Stupidest day you ever had on the water?

[ia_trouter]

Inspired by peaks2creeks current thread. I thought it might be entertaining if we share a collection of our worst days on the water. This isn't intended to be a "I got skunked thread". Share some of those really, really bad days caused by your poor decisions in the pursuit of fish. It's all in fun and most of us put ourselves in peril at some point. Tell us about that day you tried to sink a boat, drown yourself, die of hypothermia or break a bone or two. Doesn't matter if you were flyfishing or just trying to catch bluegills with your daughter. I have a few tales of stupidity to share soon.

 

[Lewis Chessman]

I remember a day in 2010 when I fished Hat Creek. From a high cliff I spotted a rainbow feeding below so clambered down to the bank above the fish and stepped in.
Now, I only had cheap rubber waders without studs and the riverbed here became extremely slippery. I also had a decent camera slung about my neck ....

About ten yards down the run my left foot started to slip, then the right went awol too!
I was stood 'running' nowhere, desperately trying to keep upright, one foot sliding after the other like a cartoon character running on the spot. Just as I was about to go under I smacked a hand down hard on the water - thankfully that gave enough resistance to just lift me a little and my feet found firmer ground.
Man, was my heart racing!

I backed out gingerly and counted my blessings, crossed the river upstream and approached the fish from the other bank. Got him in the end!

I also got this which I wouldn't had I dunked the camera. A first for me, we don't get turtles in the UK.

....................................

 

[spm]

I may have told this before. I had just wadered up and was starting to make my way into the stream when this really cute blonde conservation officer drove by in her official pickup. I turned to give her my most charming smile, tripped over my own feet and went head first into the water. She just smiled and waved.

Thanks,
steve

 

[cwb124]

I was in my late teens and just learning fly-fishing. Decided to go off on my own and give Pine Creek a try in north central PA. This was mid july. I fly-fished for about 2 hours never seeing a single rise or a sign of trout life. I bent down to splash some water on my hot face and head and realized it was like bath water. Had to have been 70 degree water at least. Of COURSE there wouldn't be a trout in sight you knucklehead.

 

[sparsegraystubble]

I think I could write a series on stupid things done while pursuing trout with a fly rod.

Possibly the dumbest was one Idaho spring when the ice was just coming off the local reservoirs. I launched my float tube in the shallows. About half the water was still ice covered so water temp was probably around 32 F.

After paddling around and casting with no action I started to get chilled, so I headed to the boat ramp. I didn’t launch there because it was ice covered, but figure I could get out there by using myself and my tube up onto the ice.

Wrong.

Turns out the water got deep quickly at that ramp and I couldn’t touch the bottom to push myself up. At this point hypothermia got to my reasoning abilities and I kept trying to use my fins to generate enough speed to get up over the ice shelf.

And that’s the last thing I really remember until I was sitting in my van with the heater going. I think I must have gotten out by using a little pier that stuck out into the water, though I have no idea how I could have climbed up onto it. But my tube and rod were on that pier.

Stupidity and hypothermia can be a deadly combination.

Don

 

[ia_trouter]

This is an old story and pre-dates my fly fishing days. It went bad in so many ways. I am newly married in my mid 20's and heading to northern MN for a couples fishing trip. I barely have two nickels to rub together so it is very low buck. The plan is a week at a rustic cabin. Rustic like haul water to the cabin to clean your dishes. Community bath house. So the plan is to stop midway and camp for the night, fish a real nice pike and bass lake. My buddy and I borrow some ancient gear. A small Mercury outboard (it was white, yeah that's 60s vintage) Also have a very small trolling motor. Pflueger brand if I recall. We arrive at the campground and my wife is feeling ill. I think she is just whining because she doesn't want to camp in the heat. It's her lucky day because some moron forgot to pack the tent poles. So we take the girls to find a cheap motel and then the real fun begins...

We rent a 14ft boat and off we go a mile or so into the big lake. Catch a half dozen bass and pike and life is good. Then the sky turns black in a hurry. We hadn't checked the local forecast of course. We continue to fish because we are motivated and stupid. The wind comes up and the thunder starts and I say "we probably better get out of here Matt" He agrees and tries to start the Merc. The pull rope breaks so that plan is shot. Matt is about 6-5 and in good shape thank God. So he starts to row and I grab the trolling motor to help as best I can. The power head screw falls out and I am left grabbing the trolling motor shaft to try to be of some help. Waves are crashing over the sides of the boat and I wondered if we would drown if the lightening didn't hit us first. Matt rowed like an olympian for 15 minutes and we made it to shore. We ran to the truck and the mother of all hail storms started.

We laugh about this adventure to this day. Except for my wife. She was in surgery a week or so later having her gall bladder removed. Guess she wasn't faking it to get out of camping. I am lucky she doesn't bring this up more often, but I will always feel like a heel because I was more worried about fishing.

 

[patrick62]

One incident that comes to mind :

Rio San Antonio, New Mexico. We were walking along the forest service road. A couple hundred feet below us, we could see trout feeding on the surface, very enthusiastically. Between us and them was a steep slope of dirt and rocks. We decided to go down on our butts. This was an unpleasant experience, to put it mildly.

We made it without serious mishap, caught a bunch of browns, and moved upstream...

Where we discovered the place where the road dipped down to a point where it was a stroll through a meadow to the stream. If we'd walked on for a minute or two we'd have been there, without having to pick dirt and rocks out of the inner recesses, if you get my drift.

 

[driftless22]

The stupidest thing that I've ever done while fly fishing? So many choices.

The most recent and possibly dangerous blunder involved a float trip on a remote river. No cell phone coverage, no takeouts and no shelter for at least 8 hours. Temperatures in the mid 50s, windy and numerous storms in the area. About two bends down the river, I realized that I had forgotten my rain jacket. God apparently looks out for idiots, because I managed to stay dry for the entire trip. About 5 minutes after we reached the truck, it poured.

 

[Rip Tide]

Fishing in very strong current at the outlet of a large saltwater marsh,
I had waded out quite a distance onto a bar of very soft sand

If you've ever waded in the surf and had the sand wash out from under your feet, you know what happened.

Suddenly, I had no footing at all. I was washing away with the current.
(Here's the crazy part )

I found that I could use my stripping basket as a floatation device, and by leaning on that, I was able to swim to shore without a major (and life threatening) dunking in the rip current.

 

[dennyk]

Years ago I got a Steelhead for the table. I went to gill it with my fillet knife while I was kneeling in the stream. I slipped, the fish slipped I wound up with a fillet knife through my waders in my right thigh. 6 stitches later I was good to go. I still have the scar. Stupid Hurts!

Denny

 

[ia_trouter]

Some pretty good stories so far. I can't say that I have stabbed myself with a filet knife yet. I haven't waded a lot of fast current. Just enough to know some of you surely must have tried to drown yourself.

Most of my bonehead fishing tricks involve a boat and bad weather, so here's another.....

I am musky fishing on the Chippewa Flowage in WI. A dammed river but basically a large lake with a million islands. Often you can't see the natural shoreline and very easy to get lost. (Pre-GPS days). I navigate by the sun and a lake map. This is a 16ft almost flat bottomed boat with a 6 gallon fuel tank and I leave about half full because I am not going more than a few miles from the cabin. That's going to matter in a few hours lol. Evening approaches and the weather starts to look threatening but the weather front turns the fish on so I push my luck another 20 minutes. I decide to leave and a few minutes later my route doesn't look familiar. I weave through the islands awhile and eventually make a circle. Oh man, I am lost and this lake is big. A few minutes later I happen upon another fisherman. I can tell he is likely a local by the brand of his boat. He is fishing so I stop 100ft away and shout "Hey I think I am lost". He responds "Congratulations!" says nothing else and continues fishing. I sit there a few minutes having evil thoughts like I do hope you blow a wheel bearing on your boat trailer so I can wave as I drive by in the rain tonight. After a few minutes he throws me a bone. Points to an island in the distance and says "that's Banana Island". So I head to Banana Island. That's nice but it occurs to me I don't know if I am north or south of the island at this point. I take a chance, pick a course and run wide open for 15 minutes to beat the storm. I finally see a landmark I recognize on the distant shoreline. I am heading to the eastern shore and my cabin is on the SW edge! I check my fuel and this isn't good. I don't wish to spend the night on an island with no gear during a T-storm. I have my directional bearings now and no choice but head back slow and maybe I won't run out of fuel. I took a bad beating from the storm but made it home. Lightning is scary in a boat.

 

[karstopo]

A Long time ago, I was fishing from the platform of a floating little fishing shack that are around Port Mansfield in the Lower laguna Madre. I set my baited rod down, a super expensive G.Loomis casting rod with a good reel, on the deck while I fiddled with another set up. Before I could react, a large ladyfish took off with the bait pulling the rig into the water. I could see the ladyfish jumping and pulling the rig ever farther away. I still hate ladyfish, but I can’t really blame a fish for my dumb decision of leaving a rod on the deck like that.

As far as life threatening stupid stuff, I’ve done that too even when I knew better. About ten years ago, I went out offshore in the Gulf of Mexico in a Boston Whaler, I think it was 21’, it wasn’t my boat. We were out 20 something miles fishing near an offshore production platform and catching some nice red snapper. There were four of us, my friend, his teenage son and his son’s friend and myself and we were one fish shy of a limit. I saw a big line of thunderstorms building in the direction of port, but that one fish was more important. By the time we got that fish, the storms were a solid complex of storms heading towards us and blocking us from safe harbor. At 15 miles from safety we encountered the front line. Lightning, blinding rain, fierce winds hit all at once. The GPS went out and somehow I got the helm even though it wasn’t my boat. I could never see more than feet in front of the boat and had no reference point other than the mounted compass. I made my best estimate on the heading and kept to it crawling along in the mounting waves. The rain and wind and lightning never let up until we miraculously hit the farewell buoy at the end of the Freeport jetties. A few fish fillets aren’t worth risking your neck over.

 

[ia_trouter]

I can only imagine what it's like to be in a smallish boat on the gulf or the ocean. I have seen how rowdy Lake Michigan, Superior and Erie can get and that is just from the shore. A Gordon songs rings in my ears when I see it. I was in my 20's when most of my stupid boating tricks happened. I have a V-hull walleye boat now. I prefer my lakes 2-3 miles from shore to shore. I can push my luck and be on shore in under 5 minutes. It will take some bad weather safely. It's just not worth it if you don't have proper equipment for big water. Lake Mille Lacs is Minnesota water I have always wanted to fish but you can't see the other shore so I am out with my current boat.

 

[rsagebrush]

Given two options I seem to always pick the wrong one first, maybe I should go Contrary George huh. Given three I pick the wrong two first.

I drove from Denver to NE AZ hiked in and set up camp during the night. Woke up a lovely morning and had a nice BK and some coffee, Start to pull out my gear and behold, no reel frame. Fished with the reel in my pocket for the day. Picked up another reel in Albuquerque.

As I was instructing some of my total Greenhorn friends on wading on slick rocks I fell in completely, they were impressed.

Caught on the wrong side of the Green River, happily a drifter picked me up.

 

[karstopo]

I can only imagine what it's like to be in a smallish boat on the gulf or the ocean. I have seen how rowdy Lake Michigan, Superior and Erie can get and that is just from the shore. A Gordon songs rings in my ears when I see it. I was in my 20's when most of my stupid boating tricks happened. I have a V-hull walleye boat now. I prefer my lakes 2-3 miles from shore to shore. I can push my luck and be on shore in under 5 minutes. It will take some bad weather safely. It's just not worth it if you don't have proper equipment for big water. Lake Mille Lacs is Minnesota water I have always wanted to fish but you can't see the other shore so I am out with my current boat.

My dad and a friend of his capsized in a small center console out in the Gulf. They had gone out to scuba dive on a oil platform. They were making their way in and 20 plus miles offshore and a blow came up. A wave came over the transom, the outboard died and within less than a minute they were clinging to a capsized boat. It was late spring and before most of the summer boat traffic goes out. They only boat they saw all day was the one that rescued them. They had no way to call anyone, they didn’t have a radio or maybe couldn’t get to it.

That cured my dad from wanting to go offshore. He gave that boat (it got towed in) to my friend. My friend, a mechanical engineer, pilot, and overall fix it upper kind of dude worked over the outboard and boat and got it into fishing condition. He and his wife went out in the boat with another couple, friends from Chicago and not too comfortable with the open water, one nice summer day for a day of offshore fishing. They are tooling along and all of a sudden the boat is bogging down and water is rapidly rising at their feet. They limp along to a shrimp boat a half a mile away.

The shrimp boat saves them and the boat but not without some hysterics from the Chicago couple and a fist fight between the captain and a crew member on the shrimp boat. Turns out a scuba tank had, from the time my dad capsized, worked into the space between the hull and the deck and knock out the bracing allowing the thin fiberglass to flex and eventually fail.

 

[ia_trouter]

I wish I had video of the water Ard travels. He isn't wreckless but when the water is low it's nothing but a minefield. Submerged rocks that probably weigh as much as a small car. Seemingly inches below the hull as you glide over them. I've only seen one submerged boat in AK which seems like a miracle to me. I guess that's why he owns a jet drive battleship and drives standing up so he can see. It's not for the feint of heart.

 

[Ard]

I wish I had video of the water Ard travels. He isn't wreckless but when the water is low it's nothing but a minefield. Submerged rocks that probably weigh as much as a small car. Seemingly inches below the hull as you glide over them. I've only seen one submerged boat in AK which seems like a miracle to me. I guess that's why he owns a jet drive battleship and drives standing up so he can see. It's not for the feint of heart.

Frankly I think that the evening that I hit that big boy with you guys in the boat may be the stupidest thing I've done Dewayne. If you remember, there was almost a 2" little peak that was scraping the surface...……………….. I've relived that more times than you would ever believe buddy. I try to understand why. Was it the angle of the sun coming from starboard and all the shadows? Was it Boss standing on the bow? Or did I simply forget that it was there?

Please don't share details of the melee that followed, I remember fishing Boss from the river every time he climbs up on the bow.

That boulder? That thing has been there ever since I first went up there. I was just up there yesterday. Yep, it's still there but it's about a foot under the surface now.

My new way of dealing with low water conditions is I don't go there. It's taken me a long time to realize it but there isn't a single fish worth $25,000.00 in any of these rivers

Oh yeah, after searching all over looking for some trout I finally caught a couple. There was but 1 boat that came downriver and it was someone returning from moose hunting. Then came the second boat and …………………. wait for it...………………….yep, they low holed me and started heaving lures at spawning salmon but weren't happy until they marched right up to within 150 feet of me.

I never saw the boat before, I reeled in and left but in my mind I wished them a few good big rocks as they made the trip down at sunset. This time of year the sun is low and the glare so bad you have to navigate by smell because you sure as hell can't see

 

[ia_trouter]

That was a different Alaskan rock Ard. I know it gets confusing. I'll be happy when you get over the only time we whacked one. I would have never mentioned it here. No real harm done. Boss got wet and the rest of us had a memory. I rolled with you probably 500 river miles through the minefields. It's unavoidable you'll tap something eventually, and please know I appreciate some epic fishing days because you aren't scared of good AK water. You could have taken me somewhere easy where the fish were not present and I wouldn't have known the difference. That's not your style. The rocks in the Trout River Sasquatch are what I was actually referring to. The size of a VW bug and the water is so clear you can see the clear danger if you mess up much. My boat would survive 15 minutes there.

I did have a sudden memory recall though. I don't remember what the boat type is even called but that guy that almost T-boned us at the intersection was probably my scariest moment on the water. You cut power which was a good move, and he had just enough time to react correctly or there would have been casualties at 40+ mph. That was truly scary.

Other than that I have always felt safe with you. You are very cautious in the Chevy LMAO.

 

[Ard]

Oh yeah, that...……

Thunder Jet traveling in the vicinity of 45 mph hugging the bank on a downstream current. Oh yeah I remember it every time I come out of that rivers mouth. This year the water was so high I could easily stay way out toward mid channel as I made that turn. That season the actual channel was way close to the corner.

I remember him crossing our bow so close that we all got wet from the spray that came before the wake!

On the other river, the one with all the blind turns about 10 miles up? I've had some interesting passes with people coming the other direction at full tilt. I'm usually doing the same thing as the Day of The Thunder Jet, slowed down and looking around the corner in case someone is coming really fast. Every now and then you get what you don't want to see.

How bout jumping the Beaver Dams up that creek? Grayling and trout my ass! We did catch a couple little rainbows if I remember correct but now the paradise that had been described by a long shot. It is however a neat memory and I don't think I'll ever go up another like that one in a boat

BTW. For those who have never had the pleasure of coming head to head with a Thunder Jet they are big and heavy with fully enclosed cabins. Older models usually have a big block V 8 engine turning around 200 HP at the pump I think. They will do about 45 MPH against a strong current and faster coming down current. They get their name from the lovely exhaust note they produce, a thundering sound from straight headers on some of them.

All good I guess if you're into drag racing or tractor pulls but when you are somewhere 15 miles up a river supposedly experiencing unspoiled wilderness fishing they somehow detract from the overall quality of that experience...………...

 

[ia_trouter]

Oh yeah, that...……

Thunder Jet traveling in the vicinity of 45 mph hugging the bank on a downstream current. Oh yeah I remember it every time I come out of that rivers mouth. This year the water was so high I could easily stay way out toward mid channel as I made that turn. That season the actual channel was way close to the corner.

I remember him crossing our bow so close that we all got wet from the spray that came before the wake!

On the other river, the one with all the blind turns about 10 miles up? I've had some interesting passes with people coming the other direction at full tilt. I'm usually doing the same thing as the Day of The Thunder Jet, slowed down and looking around the corner in case someone is coming really fast. Every now and then you get what you don't want to see.

How bout jumping the Beaver Dams up that creek? Grayling and trout my ass! We did catch a couple little rainbows if I remember correct but now the paradise that had been described by a long shot. It is however a neat memory and I don't think I'll ever go up another like that one in a boat

BTW. For those who have never had the pleasure of coming head to head with a Thunder Jet they are big and heavy with fully enclosed cabins. Older models usually have a big block V 8 engine turning around 200 HP at the pump I think. They will do about 45 MPH against a strong current and faster coming down current. They get their name from the lovely exhaust note they produce, a thundering sound from straight headers on some of them.

All good I guess if you're into drag racing or tractor pulls but when you are somewhere 15 miles up a river supposedly experiencing unspoiled wilderness fishing they somehow detract from the overall quality of that experience...………...

Yeah a lessor Thunder Jet pilot might have killed us all. Yes we did get wet and it was scary close. I'll give him a bit of credit for driving skills. The navigable river was very narrow that day.

The beaver dam busting mission was fun but no stupidity involved. I remember you caught a 10" bow and worried your client didn't. You don't know til you go. Never mind the epic rainbow days prior to this mission. Thanks for the adventure. We don't need to go back though. Check your intel sources better next time. That was a waste of gas but how could you know until we tried lol.