[Troutlassie124]

No one has posted here for a while, so I thought this might perk things up a bit:What is the worst damage you have done to yourself or your gear or your transportation while trying to catch fish?

[freeze69]

not the worst but the funniest. me and my usuall fishing partner about 6 yrs ago doing some late night bassin. i happened to step off the rear deck of my boat just to find it's got about 3 in. plus of water. so i hit the bilge pump about a hour later i realize some dummy named jerry left the livewell in manuall instead of auto. as fast as i was pumping water out, i was pumping it back in. discharged both batteries and had to manually start the boat to get to the ramp. first and last time i did that one.

[BigCliff]

Almost did the worst kind of damage to myself on the Jersey shore a few years ago. Saw a guy way out on a sandbar and figured I'd go join him. This sandbar was about 6" under the surface and went about 1/4 mile straight out into the surf. Got out there and fished for a while with the local. He says "I'm going in", I said "I'm gonna stay a little longer", and he says "well, don't stay too long".

Well as you might expect, 20 min became 40 min and on and on, and I probably came back after an hour. I got about half way back in before the water was always above my waist. Tried some different routes back to the beach and none of them had a shallow path. I figured I'll just pick the shallowest and head back to the beach.

That path unfortuanately crossed a deep gut where the newly relocated tide was carving out sand as it went along. I was quickly in over my head and working hard to keep moving while having chest waders, wading jacket, and a plastic stripping basket on, along with trying to keep my rod safely overhead. The surf was gettign the best of me for a while, and I realized that if I didn't chill out and get myself some air now and some dirt to stand on soon, I really could die. I eventually got all of that I needed and got back to the beach, after having been washed about 1/2 mile from where I started. I also got to entertain the beachgoers by doing one-leg-up-handstands to get the water out of the legs of my waders.

Oh yeah, this was in November. The Jersey surf is pretty friggin cold in November.

Morals of the story: listen to the locals, tides move sand (and tides do alot more on the Jersey shore than they do on the Texas Coast)

[BigCliff]

just noticed something

cliff- "geez, of all the posts to be number 666!"

Good thing I think its bad luck to be superstitious

[Fish Bones]

This happened in November 2003, driving home after two days of fly fishing the Lower Mt Fork River at Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma. Traveling down the highway at 70mph, a pickup truck pulled out in front of me... I swerved to miss him. I did miss him but I lost control of my SUV. I slid sideways into the ditch. I rolled 4 times and fracture my C2 vertebrate. I was air flighted to the nearest high level trauma hospital. In spite of my broken neck, I survived and completely recovered from my injuries. My SUV was totaled and a lot of my gear was damaged. I lived to fish another day. I am lucky to be alive and I thank God for that as often as I can.

[BigCliff]

Geez man! your story outdid mine by a lot, hope nobody has one that can outdo yours!

[Fish Bones]

Originally Posted by BigCliff

Geez man! your story outdid mine by a lot, hope nobody has one that can outdo yours!

I don't know about that... your's could have easilly turned out as bad as mine could had. We're both lucky to be alive. It looks like November is the month to beware.

[Piscator]

I'm glad to have both of you around. You two stay away from black cats, walking under ladders, spilling salt, and anything else unlucky.
Later,
Terry

[BigCliff]

My story can just be considered evidence for the theory that there are three ways that men learn.

1. There is a very small group of men that can learn simply by reading important information.

2. There is a slightly larger group that can learn from other people's mistakes.

3. The rest of us just have to pee on the electric fence ourselves.

[JBinUTAH]

3. The rest of us just have to pee on the electric fence ourselves.

OUCH!