Fishing Fools - embarassing/funny stories

[gzacckey]

Ok folks,

Let's shake the nasties. I'm inviting all of those with embarassing/funny moments in fishing to list them here. If it's too embarassing just tell the story as if it happened to a "friend". We won't tell anyone

Here's one to start with.

What happens when you take a fresh water angler who set's a hook like you see on those bass shows and place him in saltwater fishing for flounder with a heavy boat rod?

Well, this is what happens.

Your new father-in-law asks you to come on trip with a friend of his and my brother-in-law. Of course the offer is immediately accepted and soon we're on our way.

Once on the boat I'm asking questions like "how do I setup of the rod?" and "Do I let the fish hold the bait for awhile before setting the hook?" The reply was put the squid on the hook and when you feel the fish set the hook.

So, when I felt the first fish take the bait I set the hook like Bill Dance on the bass of a lifetime. Only I was fishing in less than 4 feet of water with a rod that was more suited for 200 pound tuna. At this point the poor, scared flounder becomes airborne (who says flounder don't leap) everyone on board ducks because it's coming right for us. Then spat! The fish hits the side of the boat with a loud thud! Trying to explain that I was expecting the rod to give or it was the rod's faults didn't help at all in stopping the laughter.

The story of the flying flounder lasted longer than I would have liked. I brought my good old ultralight outfit on our next outing. You know the saying, Fool me once... Plus a flying flounder with a lead sinker and 1/0 hook can really look intimidating at 30 mph!

Now it's your turn.

[rainbowchaser]

Some years ago I visited my brother in Pocatello Idaho in late September. He had sent me some pictures of big trout caught in a local reservoir so we planned on fishing there on Saturday. When we got to the reservoir the boat launch was about nine feet out of the water. Standing at the edge of the boat ramp I said that we had come to fish and we might as well see if there were any fish left. I took one step off of the cement ramp and began to slide down the bank on the slick clay sides of the reservoir. Of course I tried to lean back and dig my heels in. My feet went out from under me and I slid the rest of the way down on my back until I stopped waist deep in water. It's been almost ten years since then but the first thing my nephews say when my name comes up is still "Uncle Jim went in the water".

[DShock]

I was wading to the bank on the Metolius River, in central Oregon and when I reached the wet, grass bank and attempted to climb it, I fell right on my face.

4 yrs ago at the Washington Fish-In, I float tubed a Bluegill Lake, had no idea how to catch them, overheard (Super Hearing!) Cary Morlan explaining to someone how to catch Bluegill, caught about 30 Bluegill, finned my way back to shore, feeling pretty proud of myself, stood up on a slippery boat ramp and fell on my BUTT!. Then when I got back to camp, EVERYONE knew I fell on my can! LOL! The water actually felt GOOD flowing over my waders.

When I was 18 yrs old, a neighbor "Hired" me to guide him and his visiting son to North Fork Res. for some trout fishing. We caught quite a few fish, which amazed me, since neither of those guys knew their way around a fishing pole, we got back to the Dock, the two guys got out of the boat, and when i tried to get out of the boat, neither of those helpful gentlemen, knew that I needed one of them to hold the boat, while I tried to get on the Dock, that's right! I fell in the Reservoir!

One of my brothers has the rep as the WORST fisherman in our family. One year at Paulina Lake, Derald lost one of my rods and reels overboard. The next year at Paulina, Derald lost another of my outfits. God had mercy on him, because I actually snagged his/my rod and reel with my hook and pulled it up from the bottom of the Lake.

We drove 30 miles to a spot on the Clackamas River, to flyfish for trout, in less than ten minutes, a 7 pound Steelhead came up and ate my Bucktail Caddis and panic set in, because I only had 3 lb tippet on my leader. I had to chase that fish right down the middle of the river, until it got trapped in a pool and my wife got the net over the rear half and I took it from there.
Doug

[TyroneFly]

About 30 years ago I met a guy at work who just got his scuba diving certificate. I had earned mine about 5 years earlier when I was a freshman in high school. We got to talking and before long we started diving together. We wanted to expand our diving experience by adding spear fishing to our routine. We bought the best spear guns money could buy. For weeks we went out but did not catch a single fish. What made the experience worst was my friend's mom would always have a bbq ready upon our return in anticipation of a good catch. Not only that, but she would invite some of the young ladies where she work at the supermarket over for bbq as well. The ridicule my friend and I went through for weeks was getting unbearable. So on a typical unsuccessful Sunday of spear fishing my friend and I did our usual routine before heading home. We stopped off at the wharf in Santa Cruz. This time as we walked the pier my friend and I at the same moment stopped in front of a fish market. Great minds think alike and we bought about $60 worth of fish. We stipulated to the owner we wanted whole fish. As it was late in the day he did not have enough ice. So off to the 7/11 we went. While my friend went inside to buy a couple of bags of ice it dawned on me that the fish would not pass inspection with his mom without spear marks. So I hopped out of the passenger seat and opened the back of the van. It was the type with the split rear doors. Wanting plenty of room I left both doors open and began spearing the fish and grunted as I pulled the spear free in preparation of spearing the next. Being total caught up in the moment I did not realize I caught the attention of passerbys and patrons. As my friend went to the back of the van wondering why a crowd had gathered, he soon learned why and yelled out "what the he** are you doing?" In response I turned around into an outburst of laughter from the crowd that still resonates in my head to this very day. I immediately turned beet red, slammed the doors shut and yelled at my friend to get out of there!

[Gnu Bee Flyer]

In my younger days when I was about 10 or so. My Uncle Ken and I were jigging cod and halibut in about 80 feet of water. I had a good one on Halibut I think. I was leaning over the rail to net it when my Uncle draped a really large octopus tentacle onto my ear and down the front of me. We had caught this huge thing about 10 minutes earlier as Octopus are the best bait for cod and halibut. It was the first octopus I had ever seen and quite frankly I was scared to death or the thing. The severed arm was still moving and I had visions of this huge beast trying to kill me as it escaped overboard from the fish box we had put it in. Without hesitation I jumped overboard, rod reel and net sunk out of sight. The water in the Queen Charlottes is about 42 degrees f at that time of year. I could hardly breath. I was dragged back on board Immediately and we headed for shore as fast as the boat would go. I was so cold I had begun to shiver a lot. It Scared every one in the boat as that water can kill you quite quickly. I was put in a tub of warm water where it took about 20 minutes before I stopped shivering. Whenever we went fishing after that everyone used kid me about watch out for giant octopus and too hang on tight cause they didn't want me throwing another rod and reel overboard cause the bait twitched.

[Wild One]

I won't post mine here because it is kinda long, but you can find a pretty embarrasing story of mine in the Reader's Cast area. 2nd Half of 2007, title: The Holy Day of Fishing.

[i_fish_hard]

One of the "funniest" things that happened to me was... when I lived in South Carolina (Sumter)me and my uncle was fishing at Packs Landing. We were way back in the swamp catching bass/bluegills and I was standing up on the very front of the boat guiding the boat through the thick trees with the trolling motor. I was looking off in a different direction (when I should have been watching where I was going) when I turned my head back to see where I was going I saw a stump under the water (about 8") about the time I was going to hit it. Well, I hit it hard and the boat stopped and I just knew I was going for a swim when I looked up real quick and there was 1 tree in front of the boat about 15feet away and I knew that was my only chance. I was already heading in the drink so with my pole in hand, I made a mad leap for the tree. My uncle didn't know what happened. He just felt a jolt and saw me flying through the air. By some miracle I made it to the tree and was wrapped around it like a big bear. My uncles exact words were" why you crazy fool". I told him I hit a stump and he realized what happened and started laughing so hard he could hardly move. I was slipping down the tree and I was screaming for him to hurry up. He finally managed to get the boat over to me and I got in. We laughed the rest of the day about that one and he made sure he told all my friends/family about that on. We still laugh about it to this day.

[TonyC.]

This past summer a close cousin who recently moved to florida decided to spend the summer back here in central Mass. he and his wife rented a home on Cramberry lake. He asked me if i wanted to join him for a little bass fishing. we left his place in a small row boat belonging to his step son that had a electric motor. The boat had been altered by adding two seats screwed to the center and rear original seats. These were a little loose and I felt a little uncomfortable, but what the heck. We went to the other side of the lake, which is realy a small man made pond that is suppost to have some good size bass. I hooked onto one and as i set the hook the seat came loose and i fell over backwards, when i got up i pulled onthe seat until it came free and put it in the front of the boat. After a few cast he hooked a small bass about 6" and he said "this looks like about a 3 pounder." we laughted about it after a short while desided to go to another section close to his place. This time he hooked a good size fish, he was not a lucky as me, when he set the hook his seat broke and he landed in the water. As I laughted I noticed he was slow comming up. I scrambled to help him in the boat. It must have been a sight to see two older men fighting to get into the boat. shortly after he was in he said "I lost my Glasses". A young lady got into her boat and passed us. She stopped a short distance away and started taking pictures. I joking asked her if she saw the dive. when i heard a voice from the shore call "Do it again I missed it the first time". We went back to his place and had some hot dogs and beer for the rest of the afternoon.
Two week later at a family gathering his daughter came up to me and asked I planned to do any more fishing at Cramberry lake. Her suggestion was that next time we should take scuba gear. AFter a while everyone heard the story and was laughing at the two great fishmen. I do not think we will be bass fishing when he returns this summer.

TonyC

[Jack Hise]

Last May Warren and I set out for Bedford Lake with his 10' john boat in the back of the truck. Bedford Lake is a TVA "Permit" lake requiring a $5.00 per day or $40.00 per year special license. The lake is well known for it's abundant population of big Blue Gills & Shell Crackers along with some fair LMB & SMB
We picked up our permits for the day and were on the water by 10 am. The fishing was slow but the quality was outstanding! Just enough action to keep us out on the water frying our hides off in an 86 degree cloudless sky with only a hint of a breeze. About 3-4 pm the fishing picked up and we forgot all about the sun and heat. We were throwing back fish that most people would have kept. There is a 20 Bream limit so we wanted only the big boys.
Now a TVA Permit Lake opens one half hour before sunrise and closes one half hour after sun set. When we realized that we better get off the lake before the gate closes it was up the anchors and beat it to the ramp as fast as the trolling motor would take us. We had a couple dozen nice bream in the fish baskets and could almost smell the hot grease in the pan!
Warren's little trolling motor can really get up and go and we were back at the ramp in no time. The gist of the tale. We had left the fish baskets in the water. Who knew that the water pressure at top speed would open the little spring loaded doors!!?? And of course the fish can swim faster so we arrived at the dock with 3 fish!! We could only release them also and procede to take turns kicking each other! The only thing we had to show for the day was a nice sunburn!!

[tlooze]

My brother-in-law and I set out to fish from a canoe on the Chippewa River. It was dawn in eary spring and rather chilly. We dropped a vehicle at our take-out point and proceeded up river to put in. We unloaded the truck and carried all the equipment down a steep 30 ft bank to the water's edge. While my fishing partner parked the truck only 50 feet away I decided that the steep bank would allow the canoe to follow gravity to the water. Starting down alone was awkward so I decided to let it go. That plastic canoe SHOT down that bank and out into the current in .001 second. I had to run down to catch it. Up to my neck in frigid water. My brother-in-law was back in 15 seconds. I'm standing on dry ground with the canoe resting next to me. His mouth was agape wondering how I got soaked in the short time he was gone from view. I still laugh recounting this episode.

The day wasn't a total loss. I caught a 37 inch Northern Pike.