Fishing trip nightmares, ever had one?

Ok everyone’s sooner or later going to experience the trip from the twilight zone. My last run to Upper Red went very much like that. Race like Dale Jr. 400 miles north, hit the ice immediately ‘cuz the suns still on the horizon. Pull the portable out, grab the auger, bore ’til bottom of motor hits and realize extension needed. Luckily the survival spade is at hand so dig around handles and get holes punched thru. Instantly the deadstick has a slab on, freak out, yank the slab 6 inches out of the water and go into trance looking at that 14″ crappadile while at the same time noticing bobber down on 2nd hole. Freak again as slab goes mad breaking the light mono that’s going to be the secret weapon. Grab bobber rig and bring up nice 13.5 slab all the while saying YES the mother lode! Then you realize that crappie left with your Frostie lure, no problem brought plenty more, ok can’t find Plano 3600 loaded with URL special lures. No problem got one stored in the panfish Plano. By now need light to tie palomar knot, go to turn on Coleman lantern and find one mantle destroyed from 400 mile Baja race. No problem, always have back ups, none to be found, ok use candles, manage knot and wham 17 inch ‘eye. Gettin’ cool quick, light Mr. Heater which runs for a couple minutes and poof that goes out. Four wallys later it was time for West Winds burgers and beverages….. Any good stories out there, open or hard water? Bides the time while we wait for our boats, ice out, electronics, etc……. Kurt

Last fall I got caught in a heavy thunderstorm in my boat on WI river at Sauk City. Really hard winds and lightning, heavy rain. Of course it was unexpected so I didnt have a rainsuit with me. My son and I pulled the boat up to the small island by the power plant and tried to get out of the rain. The rain subsided as did the wind but the lightning and thunder persisted, but the damdest thing happened. All of a sudden the white bass went on a feeding frenzy on top of the water. We stood on shore soaking wet in the lightning and for about 45 minutes caught white bass after white bass on every cast, mixed in with walleyes and smallmouth. Best time I have ever had I think and we were only sick for a week after we got home…lol!

Four years ago I borrow my dad’s 17 ft Alumcraft for a trip to Canada and after two hours of fishing I hit the only submerged rock in the lake and the lower unit of a Honda 45hp four stroke is at the bottom of the lake. Luckliy I had a 12 pack with me and after a 3 1/2 hour trolling motor ride home the 12 pack and lower unit were both now gone. Thank God for good insurance and an understanding pa.

Every year a group of us spend five days in the boundary waters, hours from any civilization or in other words “heaven”. We hit the smallies early spring, and usually come home with bass thumb and sore arms. The only complaint I have about the trip is the bass part; If we were catching ‘eyes like that you couldn’t get me to leave. Anyway, 5 days of bass fishing satisfy all desires of rough fish fishing that I have for the rest of the year I’ve been going on the trip with the same group of guys for seven years now, and we pretty much have the trip down. We each have our “camp duties”, the old timer is the boss, and the weather can get nasty.
Two years ago a regular dropped out and the old timer filled the empty spot with a business associate. A true to heart bass man, he was afraid of the rain and wind. That year it rained everyday, and this guy would not stop complaining about it. Because he was a business association, we couldn’t tell him where to stick it. We were going to dose his beer up with ex-lax on the way home, and watch him sweat out the 8 hour drive. Fortunately, the fishing gods doled out some karma instead. On the last day of fishing, he buried a hook balls deep under his thumbnail while lipping a bass. You could see the hook through his thumbnail. After that we all thought the ex-lax gig would be a little excessive.

Yep, stuck in a boat all day with Briank and Putz.

Ron

One time canoeing in the Bounday Waters is was raining and lightning really bad. We were stuck on an island for days and couldn’t canoe in. Problem was we didn’t bring a ton of food as we planned on catching a bunch of it.

We ended up fishing from shore and having to EAT BASS!!

In any case, the sky cleared and amazingly we lived.

The end.

My father and I get together alot during the summer to fish.
One trip we met at a lake and started to fish. My dad was trying to cut something and sliced his thumb wide open. After we get him doctored up, my turn. The wind was howling and we were throwing crankbaits to a great shoreline break. On a cast I felt a solid whack in the back of the head. After a puzzled minute I figured out that I got a crankbait hooked in my hat. I took off my hat and the crankbait stayed. It was lodged in the back of my skull.
So I tell my dad to cut the hook and I will stop by the clinic on the way home. He says let me see so I sit down so he can see the hook. He than gets a good grip and yanks it out, now I have blood running down my head and back. It took a while for the blood to clot but it finally stopped bleeding. We fished the rest of the day with no more problems. We still laugh about that day ever time we fish that lake together.
Ron

We went down to the reserviour to fish catfish with trot lines. We had a couple of days of enough rain to bring the water up slowly and we decided to go get our bait and hit the reserviour. We put in at the ramp and went downstream to the first bend and the young willows and soft maples were flooded with about 3 ft of water over normal pool. We pulled up to set our first line and doug said look at all those carp that were moving in the willows, i said doug those are all catfish because it was about 10 at night. We set our lines and when we were going back up river we checked our first line and we had 4 fish on in 20 minutes. Well we hammered them that night and the next morning and we limited out with our possesion limit in about 7 hours checking our lines every hour all night. Well by the time the sun rose The bottom of the boat was covered with 40 catfish and we were walking around them and being careful but that didn’t go as planned. I fell on about a 6 pounder with its top fin sticking straight up and yes i got it right in the a__ I stood up and had this 6 pound fish hanging there and i reached around and pulled it off my backside and i put my hand back there and i got it good, in about 3″ i buried it to the bone too, ouch. My a__ was sore for a month and it took almost a year for it to finially heal. We caught fish there for almost a month now i bring a fish cage with handles on it and set it in the water until we go home

Mossy – you win really Im dying here no one is going to beat that

I think that is whats known as a cat [censored] trophy

Yeah fishing pool 4 today.
man is it muddy.

Mossy..that was good…for you, I mean You should have someone down there opening it up and cleaning it with hydrogen peroxide…I could go on…but this is a family site.

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Yep, stuck in a boat all day with Briank and Putz.

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Nope…the night mare would be stuck in between BK and PZ in a boat.

Get that Lutefisk out of here and pass me the schnapps!

And pull down your skirt.

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And pull down your skirt.

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Gee, I guess thanks to me, no one will ever let you forget how pretty you look in a dress Briank

It’s really not the dress MG…that was all in good humor….

It’s that Putz with those mirrors on his shoes…that bothers me.

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It’s really not the dress MG…that was all in good humor….

It’s that Putz with those mirrors on his shoes…that bothers me.

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Well, at least I am good for something around here

Yes you are..but I think we (putz and I)are going to take your photo shop for a while…

The last weekend trip of the year (this last year in Oct) or so it was suppose to be the last.
Half way to Falling Rock I called to tell Lenny that I wanted to use the float. He tells me it’s not running because the girl running it quit -they reason we planned the trip was to use the float. Ok, we’ll make plan B on the way. Got a speeding ticket just out of Fennimore. Plan was to camp at Gorden’s Bay across from Falling Rock. Spent the night counting over 36 trains going by. Next morning, decide to try Clement’s float, they were packed. Ok, Plan C….. Rent a boat. Thought we got a deal at Blackhawk for a pontoon boat for 75 for the day. Lady says that the gas on the boat should last us all day and then some. Three and a 1/2 gas trips later (and 70 dollars)we finally made it back to to return the boat to only have used it for 5 hours (most of which was spent looking for a place to fuel up). Fish caught that day? 0.

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Yes you are..but I think we (putz and I)are going to take your photo shop for a while…

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I’d like to see your try

Ok..I give up!

WOW that was not much of a fight, maybe you have spent to much time in that dress?

I posted this last year in the cat forum…but even though nothing went right…I had a great time….

Met Catten Addict at Hastings and we took his River Pro to Redwing to sniff around for cat holes. Went up the vermillion and bounce off a few stumps and snags..this is normal.
Kept going farther back and the water was alittle thin around a curve..but CA said the old Pro well get us around the corner (where there’s more water). He hit the throttle and off we went….Some point between leaving the water and sliding across sand…we figured out there was less water around the corner! After unloading everything out of the boat and pulling up my dress…we inched the ol’ pro back the 50 or so feet we ran er up on sand. Well..there was water there…if I raised my big toe it came well out of the water…
Ok..back in the water after an hour of pushing and lifting…figured we would play it safer and fish around the P4 dam…starting to get dark…Opps! no lights! Ok..all is not lost. Our plan B was to head back to Hastings, I would go home and get my lights and we would meet at the Prescott landing.

Let me give you a tip…all boat lights are not universal…HOWEVER…with a little screwing around…both lights stayed on…good’nuff. Ready to launch and it’s 10 pm…this is good.

I’m backing his boat down the landing and just before the transom hits the water line…the fuel pump on his truck goes out.

For about 3 second we thought about moving his truck and connecting the Pro to my truck and then go fishing…but I think it was I that said “If we go out there…someone will surley die tonight”.

Catten Addict talked to the police to ensure it was ok to leave his truck there over night. He ended up taking my truck and his boat home…My wife came and picked me up around 11 pm…since we needed an adaptor to make his lights work on my truck. (she’s a good wife and much happier than I thought she was going to be after waking her up)

Next day..yup the old Addict had a ticket on his window…seems that he was parked in a truck/trailer parking area without the trailer…

No fishing…but a good time non the less!

OK…how much time ya got??? Take a second…grab a snack…maybe a beer…on second thought you better grab a six pack and a 4 course meal…you’re gonna be here a while!!!

It was my first trip to Ontario Canada to a lake called Northern Lights. It is a fairly big body of water and we planned on making a base camp on one of the islands. Anyway…the first of many bad experiences was when we got out of our vehicle to take a pic of a moose. Got back in the vehicle and our transmission was locked up. Now I don’t know how many of you have been to Canada but in this area the logging trucks rule and if you are in the way ( which we were) you are in trouble. After 2 VERY near misses a nice gentleman finally stopped to help us. Turned out he had a similar incedent happen to him. We had a short in our trailer lights that was blowing fuses which was in turn causing our problem. Anyway we replaced the fuse an low and behold we were on our way. Once we got there we were greeted by a very friendly French man who had setup the boat my wife and I would be renting for the trip as we didn’t have one of our own. We loaded up and started out on our journey a crossed a white capped very large body of water in which none of us really knew where we were going. Got about a mile out and our motor died. Now keep in mind we are in about a 25 mph headwind. By the time I finally got the motor running again we had been blown back about 3/4 of a mile! Now I am no mechanic nor do I claim to be. We got about 3/4 of the way to our destination and once again the motor died. Luckily we had just come around a point and had a little protection from the wind. It took about 1/2 hour of me tugging rope to finally get it started again. At this point we are trying to decide if we should just turn around or keep going. Of course we just kept going. We got to a point where we were actually about 200yds from our camp site when the motor died AGAIN!!! Needless to say we were back in the wind and loosing ground rapidly. I pulled and pulled and finally got it going although on one of the tugs my hand came off the rope and I knocked my new polorized glasses into the water….OK…I lied…I was so ticked I bounced them off the bottom of the boat and then they flew into the water!!! So anyway…we finally get to the camp spot and figure that my father in law and I will take his boat and tow the floating death trap back and let me tell ya that was a fun ride.

We get back to the campground and the French guy that setup our boat procedded to tell me that WE put the fuel hose on backwards and was lucky the motor ran at all. So I figured no harm no foul. We headed back out and let me tell ya the boat ran like a champ once it was able to get a little petrol.

OK…take a second…stand up…streatch…I am just getting started!!!

We fished for a couple days with marginal success but catching enough fish to eat. Getting out of the boat to pull it up on shore I managed to get my feet wet. Well…I did have sandals on so I figured it was no big deal. Within about 6 hour I had the worst swelling and itching that anyone could imagine. It would not quit. Now I normally would spare everyone the gross details about my rotten foot problem but I want to give you the FULL effect of my miserable trip. At certain points I had to rake my feet a crossed rocks just to get any relief. So this contiunes and I decide to tuff it up and just have a good time and try not to let it bother me. I figured as long as some one carries me to and froom the boat I will be ok. Anyway…fishing was still just so so but we were cathcing fish. Really nice smallies and some ok walleyes.

Well on about the third day the group decided it was a good day to take off from fishing and go find a good place to swim…they had to drag me kicking and screaming!!! I was there to fish but me being the kind hearted and unselfish man that I am I went along and just roasted on a rock while the other played in my walleye water. Like I said before…I am a kind hearted individual that was taught to always hold doors for women and all that good polite stuff. So I decide to hold the boat with one hand and my wife’s hand with the other to help her get into the boat without falling…well it worked well for her anyway. I ended up on my butt bending my lower spine on a rock that didn’t want to give. I couldn’t stand, couldn’t do anything for that matter. Of course everyone helped me up and into the boat. Now at that point I had never experienced any kind of back problems so the trem muscle spasm was all new to me although it didn’t take long for me to develop a very hateful relationship with it. I ended up in base camp doing nothing for a day and strongly considering packing it in. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t want to ruin anyone elses trip so once again I toughed it out. I figured we only had a little time left.

OK….now for the good part of the trip. On the last morning my father in law talked me into trying to fish for a little while before we had to make the LONG boat trip back. I figured that if I was going to be in that much pain I might as well be in pain with a rod in my hand. We went to a place that had been affectionately named “Darcy’s Rock” after my wife of course who caught a 6 1/2 lb smallie there. We were fishing a slip bobber with a 1/8 ounce jighead on ultralight euipment. I believe I had on 4lb line not that it matters…anyway…to make a pittifully long story short…well…sort of…I ended up catching a 8 1/2 lb walleye. It was my biggest ever. My father in law recommended that I mount that fish but there was NO WAY I wanted any kind of a reminder hangin on my wall of that trip!!! I won’t even get into the ride back home!!!! Anyway…if anyone is actually still reading this I thank you for your time and patience in reading all of this babbling about my worst fishing trip EVER!!!!!!

mossydan you are the king

Short and sweet, I was fishing pike from shore by Blackbird Trestle on the Vermillion back in the early 80’s. The pike were hitting anything that moved at the mouth to Mudhen Lake. I wanted some pike for pickeling. I caught a couple, and wanted one more for the stringer. My last fish was about 8 or so pounds. Too big to just yank up the bank onto shore. So I bent over to grab the leader to hoist him up the undercut bank, and it gets it’s second wind! A flip of the tail as I was reaching down had my hand going right into the mouth of the beast up to my wrist! Your first reaction is what? Yep, I pulled my arm with hand still attached back toward me! The fish came along for the ride! It was a long walk to the car, bleeding like mad. I ended up with a number of stitches, and a disdain for the slime almost as much as Dustin Stewart!
Tuck

Dang……..I could go on and on and on with this one……

For starters:

1) Fishing Texas ponds while in the military. Fishing at night for cats on shore. Had a cotton-mouth come up and lay by my feet for warmth……

2) Fishing Texas creeks for bass, wading water…….Had a cotton-mouth swim between my legs…..Walked on water to the shore……tall grass, only to be greeted by a Diamond back.

3) Texas fishing again…….Had a black tarantula that decided to take a nap on top of my sun warmed tackle box.

4) Texas fishing again……..this time during the day on a creek……….Had a cotton-mouth decided to beach himself in the sun by coming up the shoreling and resting his head between my feet……..I didn’t notice him till he got there………..

I left Texas………..

Minnesota:

5) Stayed at a resort one night while full moon fall fishing for eyes. I won’t give the resort name but it relates to “multiple evergreens” for a name. Anyways, came to crash about 3am. Woke up in the morning, sitting on my bed, lacing my boots. As I was bent over, I noticed a used “ballon” laying on the floor…….It wasn’t mine…..I won’t go back…….

6) Staying at a resort on LOTW. Wiley Point (this time I will give the name, because it caters to family). Walked into the bar at 10pm, after a long day of fishing, only to find the owners son watching hard-core porn on the big screen TV, harrassing the female staff for “favors”……..I won’t go back…….

7) Stayed at an island resort on LOTW. Made reservations 6 months prior. When we boated to the dock, the guy asked who are you!!!!!!?????????? We weren’t on the books and we were staying for a week…….By the way, they put us up in a “cabin”, but the screen door fell off……

8) Lost a 32″ (estimated) walleye on LOTW, because when my boat partner reached for it with the net, he knocked his brand new $200 rod/reel bottom bouncer set up over board. He knocked my fish off the line and he dove after the rod. He got the rod, I lost the fish……

9) My buddies brand new, 1500 mile 3/4 ton, $38K truck hit a deer while we were on our way to LOTW. It destroyed the front end, the bucks head got thrown around the side of the truck and broke the antler off on the passenger mirror. The window was down, the broken antler in velvet flew into the truck, spewing blood like a stuck pig all over the inside of the cab……….$8,500 damage. They did let us through into Canada with only one operating blinker….No headlights or running lights, no bumper (had to saw-zaw it off…..Thanks to whoever you were with the tools!!!!!).

10) Hit a pheasant with the truck on the way home from LOTW, shattering the windshield.

11) Clobbered and eagle on the way up to LOTW, by the way……Mr. Eagle, thanks for the claw marks going down the side of the truck.

12) On a new body of water, with my buddies brand new Ranger…….We see this 20 oz.mountain dew bottle floating on teh water. So, being a good guy to remove litter, I motored his boat over there. As my buddy was bending over to pick up the bottle, we crashed into a un-marked rocky reef….It was a marker bouy…..Sorry Heddar!!!!!!

13) Caught a low 50″ muskie while walleye fishing on LOTW. The walleye net wasn’t big enough to boat it. I wasn’t going to hand grab it……..She spit out the 14″ walleye that my buddy Heddar caught……Sorry Heddar!!!!!!!!

14) Took my buddy, Heddar’s Dad’s brand new triton out for the spring. As we were flying accross the lake at 60 mph, the motor locked up………..Forgot to put lower gear lube in after draining last fall…….$2,800 for a new lower unit.

15) Fly-in trip. Running a 9.9 yamaha on a 14′ Lund. Running wide open, gps speed of 13mph. On a big lake……all by ourselves……6 miles from the cabin and anyone else. We went from 30fow to 30 millimeters of water, on top of a rocky reef……..Ripped of the lower unit from the motor……….We made it back and nobody got hurt…..

16) Last but not least! LOTW, Oak Is. At night, drinking beer on the porch……Had a baby cub bear walk to us. We chased it up a tree and took pictures……Only to have momma bear look for her cub. We all made it to the cabin and locked the doors…………There were 5 guys leaning against the door………Worried about the movie “GREAT OUTDOORS, with John Candy and the grizzly bear stomping him!!!!! We survived and never played with bears again…..

Back in my high school days a friend of mine and I decide to skip school and take his parents pontoon boat out fishing. His parents were gone and all was going as planned. He has the boat hooked up to the truck when I got there and we were on are way. Once we got on the main road and up to speed I heard a noise. I looked back to see Rob’s fathers boat heading for the ditch at high speed. The boat was not insured and after my father found out that I had taken part in this adventure he made me pay for half. An entire summers worth of baling hay down the drain.

Bee’s, bee’s are the only thing that can stop me from fishing.

2 years ago, we we’re fishing a Tournament on Big Marine. If you’ve fished this lake, you’ve probably seen the channel that goes between the Shore and an Island. This area is choked with lilly pads and great for pitching jigs if the cows aren’t in the water.

We settled into the pads and starting working down one side, by 10:00 the bee’s started getting in the boat. By 11:00 it was getting hot and they really got active. I’ve never seen so many bee species. After about 6 or 7 bee dances (arms flailing, scretching and running to the bow of the boat), the husband had had it with me.

We moved out to open water where there was a breeze. Bee’s followed, but not as thick. After a few casts towards shore, I decided to fish the deep side. When I turned to go to the other side of the boat (we had a Crestliner at that time), I caught a glimps of something out the corner of my eye. SNAKE! It was curled up sunning it’s self in the corner.

Now, instead of a Bee dance, I’m screaming SNAKE IN THE BOAT and running back to the bow. This was just too much, and I’m not going to repeat what the husband said. He tossed the 4 ft gardner snake back into the lake. I go back to my position and see the darn thing trying to get back in. Back up front I go.

Guess a few people around us thought is was funny to see a crazed women trying to crawl on top of the trolling motor head.

Jo

One more from me! I take a fall trip to Lake Erie every year. We always go a few days before we are scheduled to fish so we can get the rambuctiousness out of us! Anyway, we always take a head boat trip so we can drink beer, shoot the breeze and just relaxatate! Well, seagulls like perch and minnows and flock near the boat a lot, I was midway through a cast when one decides its going to grab my crawler harness mid air. He proceeds to wrap himself all up in my fireline. The other 40 people on this boat are looking at me like Im a killer! So the line breaks and heres this seagull floating around flapping one wing since the other one is tied up! For over a half hour you could see this gull flapping and floating farther and farther away and I could hear the under the breath nasty comments from others on the boat! I felt so low I could have crawled under a dime!

Gary, not for any amount of money would I go fishing with you. You are just bad luck!

Fishing a small northern WI river in a canoe on a July weekend. Massive headwall builds and next thing you know there is 80MPH straightline winds coming down the river. Several of our party were literally blown out their canoes. I made it to shore but regretted it later when the trees starting snapping falling al around us.