So……..what is the worst thing that has happened to you guys out in the field? Buried hooks in the hand, nasty lacerations etc. Most importantly, what did you do to remedy the situation?
This thread could help us all out who run into trouble from time to time 
(And no, fishing with BK does not qualify as a painful encounter 
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(And no, fishing with BK does not qualify as a painful encounter
Who says ? You obviously have never been in the boat with him. 
I threw out the anchor rope once and as the rope was going through my hands,it picked up 4 crankbaits laying on the floor,yup,4crank trebles in my hands. 
Thankfully,I had good side cutters in the boat,and ice to keep the swelling down.That experience really was worse than fishing with BK.
I took my son ice fishing on late ice, after all the snow had melted off,. I drilled all the holes and took my old vex over to show him how far down the brush pile was. As I was walking back to my holes my feet went out from under me, my vex went about 6′ up and back down on the ice, I landed on my back and tried to catch myself with my right hand. I ended up slicing my palm open on jagged ice and had to have seven stitches!! Since then I were cleats on my boots when there is bare ice!! 
Ed
I was also lowering the anchor rope last year during the walleye run when a stinken blade bait got caught and went completely through the hand. Thank God it didnt hit bone, not to mention it was cold enough it had trouble swelling. i now have about 4 nice scars going through my hand showing my fishing battle wounds.
Not me, but my father-in-law.
During an afternoon ice fishing session at the family cabin, we managed to finish off a case of beer while icing a few small eyes and norts. Went back in for dinner and then back out for a bit in the dark. After calling it quits, my f-i-law stepped into a 10″ hole I had cut previously that was covered up with snow. He twisted his ankle and fell down. Reaching for anything he could to catch his balance, his sled was in reach. Too bad he had his auger laying on the sled with the sharp end being the one he grabbed. 30 stitches on that hand, looked like swiss cheese. Nothing like being 50 and having to wake up your parents to take you to the clinic cause you sliced your hand wide open and have had too much beer to drive to the hospital.
Not sure what was more painful, the injury or personal pride. 
The vast majority of successful & decorated anglers here on IDO certainly recognize it’s not uncommon for sand bars – ANY SAND BAR – to shift within hours due to current, water depth, or wind directional changes. Under-toe current & shifting sandbars claim lives every year on the Wisconsin river system. Something I used to sniffle about up until the following event happened to me in my younger years……..
I found myself counting my own blessings “in the middle of no-where” the first summer I had the FB. I was naive enough to think I could literally muscle the FB anywhere I wanted in the vast network of side channels between Boscobel & Muscoda. After spending a good portion of the day up in a slough chasing some mamouth size panfish in a light rain, the ever darkening western sky accompanied with bolts of lightning & booming thunder was convincing enough to wrap up the poles. I began to snake my way back down the cut to the main channel only to find 4″ to 6″ of water at the confluence of the cut with the main channel. Mind you there was over 3FOW in this area when I went up the slough earlier that morning! The sandbar had shifted and I was all but land locked up in the cut. Fortunately I was wise enough to put on my PFD prior to attempting this and I when I say “DON’T TRY THIS AT HOME” – I mean “DON’T EVER TRY THIS STUNT”! I hopped out of the boat into the water with the goal to pull the boat across the sand bar into deeper water by the dock rope. – Didn’t carry a Navy anchor to grabble my away across the sand bar. Didn’t want to spend the extra time to slowly push myself across the bar with an oar. Looking skyward I estimated I was within 10 minutes of having a front row seat for Ma nature’s version of a July 4th show. I switched from fishing mode to speedy return to the landing mode to beat the heavier rains – in the process all but abandoning safety and the CS factor. “Inconviences like this never happen to me”.
I must’ve took 15 steps or so in the water on the sand bar before I turned my attention to the boat and stopped paying closer attention to my footing and the current break looming. The “shoe-lace” water level I started off in had gotten just about knee deep but the boat was still trailing 15′ to 20′ or so behind me in the shallow water. I turned around to start pulling the boat towards me hand over hand by the rope when the sand bar I was standing on just gave out! Talk about a sensation I will never forget! I could literally feel the sand abandoning my foot hold. I tried to make a move back towards the boat but it happened all too fast. I found myself clinging on to the boat rope and could feel the under-toe tugging at my feet all the way up to my knees and thighs – like a big vacuum! Kicking my feet to propel me out of the rivers hold was worthless. It was if I had 200 lb. barbells tied to each foot. The river had me dead to right. The current effortlessly pulled me & the boat out into the main channel some 75′ to 100′ down river before the “tugging” sensation on the lower half of my body ceased along with that weighted-down sensation. I honestly don’t know how much longer I could have with stood the beating. As I got my bearings I pulled myself up into the boat – I felt like a rag-toy in a pit-bull’s mouth – coughing and spitting a little water for minute or so. Anger was my first emotion – followed closely by a huge sense of relief and case of the willy-shakes. There is not a doubt in my mind if I wouldn’t have had my PFD on I would have been a statistic I so often sniffled about in the past. It’s also mind boggling to think about how things could have turned out if I had lost hold of the rope/boat while being whisked down river….I would have had to do some swimming – thats for sure….and I wasn’t in the best of shape to be swimming too great a distance. I merely laid in the boat for a good five or ten minutes with thoughts racing through my mind on what had actually happened and what I did wrong to trigger the sequence before firing up the Johnson and heading back up to confluence area. The Lowrance indicated the water level went from that “shoe-lace” depth to 9FOW almost instantly! The graph looked like the letter “I” tipped at about an 88 degree angle. I headed back to the landing – smiling and enjoying the heaviest of rain falls bouncing off my noggin – realizing what I just cheated.
This was one of the dumbest things I’ve ever attempted to do on the water. A very humbling experience that I’m not ashamed to share if but one person learns from it.
A couple years ago ice fishing it was late in the year and we had a warm spell that took all the snow off the ice. The next day it got cold again and turned the ice very slick. Well I got done with work, third shift, and decided to meet a buddy there. Half way there I realized I forgot my creepers in the truck. I said I’ll be okay I dont need them because it would take 5 minutes to get them. I fished for about 10 minutes and started to hole hop. I was shuffling my feet when I reached in my pocket for something. Next thing you know I was looking at the sky and falling fast. I slammed down on the ice back of my head first. Then my right arm elbow hit punching myself in the face. I laid there for about 10 minutes before an old timer came over to see if I was dead or not. he helped me up and made sure I was alright. I broke my glasses, had a huge lump on my head and blood coming from my right eye. I tried to stick it out and got dizzier and dizzier. Finally my friend said you better go home. So I shuffled off and all most walked right into some open water. Turns out I had a major concussion and was hurting for a few days. Moral of the story ALWAYS wear creepers on the ice.
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picked up 4 crankbaits laying on the floor,
Can I have them back. 
I’ve been real lucky, besides a treble in one finger and the other treble in a smallie…I’ve been pretty fortunate. I have had a few other pricks in my boat, but nothing that caused damage.
Maybe I should reword that.
June 27 2006
After several days pitching muskie lures on a small lake in the Hackensack area i felt some discomfort in my right shoulder blade.Called it early that night and went to bed around 9pm,about 3am the pain was real bad and I woke my FW and had her look at my back,when she gasped I knew I was really messed up.
Left for home after she pulled the boat and packed the cabin up.Made it to my hospital aroud 12pm and was told I had a rib pop out of my spine.Pt for a few months and good as new?? NOT
Feb.of 07 first surgey to fix shoulder,two weeks later very mild stroke,two months later 2nd surgery.P.T.for 2 1/2 years and I now have 70% use of that arm and constant pain and no strength to speak of ,but one hellofa addiction to pain killers.
Could be worse,at least I’m upright and can fish for short periods of time. 
P.S. BK I’ve been called worse!!! 
I saw a guy get a treble hook under the thumb nail in the boundary waters canoe area. You could see the hook through his nail. We were a full day away from medical attention.
sat on a big crank bait, 10yr laughing at dad sticking his head between his legs trying to get it out…finally just grabbing with pliers and ripping out!! my son is 18 now and still laughs about that one..
Six of us guys went on a fly-in N. of Armstrong,On 2 pair of bunk beds and 2 twins in one brdroom and tight. One of my buddies couldn’t stop himself and drank most of the good stuff on the first night. He was the last to shutup and the last to bed. About 3 am and pitch dark he somehow launched off one of the top bunks onto one of the twins. In that twin bed lay the goosiest, jumpiest and hardest hitting guy you could ever know. Pandamonium, pitch dark, had to be a bear. Daylite, the drinker was on the kitchen floor asleep with the biggest black eye ever, and a few other bruises. The other satup the rest of the night on watch. Off the subject a bit but I just had to tell it.
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(And no, fishing with BK does not qualify as a painful encounter
How about fishing with Bret Clark 
Does that count? 
Well actually I did have an adventure with Mr. Clark (but it wasn’t his fault) musky fishing. 
I had caught a respectable musky so of course a picture was in the making. After getting hooked a couple of times on my lure while trying to get it out of the net I was finally holding it for a picture when it did one of those famous musky thrashes and my one hand slips up into the gill plates/mouth. Bret announces that we better hurry up and get it back into the water as he sees blood running down my hand and wrist. “don’t worry buddy the fish is alright – that’s just me bleeding”. 
I probably looked pretty funny the rest of the day with my fingers wrapped in pieces of paper towels and electrical tape. Now when we get a musky or big pike in the boat he just tells me to stand back so I don’t get hurt.
Fishing the Rainy River in October, got sick, real sick. Headed 700 miles home. After 2 months in various hospitals, I was dianosed with a terminal disease. It is a dehibilitating disease, muscules, tissue, joints, organs, all failing. Happy an fishing one day and falling apart the next. ENJOY YOUR DAYS ON THE WATER FELLAS
Probably the most painful was watching me whip several crankbaits into the tree tops while yours truly Mr Jensen laughed his A## off this spring in the middle of a moonlit night chasing Waldo’s. Painful non the less for me.
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Probably the most painful was watching me whip several crankbaits into the tree tops while yours truly Mr Jensen laughed his A## off this spring in the middle of a moonlit night chasing Waldo’s. Painful non the less for me.
They were shiny-new too
I’ve never been hooked, by I have hooked 2 dogs. All ended well, but the one where my brother’s lab got hooked was scary.
We were on the pontoon letting the kids take a dip in the lake. Like a dummy I brought along a bunch of poles to fish with out the other end. Well, the dog was excited by all the commotion and knocked down one of the poles. She caught a long Rapala in the ear. It was the front set of hooks so the back end was swinging freely to where it could catch he mouth, snout or worse, her eye. I reacted before she got hooked, as I saw the pole falling. Luckily I was able to grab her and, for some reason, this hyper dog became very calm. We were able to snip the hook with a pliers and after, push the hook through. Thank God. I was trembling the whole time thinking if she gets restless, she may catch a hook in her eye.
Now that I think of it, my most painful, or at least worse injury sustained fishing, was when I was about 8 or 9. I was fishing in my uncles boat with a few other people and we were on our way into the dock. I was up front when my uncle cut the motor and we were slowly gliding in. I put my wet noodle out to stop us from bumping the dock and my arm folded and the forearm was smashed between the boat and the dock. Everyone asked if I was ok, and I said I was fine, except for some scuff marks.
So I grabbed my stuff and started walking back to the camp site feeling fine. After about 75 yards when I reached the base of the hill, I was overwhelmed with a feeling of exhaustion and thirst. I kneeled down and could not find the energy to get up the hill. I kind of felt like I was going to blackout. By this time they were all up the hill at the campsite. After about 10 minutes I was able to muster the energy to get up the hill.
I got up there and the rest of the kids were heading up to the pool. The adults asked how I was feeling and offered me some water which I gulped down. The suggested I rest and I agreed that might be a good idea. I passed out for a few hours and woke up feeling fine.
I always assumed I was going through some sort of shock or that maybe the compressed arm had screwed up my blood flow. Unless there is a doctor in the house, I may never know.
real hot day having my son help me back the truck up to the boat trailer, was real impatient, lowered the trailer down to the ball, but realized I forgot to push back the lock down thing on the trailer and sometimes I have to get my fingers in there to pull it back so when the ball of the hitch slides back, she locks right up. Well, while my fingers were in there the truck or trailer moved slightly and my fingers were trapped and it was hurting really really bad. I yelled at my kid to crank the trailer up and in a hurry! So he proceeds to get on the bumper and jump up and down, (I suppose because he has seen me do this many times to unhook the trailer) After about passing out, I manage to get him to crank the trailer up enough to remove my trapped two fingers. Then the pain really kicked in!!! It took two days to move my fingers and a few more weeks before the blood blisters went away, but I’m still typing this story.
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So he proceeds to get on the bumper and jump up and down, (I suppose because he has seen me do this many times to unhook the trailer)
I’m not sure what caused it, the laughter or thinking of the pain, but I have water in my eyes. I got stepped on in teener baseball one year. Took off the ends of 3 of my fingers. To this day, anyone talks about pinching a finger, they start to throb.
At truman reservior many moons back, My buddy was one of those crank up the slack and give it the hammer hook setters. So he had a fish take his texas rigged worm and precided to real it up and give it the hammer and POW 
the bullet sinker flew out of the water and nailed him right between the eyes and dropped him like a sack of flour. As he is doing the crappie flop in the bottom of the boat I almost fell in laughing my 
off and for the rest of the week he had this 50 cent piece welt right between his eyes, I still laugh just thinking about it.
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At truman reservior many moons back, My buddy was one of those crank up the slack and give it the hammer hook setters. So he had a fish take his texas rigged worm and precided to real it up and give it the hammer and POW
Now that was a good visual
Still laughing
hi, long time lurker first time poster.
my buddy and i set up his canvas portable and settled in for an overnight of fishing and “relaxing”. we were using a mr heater and a coleman two mantle both with the 1 lb canisters for warmth and light. things were going good; fishing was slow but we were plenty “relaxed”. as we progressed one or the other heat/light appliances would need a new canister naturally. the process would generally go ok and i had gotten way too relaxed. at some point the heater needed to be changed out and my buddy was closer so he started taking care of that; i really wasn’t paying that close attention but he was not able to get the threads lined up right and kept having to try again. next thing i know the lower half of the portable is filled with…well BURNING FREAKING PROPANE! and this incredible sound. then -and this was in an instant – the entire interior of the portable was filled with aforementioned burning propane.
we both managed to hit the deck and the gas finished burning off. it was now completly dark in the portable and we both were trying to find the zipper and get the heck out. apparantly when enough gas had been released and stratified down to the burning lantern it ignited the gas that was being released each time my buddy tried to reset the threads.
we were both not in condition to go very far but we made it to a resort where the WONDERFUL owners took a look and decided his hands were burned badly enough for a doctor’s care and the WONDERFUL owners got us both to an emergency room. the fishing was over – we got a room for the rest of the night and headed back the next morning. he was out of work for a month and still bears the scars. i had some redness on one hand but escaped anything worse except the mesh cupholders on my camp chair and the flag on my tipup were burned off.
yes lesson learned for sure!
Thanks for the story oldmanandtheice
Every year you hear a few scary stories about propane and enclosed spaces. Something to be careful of for sure.
Great to see you joined the ranks as a member….Welcome to In-Depth 
In 81 I was grouse hunting with a friend near Houston Mn. I was going thu a particularly dense bunch of prickly ash when a snagged branch snapped back and hit me in my right eye.It felt like somebody hit me with an anvil and my eye started leaking fluid. One of the thorns had pierced my eye right thru the lens. I managed to get to my buddy and he put me in the car and drove me to the hospital in Winona. Stayed in the hospital over a week and lost the sight in that eye. ” It’s all fun and games till someone loses an eye”
Ouch! That makes my eyes water just reading it.
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