kanasbassfisher08]

When i was cutting some of the tag end on my line after retying one time i drop the excess line on my boat and tossed the pliers overboard.. :-/

one of my favorites cus i have done it man that made me chuckle

[vapredhunter]

My brother and I once lanched a new boat on the boat ramp while backing down. The boat slipped of the trailer just like it was on rollers landed on the keel and tipped to one side LOL!!! I guess the new waxed hull was just that slick on the carpet. We had to disconnect the trailer from the truck and crank it under the boat then chock the wheels and push it down to hook it back up !!!!!! The look on Justins face was priceless as he was sitting in the boat wondering what happen.

[kanasbassfisher08]

Back in college in pittsburg ks me and my roomate where out fishing a couple of strip pits in the area. we went to a local swamp pit that was very hard to walk or get a bout around but luckly we had a old 2man boat. we had all our gear 4 poles each nothing great but proud to have. we were killing the bass it was a shollow marsh with tons of trees and vegitation. spinnerbait was the key til sunset when we started killing it on a buzzbait and popper bite. well i switched from a popper to a buzzbait and not realizing the weight difference i casted about 7 feet into a tree and as we trolled over to it i was rearing back pulling us closer to the tree well when we got close to the tree i saw a ton of spider webs in the tree and told him wooooo and instead of stoping he gunned it. ( i hate hand trolling motors) and instead of grabbing spiders i tried to dodge a limbful. would of worked if i had steping room in the boat. well i didnt and lost my balance and fell backwards onto the rear corner of the boat swamping the rear of the boat and standing it almost upright. well he was in the front and shot him in and i was soaked too but as i came to reality i saw all my rods slowly sinking and i dove in for them and my buddy was just worried about his phone not realizing his rods where gone too. so we spent about and hour with jigging spoons fishing for rods got 3 of his 4 poles but we froze our +++++ off not funny til now

[Will Wetline]

In younger days, I used to get overly enthusiastic at times.

Cruising from one spot to another, it suddenly occurred to me that if I tied on a spinnerbait, I'd hammer 'em! Yes! That's what conditions called for!

I put the casting reel on free spool, pulled off some line, tied on the bait. Simple enough.

My buddy in the driver's seat next to me looked over and said,

"I usually string the line through the guides first . . . "

[KCL655321]

I went to step onto this little ledge next to a pond to fish from & when I stepped onto it, the grass gave way to a foot & a half hole a cow pushed into the mud & I fell through it & then fell into the water. This was like my first trip with my new Premier & it ended up going in with me, but I managed to keep it above the water. This was like the first week in May, so that water wasn't exactly warm either. Good thing to come out of that day was I went to another pond for the first time(many times since then) & caught my personal best. Of course, I consider falling in more bad luck than stupid, since that piece of ground looked solid until I stepped onto it. Although it was lucky that I didn't break my leg/ankle when I twisted & fell in the water when it was stuck in a cow leg sized hole.

The stupidest thing I've done that was unquestionably stupid was leaving my Gerber Fishing Tool on the back bumper of my Explorer. I went back over the places I drove with it by the pond the next day, but no luck & I was out $50.

Dumb thing I've done many times is cut the main line instead of the tag when trimming my knot. I always hit myself on the head whenever I do that.

[TimJ]

I have tapped the foot control switch on the Motor Guide when the motor was 90 degrees left and on full. can you say splash?

KCL...I have only cut the line once instead of the tag end and when I threw my buzzbait over the side of the boat, it was gone. I dont do that anymore.

[jkarol24]

I left a 2-3 month old pair of $140 Native sunglasses on the top of my jeep as i was in a hurry to get off of the water and pick up a friend. Didnt realize until the next day that they were missing. Must have fallen off as i was driving.

[CoBass]

The sunglasses stories reminded me of something I did last summer. I was shore fishing along a dam and when the sun got below the top of the dam I took my shades off and put them on the baseball cap I was wearing. A few minutes later a bee started buzzing around my face and without thinking I grabbed the brim of my hat and swatted at the bee. I saw a splash about fifteen feet in front of me and realized I had just sent my $100 shades into the lake.

[BassinSoldier]

^{about 4 years ago I was pond hoppin at Ft. Campbell. The topwater bite was on fire trhat day and I had my plano tray out with all of my lucky craft topwaters (sammys, gunfish, etc) well when I was done I walked back up to my jeep and I sat my box down on the hood of the jeep and ended up strikin up a converstaion with another pond hoppin angler. After I was done shootin the bull I got in my jeep n drove home. After I got home, I suddenly realized I had left my box full of 15 dollar lures on the hood...GONE, ALL OF THEM!!!}