Strange but true… at the ramp!

I would like to start a “strange but true” posting of wild/strange/crazy/dumb/dumber/stupid/and weird sights that we have all seen at the boat ramps we’ve visited. All stories are welcome, but must be true. I challange you to beat mine! In fact, I’ll give the winner of “the best ramp sighting ever seen” $25.00 worth of my latest walleye lures ( I just invented a new floater and a jig that are being field-tested).

Steve and James, can you do a poll on the top five we pick ? And that way, we’ll all figure the winner?

Hey, how about Everett’s doing a season pass to go to the winner too? How about that Steve? Well, you should have seen a few doozies too….Anybody elce want to throw anything into the pot for the winning sighting?

Remember not to use the real names to protect the incrediblely wild/strange/crazy/dumb/dumber/stupid/and weird

people you mention…. you may have to fish, work, eat, or even sleep with them again someday! Who wants to go first?

Hawger

It was a few years ago at the Ramsey County Beach ramp on White Bear Lake. I was trying to come back in after a mornings fishing. 5 young guys were in the process of launching an aging tri-hull. After a few attempts at backing it in the leader jumped in to turn the key. Nothing happened. They all stood looking at the motor for a couple of minutes. I asked what they were going to do and the leader walked to the back of the boat , looked under the storage area and said to all , “My dad must have taken the battery out”. A couple more moments of silence. Now the leader says ” Lets push it off the trailer and I will go look for a battery”. They got it into the water and the leader left. Second in charge looks at the others and says” Thats OK , we can rig our rods.” Now they all jump into the boat , which is still at the main traffic side of the dock , and oblivious to all , proceed to mess with rods. By now there was a crowd of us waiting to get in or out. We pointed out , politly at first , that they needed to move. To our astonishment they proceded to tell us to mind our own busness , leave them alone. It only took a second and 3 of us untied the rope and gave the boat a push away from the dock. The only unfortunite thing that resulted was the cloud of “blue” language that all were forced to hear from these young people.

I was next at the dock and was able to get out quickly , even with the visual and verbal daggers that were being thrown my way.

Dino

Can you post on fishtheriver?

You can post here or on FTR, either way your post will be entered and valid for the contest. Thanks, Hawger

My first….

Several years ago, my wife Jill and I, were at the access on Lake Washington in Southern Minnesota. The Westwood Bar is located right beside the ramp. It is a fovorite watering-hole with the locals and young college student boaters. I waited my turn as a goup of four young college age guys unload a huge ski boat and push it over to the nearby Westwood dock. They tie it up and all run in for a cold one.

I mentioned to my wife that I did see that they put no plug in the boat’s drain hole. It took some time for my turn at the ramp. Finally, I got my truck and loaded the my boat. I pulled it out of the way and began strapping her up, and squaring things for the trip home. While doing so, I am watching the ski boat starting to sink. It continues to get lower and lower in the water as my wife and I watch. I then tell Jill that I should go tell these guys about this. Before I can reach the bar, a young man walks out to see water in the floor of the boat. Then he runs back inside to get his pals. Two of them are scratching their heads watching, as a couple of them tear the boat apart looking for the plug. No plug is found. Now the water is up to a foot above the floor and Jill and I have moved close enough to hear the conversations. The guys were planning to start it and drive it till the water ran out, then load it back up. Then they would go to town for a new plug. One of them heads for the truck and another trys to start the boat motor. The motor will not start. I guess that the water is now up into the distributor and though it turned over well, she never popped!

So, the guys decide to load the boat up on the trailer and pull ahead… to have the water drain out. Half way up onto the trailer, the rope breaks due to the extreme weight of a 1/2 full boat of water. They re-tie and try to crank the big fiberglass i/o up again. The rope breaks again before the boat gets 3/4 of the way up the trailer. They tie again. Now there is quite an audience that has accumulated. Three of the guys sit on the front on the boat’s bow to help counter the weight of the amount of water in the back of the boat. They get the boat cranked up to within three feet of the winch. The driver pulls ahead and they make it about twenty feet up the ramp before the water sloshes and breaks the rope again! This time, guys go flying every direction, and the boat crashes on to the concrete.

Now, there were seven guys on each side of the boat that were trying to lift the bow up to get it back on the trailer. They were straining but could not lift it more than about one foot up off the ground!

Jill asked if I was going to go help them. I told her that they were beyond help.

Second and last….

On French Lake, after I got all loaded up. I looked to see a group of folks all sitting in lawn chairs, by the ramp. They had score cards! 1 thru 10, they were ranking the loading of each boat that came out.

I scored an 8,8,9,8,7 for a total. I thought this was pretty good as I was no even trying to load very fast. I guessd I did a fairly good job. We all laughed as I joined them to watch a couple of boaters load up. The looks the boaters had once they caught on was fabulious. I found out in the conversation that this was the major source of entertainment and daily activity for these folks who camped at this park, which was right next to the ramp ( a park in which they had their travel trailers and motor-homes).

Then comes in, a guy with the wife and three kids. A wild bunch! We could hear them way before we actually saw them. Mom was yelling, Pop was swearing, the kids were not helping or not minding.

We watched as this guy went for the car, backed it in and hooked her up, then started to pull ahead… he sticks his head out the drivers window and yells for his kids to “get the [censored] out of the boat!”.

The kids who were six to twelve years old, paid no attention. The guy tries several times to order his kids out of the boat, and to the one who now is sitting on the side of the boat, to get off the boat.

He pulls ahead, stops, rolls back, shoots ahead, stops, rolls back, pulls ahead… trying to shake the kids off and out the boat! One kid is hanging on to the side of the boat and is straddled on the trailer’s fender-well. The mom is yelling now for him to “get the [censored] off the boat”.

Dad pulls up off the ramp and stops, the kids bail, then dad pulls up a bit more. The trailer tire runs over the boy siting on the fender and pins his leg to the pavement. The kid goes nuts, screaming! Mom runs to see what is wrong, dad puts the car in park and bails out too. The kid’s leg is pinned under the tire! Dad swears, Mom swears, both stand there for what seemed to be, way too long… telling the kid the “we told you so” routine. Dad goes back and drives forward and mom helps the kid up and to the car. They all start to load up.

I look at the group od spectators who are arranging their rateings cards for this one. Out comes the rateings… 10,10,10,10 10 !!! The guy sees this and gives a big thumbs-up, and then I begin thinking of my own scores as I walk away… hum… not so good. I figured I best be working on my launch/load delivery.

Hawger

A couple years ago I watched a boat with 3 teenage couples pulling up to the dock at the ramp. It was coming in a little too fast, so the girlfriend of the driver was leaning over the bow, reaching to keep from banging into the dock. Just as it got close, the driver, without thinking, slammed into reverse and she did a perfect sommersault, fully clothed, into the lake. Her friends had a difficult time controlling their laughter as she stormed up to the car.

Hawger, I agree your story will be hard to beat, I can almost see the scorecard judges in my mind! The story I have took place on Bald Eagle ramp before it was re-done. Even then, there was room for two trailers at a time, but this group of about 6-8 people had their rig right in the middle of the ramp on a busy afternoon, and were attempting to load a very new pro-v on a roller trailer. The driver backed the trailer down the ramp until the winch post reached the front of the still floating boat. The boat was hooked up and winched tight,and as three guys standing in the water on each side of the boat pushed back and forth, the driver would slowly pull ahead untill the trailer started coming out. After many attempts to get the boat to settle properly onto the trailer they finally got the thing loaded, and out of the way. I’ve never before or since seen a boat loaded that way, but they would have rated a pretty “good”? score.

i might not qualify, because i actually heard this second hand, but did manage to verify that it was true.

2 of my co-workers were attempting to trailer their boat at sand point ramp on prior lake. as they were winching it up they noticed a young girl attempting to back a new jeep cherokee and trailer down the ramp next to them. they then noticed her boyfriend out in a new ranger yelling at her. finally, after numerous unsuccessfull attempts, the boyfriend docked the boat, took her place and told her to drive the boat up the trailer. he backed in the trailer and told her to hit it.

well, she did. she gunned the boat, right up on the trailer and into the window on the back of the jeep.

needless to say, my co-workers were doing the best they could to keep from laughing their rear ends off – but the tongue lashing the young girl received from the boyfriend helped sober up the situation.

Ok, I guess time is up!

Time to vote on the best of the best….

James, can you close this thread and start up a vote posting one.

Thanks to all who submitted their great ramp stories! I got a big kick out of reading these. And thank you Steve/Evrett’s for putting up the season ramp pass, for first place.

Will all those persons who posted a story, please send me a private that includes your name and mailing address (even if you do not place as a first place winner), and I will send you all a selection of my newest lures to try… in appreciation for lots of laughs.

Please do not forget that there are simular posts on our sister site http://www.fishtheriver.com that need to be considered in your votes too. If you have not read those posts there, you are in for a treat!

Hawger

I have a late entry for entertainment. Dave I know you know the ramp at Birchdale on the Rainy. About 4 or 5 years ago before they redid that acess it was only a sigle access. It was steeper then it is know also. We always go up in my dad motorhome and park next to the access well this time up was one where its 15 degrees in the morning and 35 in the afternoon. Well the fishing was on so the ramp was very busy this sat morning. We where making breakfast about 8 in the morning watching people put in ( I wish I had a camcorder with this trip, I take one now) Well the ramp was getting icy with all the trailer dragging water up it until fianally it pretty icy a guy in a truck backs down stops get out of his truck, his buddy was already standing by the back of the truck. the driver steps out looses his traction slides down the ramp into his buddy and knocks him into the water, they spin out and bearly get the truck back up the access. The next guy waiting sees all this and decides he has a better way of unloading his boat. He back up to the top of the ramp and stops his buddys and him get out tie a rope to the boat trailer then go around the hitch of his car, then these einstiens unhook the trailer and start to let the boat down the access well still having tears in our eyes from laughing from the last guy we couldnt believe what was going on. Half way down the ramp the rope breaks !! Oh yes there was histarics in the motor home. Down the ramp the boat and trailer go, sailing into the might river and this year yes there was current. The boat floated off the trailer and started to drag the whole works down the river. Well a boat came in and rescued this boat off the trailer and pulled it to shore. I then feeling sorry for these guys put my boots on and wiped my eyes and went out to help hoping they didn’t hear the laughter when i came out of the motorhome. Well we went into the water and literally dragged the trailer to shore then tied a rope to it and pulled up the landing. I then went back in. Trying to calm everyone down I looked out the window and the very next guy decided because he had 4 wheel drive he could do what he wanted so he proceeded to back down the ramp like nothing had happened. Well we all where in disbileif and thinking what great intertainment. He did just fine, he backed in stopped got out to help his partner this is when he also slipped and fell into the water at the same time his truck decided to loose its grip and slide. Slide it did all the way in until the front quarter was the only sticking out. Water right up to the seat of his toyato. The motorhome was rocking with four guys in tears again. They got a truck up above to hook up and pull them out they didn’t want to shut the truck off for fear it wouldn’t start so off they went home are somewhere . Well the next guy was a local from the falls that had watched all this when it was his turn he backed up got out and started shoveling the sand and salt solution he brought with him on the access, we were outside now he said if he had done it sooner we would have missed all that great action happens every weekend practically he said.

So whenever I forgett to take my tiedowns off or have a dead battery at the access I alway think things could be worse.

Destry…Wow… what a deal!

This one is great too…Thanks for the laughs. And, I am sending you some tackle samples as well. I’ll send them to the store.

Rainy River stories would be a post in itself. Here is one back for you.

When I started going up to the Rainy, I would camp above the falls. Up there, they were sliding 12 and 14 ft. Lunds off a sheet of ice, to get to the water. Now you know, that river is cold! And fast! Suppose it had to happen to someone…a group of youn guys could not make it back up the falls. I witnessed three guys in a 14 ft boat that had been making an etffort to get up the “falls” for 20 minutes. They did not have enough horse power to make it up, their boat just sat there in the moving fast water with the throttle wide open. I pulled ancohr and pulled up next to them with my Trophy 190 i/o and asked if they wanted any help. I told them that two of them could get in with me and I bet their boat would go up ok, with only one person in it. The driver said nope… “just pull us up”, and and throws me a rope… that was tied to the bow eye of his boat.

So, I tied it to my boat and we start up the falls. About 1/2 way (the river gets real narrow and the water swells up and heaves a bunch there) the little boat’s bow starts getting lower and lower to the water…I was not going very fast and had my eyes on the guys all the time…strange, but the little boat was nose diving! Water started to come over the front! All three guys scrambled to the back of the boat, all in a wad on the back bench seat. You know this is not a good idea in a 14 ft. boat! Well, the front came up… but the back went down! Not knowing what to do, wheather to stop and turm round, or go ahead… I looked at them and all I could see was eyes! Man, they were scared to death! I said heck… I’ll punch it! So I did… just like I was pulling a group of skiers out of the water. Throttle to the bottom (you know how fast that boat is with 170 hp)…. I yanked that little boat right up on plane. We went through the falls like it was not there. I kept it up till we were at the “park” landing. When I sotpped, the three boys had made it back to their seats and were all bailing water out. One had the minnow bucket and was using it to bail, one was using a coffee thermos, and the other has using his hat! There must have been 40 gallons of water in the boat.

They were all thankfull to get to the shore, one who had eyes as big as dinner plates, was kissing the ground.

I was glad to have the biggest boat on the river that day.

Hawger

Thanks Dave, that area is the franschevity(spelling?) access I know it well seen many fist fights there one year when that was the only access open the wardens where breaking them up all in another story