Feeshin' trips gone wrong

[TimMurphy]

Dear Board,

Spurred on by encouraging, or maybe enabling words on Chuck of Wagon's post about a bad fishing day, let me be the first to begin.

Many years ago, my brother and I ventured out to Spring Creek to fish the Sulpher hatch one Saturday in May. He wanted to put his brand new right out of the tube Sage 389LL to the test.

We had a great late afternoon, and a wonderful spinner fall too. His rod stood up well.

Until as we were leaving and I was packing things back into the work minivan that we took to the crick. He was sitting in the passenger seat and when I had everything loaded and shut the hatch, Terry said, "Why did my rod just bounce up and down?"

I said, "I guess I just bumped with the door, but we should check." Sure enough, I didn't load the rod properly and snapped 3 inches off the tip when I closed the hatch.

We were going to fish that Sunday but instead were at the doorstep of the place he bought the rod on Sunday morning. Bob and Mary Lou gave use some guff, but back then Sage was unlimited lifetime warrantied. They sent it off to Sage and he had it repaired before the Sulfurs were over.

I don't even know if he still has that rod because he's lived in Colorado and North Dakota for almost 30 years. But I still have the Sage 389LL he had custom built for me the next Christmas. 😍

I reckon he got over my screw-up!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

 

[GoldenRfly]

Dear Board,

Spurred on by encouraging, or maybe enabling words on Chuck of Wagon's post about a bad fishing day, let me be the first to begin.

Many years ago, my brother and I ventured out to Spring Creek to fish the Sulpher hatch one Saturday in May. He wanted to put his brand new right out of the tube Sage 389LL to the test.

We had a great late afternoon, and a wonderful spinner fall too. His rod stood up well.

Until as we were leaving and I was packing things back into the work minivan that we took to the crick. He was sitting in the passenger seat and when I had everything loaded and shut the hatch, Terry said, "Why did my rod just bounce up and down?"

I said, "I guess I just bumped with the door, but we should check." Sure enough, I didn't load the rod properly and snapped 3 inches off the tip when I closed the hatch.

We were going to fish that Sunday but instead were at the doorstep of the place he bought the rod on Sunday morning. Bob and Mary Lou gave use some guff, but back then Sage was unlimited lifetime warrantied. They sent it off to Sage and he had it repaired before the Sulfurs were over.

I don't even know if he still has that rod because he's lived in Colorado and North Dakota for almost 30 years. But I still have the Sage 389LL he had custom built for me the next Christmas. 😍

I reckon he got over my screw-up!

Regards,

Tim Murphy 🙂

Tim, I posted this comment on the other thread and deleted it (to move it here … great idea- thx!).

First, ChuckofWagon- fishing time is precious and I’m sorry for your rough day.

I’m sharing how I got skunked last Friday. After work, I traveled to a small wild stream and found a promising hole. It could have been promising - until a gigantic snapping turtle swam within three feet of me right into the hole. Obviously, the fish scattered.

I couldn’t get a great pic (concerned for my safety first!) until it swam by me. The glare is bad. The second pic is of another monster snapper from a few years ago. The one that swam by me dwarfed that one.

Truthfully, in spite of ruined fishing - it was a thrill seeing that monster turtle. Gotta love the wildlife!

 

[5footfenwick]

Jeez this is embarrassing.
Part one.
One time in high school, right as we first got our licenses, three friends and I borrowed (with permission) one of our dad’s boats. It was a 16 foot with a steering wheel and a 30 hp motor. But we were only given electric motor privileges. We looked up the shallowest stump filled lake in the state. We drove there with ideas of giant largemouth. We launched, all got in and took off, with the trolling motor on 10! As a kid for some reason trolling motors only have 10 and off 🙂 We don’t make it 100 yards and we slam into an underwater log/stump stopping us dead in our tracks. All three rods (medium heavy spinning rods for fishing heavy weeds) were vertical in a rod holder attached to the right side console.

My one friend stumbles forward from the back of the boat upon impact and trips, launching himself forward catching his weight on the three rods and bending them over the top of the console to the right and snapping all three rods at about hip height. He basically broke them with his gut. Now he is bleeding, but not seriously hurt. The trolling motor mount bracket was bent. The transducer for the fishfinder at the back of the boat somehow snapped off. And it had been one minute of “trophy largemouth fishing” No one had even made a cast.
We had no other rods. We limped back to the launch and trailered the boat and packed up and drove the nearly two hour drive home.

That’s where the good part of the story ends.
😁

~5footfenwick

 

[5footfenwick]

Part 2. This really felt like part of the bad fishing trip’s curse continuing.
Not too long after everything was fixed on this boat, a friend of mine (one of the guys from the boat disaster number 1) invited me to go for a ride in his new truck. This was supposed to be a great day celebrating him getting this truck. A brand new Chevy s-10 stick shift something something. Honestly I didn’t care and just wanted to get out of the house. I wish I would have stayed home. We didn’t have cell phones so you just drove around places. After getting this truck he picked me up and we leave and head to the friends house that has the boat. He has a very steep driveway and we park on the top of the hill. The boat is sitting at bottom of the driveway with the garage behind it. I get out and walk down the driveway towards the house. My friend is going to repark the truck better I guess? The next thing I know the truck flies past me down the driveway. My friend thought he was in reverse but was in first and slams into the boat and then the boat slams into the garage. The trailer tongue went straight through the bumper and put a big hole. The truck had like 20 miles on it. The boat which had just been fixed was jacked up again. It was a fiasco.
Our fathers language was the only thing didn’t get less sea worthy.
But that was it thank goodness. Boat disaster number 2 was the final end to the fishing trip gone wrong.

 

[ChuckofWagon]

Well, gent's....I'm honored (which is highly unusual under any circumstances) that I inspired the thread.

So I'll repost my "inspiration story" here, for all of posterity:

Decided to do some fishing this am at a stream about an hour away. Now, I'm disabled and cannot walk far or well and never without a cane. So, I have some "vehicles" that provide me great help\assistance.

So, I get to the stream, unload my transport (winch off my truck) and then realize I left my rod "carrier" at home. The rod carrier protects my rod from me being really stupid and catching the rod on trees, brush, etc. Ok....I've done this before so no big deal. I setup the rod, and as I'm backing away from the loading ramps, I notice the front section of my Orvis rod "pops" off. So, I figure the fly line caught something to cause this. I then get off the vehicle.....and it wasn't a fly line thing. Somehow the rod tip caught the ramp and the last 3" of the rod just snapped off.

Well, this rod was a gift from my wife. I never would have purchased a Helios....but I will say it's a very fine rod to cast. Very, very fine.

So I proceed to clip off my fly....which dropped to the ground never to be found again. I just tied that d@&n fly yesterday...it never saw water!! So, I always have a backup rod\reel and I get out my shorter Redding butter stick and reel.

I get to the stream side and one wheel of my machine finds a hole. Now, I noticed the hole, but didn't give it much thought. The machine tilts. (No worries....nothing happened...but enough tilt to cause me to break a sweat) There was a very nice young fellow happening by and he assisted me in getting the machine "un-holed". I won't even address the stupidity of mine that caused that piece. (That stupidity was a separate thing from the broken rod stupidity)

So, I then moved to a section of the stream where the side is flat to the water.....no ledge. I haven't fished with the shorter rod in some time.....so for the next hour I proceed to miss 4 nice trout. Why? As the trout took the fly and I went to set the hook.....I don't have the same length and cannot "pull" the same amount of fly line taunt. Short rod syndrome. And you think after just the first miss I'd have done better.....but no, even more stupidity.

After miss #4.....it was time to go home.

Fortunately, I registered my Orvis rod back in 2016. I went to their website, put in my data, and in 3 days I will receive a new section #4 (tip section) for my rod. The cost was $63. I'd say it's great service from Orivs. But then......the cost of a Helios has this kind of event built into it.

 

[ChuckofWagon]

Tim, I posted this comment on the other thread and deleted it (to move it here … great idea- thx!).

First, ChuckofWagon- fishing time is precious and I’m sorry for your rough day.

I’m sharing how I got skunked last Friday. After work, I traveled to a small wild stream and found a promising hole. It could have been promising - until a gigantic snapping turtle swam within three feet of me right into the hole. Obviously, the fish scattered.

I couldn’t get a great pic (concerned for my safety first!) until it swam by me. The glare is bad. The second pic is of another monster snapper from a few years ago. The one that swam by me dwarfed that one.

Truthfully, in spite of ruined fishing - it was a thrill seeing that monster turtle. Gotta love the wildlife!

My grandmother use to butcher those turtles.....and then make the best darn turtle soup EVER!!

Last week I was fishing a local pond. It has stocked trout, bass and carp in it. It's a nice place to toss a fly for a few hours.

It was very windy that day and I was casting into the wind. Of course, switching to the other side would have been the wise move....and I ultimately did. But I lost four flies while casting into the wind. Finally dawned on me that on my false cast, I wasn't letting the line fully straighten. The wind required a little more time for that. So, before the line was straight, I'd cast back...thus creating a "whip" effect on the fly....and it would just snap right off like nobody's business.

 

[Andrwhite610]

Here’s a fresh one. Yesterday I stopped to fish one hole for a few casts on my way home from work. I parked, stumbled my way through the brush, tied on a jig streamer and cast it right into the low hanging branch over the hole. Tried to break the fly off and destroyed my whole nymping leader setup. Then I went home.

 

[GoldenRfly]

Here’s a fresh one. Yesterday I stopped to fish one hole for a few casts on my way home from work. I parked, stumbled my way through the brush, tied on a jig streamer and cast it right into the low hanging branch over the hole. Tried to break the fly off and destroyed my whole nymping leader setup. Then I went home.

I can relate. I'm good at snagging branches. That’s why I always have spare leaders.

 

[wildtrout2]

I have no idea how I forgot about this fishing trip that went REALLY wrong!
I've mentioned that I used to ride my mountain bike down the Lehigh Gorge Trail with my kayak in tow to get across the river to where Bear Creek dumps in. Well, before getting the kayak, I had this brilliant idea to use an inflatable raft to get across the river to fish Bear.

The first trip went well. So, on my second trip I got across the river fine and fished the Bear for most of the day, catching a good many natives and wild browns. I was spin fishing this trip.
At the end of the day, when I got back to where I had my raft hidden, I thought I should put a little bit more air in it for the return trip across the river. BAD MOVE, because I popped the raft!!! 😂

Here I am on the WRONG side of the river with no other way of getting back across! I was frantic to say the least!! Thankfully I had a PFD on, so I quickly put the mostly deflated raft in the water with my stuff. I straddled the raft and started quickly rowing the best I could towards the other side. As I got about mid river things were going south quickly and I was losing control of this wanna be raft. It wasn't supporting me very well at all. My paddle, vintage 70's Fenwick UL rod, and my hip boots were lost.

I was now laying on this half submerged raft and paddling with my arms to finally get to the other side where I had my bike stashed. I was somehow able to keep my day pack dry during all of this, so my camera was still good. Here's a pic of the raft before this fishing trip went very wrong.

 

[Cougarbaby]

All very entertaining. One day at little J I was asking a fellow fisherman if I should use the 10 ft 3 wt or 9 ft 6 wt as it was my first time there.he suggested the 3 because tight lining was the ticket,after stringing the rod up and putting on a double nymph rig the wind picked up so hard it wrapped the line around the rod dozen times or so and both nymphs were so tangled I said screw it took the rod apart threw in the truck grabbed the 6 wt ,I didn't mess with double nymphs and 6 X for the rest of the season.

 

[Swattie87]

I have no idea how I forgot about this fishing trip that went REALLY wrong!
I've mentioned that I used to ride my mountain bike down the Lehigh Gorge Trail with my kayak in tow to get across the river to where Bear Creek dumps in. Well, before getting the kayak, I had this brilliant idea to use an inflatable raft to get across the river to fish Bear.

The first trip went well. So, on my second trip I got across the river fine and fished the Bear for most of the day, catching a good many natives and wild browns. I was spin fishing this trip.
At the end of the day, when I got back to where I had my raft hidden, I thought I should put a little bit more air in it for the return trip across the river. BAD MOVE, because I popped the raft!!! 😂

Here I am on the WRONG side of the river with no other way of getting back across! I was frantic to say the least!! Thankfully I had a PFD on, so I quickly put the mostly deflated raft in the water with my stuff. I straddled the raft and started quickly rowing the best I could towards the other side. As I got about mid river things were going south quickly and I was losing control of this wanna be raft. It wasn't supporting me very well at all. My paddle, vintage 70's Fenwick UL rod, and my hip boots were lost.

I was now laying on this half submerged raft and paddling with my arms to finally get to the other side where I had my bike stashed. I was somehow able to keep my day pack dry during all of this, so my camera was still good. Here's a pic of the raft before this fishing trip went very wrong.

I did the same thing once. Minus the return trip trouble you encountered the second time it sounded remarkably similar. But I only did it once…

Edit: Don’t actually do this. Get a kayak or proper fishing or WW raft and do it safely and smartly.

 

[Mikey2006]

I have a good one. Just beware, it’s going to sound so incredibly stupid that it’s unbelievable. I’m honestly embarrassed to share this.

Not this winter but the one before, I decided to go fishing on a small brookie stream. I wouldn’t say it’s super remote (there’s a nice gravel road leading to the stream, which also parallels it for most of its length) but you usually lose cell reception about 3 miles before you get to the creek. That will end up being important later.

My car was in shop for something, I don’t remember what, but the reason that is important is because I took my mom’s car instead as she didn’t plan on using it that day. So I drive to the creek, get to the parking spot and there’s nobody there. Weather looks great. I’m excited for a what could be a great afternoon of fishing. But things just went downhill from there.

This is where the stupidity starts. I park the car, shut it off, and go to take the key out of the ignition. It doesn’t budge. I notice that the car isn’t even all the way off, the windows, ac, etc. are all still on. I try again, pulling harder. Nothing. Soon I have my foot placed on the dash for extra leverage and I’m pulling as hard as I reasonably can without breaking something. It won’t come out. The car also won’t start again, so I can’t leave.

What would any reasonable person do here? Either walk out and call for help immediately, or just step back from the situation and think for 5 seconds. The latter probably would have saved me (and other people, as you will see later, hours of time)

I had the genius idea to go and fish anyway. I’m already there right? I can just deal with this in a few hours when I’m done.

So I decide to leave my mom’s car, unlocked with the keys still in the ignition, and started to fish. I don’t remember how the fishing was, I’m going to assume it was pretty miserable since I don’t have any fish pictures on my phone from that day. But before long I’m 2-3 miles up the creek.

It’s now getting late, about 3:30 in the afternoon or so, and I finally realize that I need to get back well before dark in case I can’t get the car to start. I think I got back to the car a little after 4, after making an effort to walk much faster than usual. At this point I’m exhausted. I didn’t bring any water with me (add that to the list of genius decisions I made) and my waders are leaking, meaning both of my legs up to the knees are completely soaked.

I try the same exact thing I was going before, mindlessly pulling and twisting the keys to try and get them out. Shocker, the keys still don’t come out of the ignition.

By now it’s becoming clear that I have to walk out and find cell reception before calling someone to come pick me. So I start the 3 mile walk, still wearing my soaked waders and carrying all of my gear as I didn’t want to leave it unattended in an unlocked car.

For context, the waders were those really heavy neoprene ones with the built in boots, which are not very comfortable to walk long distances in.

The entire 3 mile walk is uphill. I mean all of it. There’s a short stretch or two where you go back down a little, only to face an even steeper hill. By now my ankles are incredibly sore from walking in the oversized, uncomfortable waders that are also soaking wet, and I’m only a little over halfway done with the walk. And so far not a single car has driven by, so it doesn’t look like there’s any chance of finding a ride out.

I trudge through the last mile or so, and only then does an old guy in a truck come rolling by. But by that point I’m nearly back to cell reception anyway, so it doesn’t matter. I tell him I’m fine and he keeps driving.

I think it was a little after 5 at this point. It was getting dark out fast. I finally get reception about a quarter mile from the main road, and I call my mom and tell her where I am and what happened, only to be reminded that she’s been left without a car for the day. So the only solution is to call my dad, who’s still at work, and get him to come home so she can take his car.

So my dad has to leave work early, and it’s another 15 minutes before my mom calls me again and says she’s on her way. It’s going to be another 30 minutes before she’s there. By now it’s getting really cold out, and the wet waders aren’t helping things. I take them off, but it’s no use since my pants are also soaked, if anything it makes me feel colder.

My mom finally arrives, and we drive back down to the parking lot. I show her the keys that are stuck in the ignition, expecting to hear her say that it has to be left there overnight. Nope. She magically pulls them out first try.

The whole time, all I had to do was put the car in park. I wasted over an hour of my time, made my dad leave work early, and made my mom drive all the way out to get me, and drained the battery a ton (I still don’t know how it wasn’t dead) all because I somehow forgot to put the car in park.

My only defense is that I was used to my car, which is a pushbutton start and has one of those remote keys, and automatically shifts to park when you shut it off, but still. I literally learned to drive in my mom’s car, so that is not an excuse at all.

Needless to say my dad was not happy. He eventually got over it though. I don’t think I’ll ever hear the end of it.

 

[ChuckofWagon]

^^^^----A true example of being human! A lesson in "pause and think for a minute"....but I know how that goes too!----^^^^^^

 

[Nymph-wristed]

Our fathers language was the only thing didn’t get less sea worthy.

Man, brought back memories! I know my buddy Wardman and I got an ear full several times from my old man.

I remember the tailpipe of his truck bubbling in saltwater at a Barnegat Bay boat ramp.
I remember taking a bumper off a trailer.
I remember "borrowing" a kayak off a nearby dock to go chase his bass boat down the lake in 25 mph winds. I am still not sure whose knots on the dock failed....
I remember him throwing a baitcaster, back when they had pistol handles, right in the river.

The list goes on and only 50% were my fault 😉 Many of these are reasons why I don't own a boat, anymore.....

 

[Fredrick]

@JackM please tell the story of wilderness Larry at Smokies national park.

 

[ChuckofWagon]

The only thing better than a boat.....is a best friend who has a boat.

 

[wardman]

Man, brought back memories! I know my buddy Wardman and I got an ear full several times from my old man.

I remember the tailpipe of his truck bubbling in saltwater at a Barnegat Bay boat ramp.
I remember taking a bumper off a trailer.
I remember "borrowing" a kayak off a nearby dock to go chase his bass boat down the lake in 25 mph winds. I am still not sure whose knots on the dock failed....
I remember him throwing a baitcaster, back when they had pistol handles, right in the river.

The list goes on and only 50% were my fault 😉 Many of these are reasons why I don't own a boat, anymore.....

God-dammit stop rocking the canoe 🙂. All great memories, paybacks were watching him puke on the ocean (sorry man, know it's in your genes too).

 

[gulfgreyhound]

Lacking felt soled boots I bought a pair of studded soles that I could fasten to my boots. I was in Colorado and put my new no slip boots to the test on a really rough running creek outside Durango. Boots on ,rod in hand I walked over to the creek. Now mind you I had never worn these studded soles and was eager to test them out. Unfortunately they snagged on a rock on the creek bank and I did a perfect front flip into some really COLD water. Fortunately it was deep enough that I stuck the landing and was standing waist up still in one piece still holding my rod. I got out, drained my boots and after warming up figured I had better not waste the day and now using a more careful approach went fishing. GG

 

[DomR]

Not trout related. Ice fishing. Hour drive to the lake, get "cut-in" and set up on 10 tip up rigs. Fish unsuccessfully for an hour, go skim the holes as they've started to freeze up. 10 yo me drops our only skim spoon down the 1st hole of the 10. 1st generation Italian American and former USMC corporal loses mind and emits a barrage of Marine worthy language. Dumbazzed 10 yo ends up hand spooning the holes for the remainder of the day.

I suppose it could have been worse, I could have dropped the spud bar in on hole #1. 🙂

 

[rancid waders]

Too many to remember, buddy's bronco 2 buried to frame in sand on Camp Lejeune as waves crashed into the side but the fishing for specs was awesome that day.
A 4am run to destination x , buddy and I are in my skiff on plane, shrimp boat has its nets down and lights off in the ICW. Almost life changing .
A bad fall up in drainage ditch on Raccoon CK. Broken SP and tore new G3 wader butt out. I didn't get up so quick after that one.