Really dumb things.....

[Marke Cicero]

OK Guys and Gals,

Just to save us newbies from a whole lot of anxiety and to let us all know that we're not alone; Please tell us some of the dumbest things you've ever done in your boat. Even you Pro's out there (Mac, Mini, Pierre, etc....) don't be shy. We're all friends here.

Maybe we can learn from your mistakes or at least give you the opportunity to have a good laugh and say

 

[Rod Kotarski]

One time I went fishing, got up real early for the morning bite, took me about an hour to get to the lake. I wanted some great topwater action. They lake was calm, fish had been biting well the past few days. I go to launch my boat, and NO KEYS. Needles to say I was not a happy camper. So ALWAYS keep a spare set in your truck. Rip Some Lips..... Rod

 

[Todd Calhoon]

Second time I put my "brand new" Triton in the water, My son and I messed around all morning breaking in the motor. My son decided that he had enuff, and went home early with my dad. I stayed a couple more hours trying to get some more time on the motor. Well, when it came time to load her on the trailer. I did everything just right, she slid right up and bumped the roller, I hooked up the strap, jumped out of the boat,climbed into the truck and began to pull up the ramp. Wanna guess what I forgot? Yep, I neglected to trim the motor up and drug the skeg on the ramp. Didn't really hurt anything, scratched the skeg real good, but the worst part was the people milling around the ramp that saw it happen. Nothing like a an audience to slap your ego back down to ground level!! Ha Ha!!

Todd C.

 

[Eric B]

Well lets see.. A few days after I got my new Pro Angler, I had to take it back
to the dealer to put the tarp on. I was working close by, so took my boat to
work, hooked it on my work pickup. Drove down the road and BAM!

Forgot to make sure it was on the BALL! THANK God for safty CHAINS!
Would have made a mess or hit another car. Now I make sure its on the ball
by raising it back up with the jack stand till i can lift just a tad of the bumper
up to make sure its on GOOD! That got my 41 yr old heart goin for sure!

 

[gone bye bye]

where does one start? I think I have done all of the silly things that have been mentioned here...and more....

The biggest was probably last year fun fishing with a buddy loading the boat on the trailer. I had missed centering the boat on the bow roller by about a half an inch. Well with my buddy at the wheel of my Yukon I told him to back up a bit more to float the boat and with my invincible super powers while standing on the tongue of the tailer I was going to lift the bow of my 911 and move it into place.

Well one good shrug and she actually moved about a quarter of an inch. I bear down and really get a good grip and heave-ho and low and behold my grip slips and i begin to lose my balance on the tongue of the trailer. In what seemed to be an eternity I almost gain my composure and balance relying on old muscle memory from about third grade gym class on a balance beam. Of course just about any kind of memory of third grade is now gone and so was my balance and SPLASH!!!!!! Into the drink I go.....well I had to lay there and laugh at myself for a moment or two in the oil slick backwaters of this ramp only to realize that there are about 6 other boats at the ramp loading and launching. Man I did not do Nitro Boats/Bass Pro Shops justice that day with the "pro team" stickers on my truck.....

Fortunately I was not hurt, although I did bang my wrist pretty hard on the concrete ramp and had a nice scrape on my shin from the tongue of the trailer....

That is the one that comes into mind because it is the most recent...

Mac oughta have one about some gymnastic maneuverson the tank at Bass Pro....LOL...hes gonna kill me...

Mini

 

[JEFF WHITE]

where to start??

motor and boat an hr old,well,on the hour meter,fished a local lake for the day with brother,sis in law,wife and kid,took wife and kid to dock,let them off,took 1 quick ride around the lake,just off the dock in 5 ft water,must have been a rock,oops,3"of skeg mising,ruined aluminum prop!!

same lake,after working 12 hr,go fishing to relax,loaded boat,strapped it down,jumped in truck,drive 3 miles home with,you guessed it,motor down,dragged skeg the whole way,it broke off 1/2 mile from house,cleanly where new one was welded on the previous year!!

drive 150 miles to lake,launch and fish 12 hrs,go to load boat,trailer comes unhitched from ball as were loading it!

launched boat when lake was about 3 ft low,shore line all mud,went to pick up bow to pull it on shore a bit,both leggs go out from under me,one on each side of boat,wet and muddy seat,but went fishing,had a good day!!

moving boat over on trailer to line it up to winch it on,electric only lakes suck for that,wet sneakers and trailer frame,splashdown has occured!! did that 3 times in 1 year.

out on lake ontario in 2-4 ft waves,nice rollers,no crashers/breakers,gentle rollers,down in a trough of a wave,running across the waves,didnt think it was going to crash,but we all got wet that day,good thing it was warm out!!

were hoping this year we dont do no dumb things!!!had the boat out sunday to run it a bit.clean out the fogging oil,check for leaks in the revised fuel system,check the gps,livewell,bilge pump,and the fishing poles mostly,no fish,water temp was 48-50 degree on the surface.hope next weekend is warmer!since bass season is closed,but its catch and release here,might try a few things out.

 

[Bill McElroy]

Mini,...You'll pay for this one!!.....Anyway,..I've got a couple good one's for everyone!! The first one involved the old "forgot the drain plug" and it was my very first sponsored boat and only my 2nd time out in it!! A buddy and I went to a local inland lake and he backed me in,...I got the motor running and sat there idling waiting for him to park and run back to the boat. He hops in,..we take off and everythings cool,.....we stop to fish,...I'm grabbing rods and getting started,....@5mins later I turn around and hop down off the front deck into 6 inches of water!!
LOL!! I Freaked!!...."#@@#$,...Pull up that trolling motor,...I forgot the plug!! We're sinking!!"..ahahahah...We took off and that ol 190DC looked like a water buffalo on full gallop through 5ft of water trying to get up on plane!.....We finally got her up and i ran around the lake to drain some water and we got it back on the trailer,...put the plug back in and went fishing again,....needless to say my concentration was shot for the day!!
The incident that Mini is referring to happened very recently at our store,...on a saturday afternoon infront of 50-100 people at most,...but right as I was going to do a demo on the tank!! Talk about embarrasing!! I was going to do a demo involving "Spike-it" dyes....(No,..it's NOT what you're thinking!!...It's MUCH better!!)..I had my props (baits, dips, etc) all ready and people where starting to gather around,....it was our "Local Pro Angler's Weekend" at the store and it was busy!! My intention was to sit on the edge of the rock cliff that is built around the aquarium and make it a very informal relaxed 10minute talk on dyes and soft plastics etc,.....Well....I hadn't turned my microphone on yet and I was squatting down to take a seat on the rocks and low and behold if I didn't start to lose my balance and roll over backwards with my feet up in the air and my big ol butt pointed right at the audience!! hahahahahaha!!!! I heard this huge GAASSPP as they thought forsure I was going to roll right into that tank!! I instantly popped back up and I had to have been as red as a beet, because I thought my face was going to spontaneousley combust!! Anyway,...as quick as that happened I got my composure back and turned the mic on and said,..."Now that I've got the acrobatic portion of my seminar out of the way,...let's talk about soft plastics and dipping dyes"....yada,,...yada,......It was the most embarrassing moment (to date) of my professional career,....without a doubt!! I hope it's a looooong time before anything like that ever happens again!! Luckily i hadn't taken the cap off the bottle yet and it was in my hand!! Can you imagine the reaction of that crowd if I had popped back up all covered in Chartreuse dye?!!...the Horror.........the horror!!!....Anyway, I took it like a man and after contemplating suicide, I figured it was just a little divine intervention,.....a message if you will...directly from God,...telling me,..."Put a little RED with that Chartreuse!!".
Big smiles and tight lines,...hope you enjoyed it!!...Seeya
Mac

 

[Rob LaMoy]

As fortunate as it is, the most I've done is forgot the plug and other normal mishaps. Once caught a 6lb smallie in front of clients, laid my prize new jerkin' rod on the seat behind me for pictures, and then in my exhuberance, sat on it, breaking it in half. The worst I've seen though was a good fishing buddy bought a new pro angler, his first boat, and took it out first chance in spring as many of us would. Unfortunately, he was new to boating and hazard buoys. With about 15 minutes on the engine, didn't he go and run that bran new boat across a rock break water that had 6" of flood water covering it. Ruined prop, skeg, and did a nice job of polishing the aluminum on the bottom of the boat. He was o.k. and it wouldn't have been nearly as funny if this guy wasn't one of the world's biggest know it alls. Well he learned a lot about navigation that day. Hope I never have to tell a story like that first hand.
Rob

 

[Pierre Voisine]

This is good...I'll have lots to write about.

The first:
back the boat in at a big tournament...hundreds of boats lauching at one ramp...time is of the essence. back the boat in, it did'nt slide off....no problem, start the motor, reverse, still nothing. Check the bow strap, it's off, try again...by this time the trailer is moving from side to side as I'm whaling on the throttle. Of course at this time everybody is looking at us.....

Asked my partner if he took the rear straps off..."I though you were doin' that" So I think; how to save face? the only way
: submerge my body all the way down to the straps (at 6:30 in the morning in front of hundreds of people who started gathering) and unhook the straps!!

will always remember that one.

Pierre

 

[Mike Watson]

I am with Pierre on this one. My newbie year with the Pro-Angler. My wife and son have their instructions for holding the ropes while dear ol dad launches the boat. Boat won't come off. I pop the brakes and the boat still won't come off. Then I notice the whole boat and trailor combo floating from side to side. I never knew you could float the whole thing. Ha! People looked at my wife and said "first boat eh."

Mike

 

[Rob LaMoy]

I almost forgot. Once I was pulling the boat out at nicely secluded lauch. I parked the truck on the launch, drove the boat on the trailer only to realize I had locked myself out of the truck, on the ramp. Luckilly it was early season and there was nobody waiting t launch. I did have to get a ride to the nearest phone to call home for spare keys. Always leave your windows down when loading and unloading. Just a suggestion.
Rob

 

[Rich Stern]

Last year, I was out night fishing in a raft in a small cove on Lake Lanier. Tie on a brand new spinner bait, start working my way around the cove. Get a big hit, yank the rod, the spinner bait comes flying back out of the water. Gotta see if I can catch this fish.... Go through the same exercise three times. The fish keeps hitting the spinner, but each time I go to set the hook, it pops right out. What gives?

Turn on my flashlight, take a look at the spinner bait. Forgot to take the little plastic sleeve off the hook.

And the fish doesn't bite again after that.

 

[Chris Snider]

This is hilarious! I'm trying not to fall out of my chair here at work laughing! I'm sure I'll have a good one or two soon...

 

[Parrotth3ad _]

Remember back in the summer when the water was low, I mean REALLY low, and you had to beach your boat because the ramp docks were sitting on the mud? Well, took my dad out fishing, one of those long nights when the bites were few and far between. He finally gets a good tap and goes to set the hook only to find it wasn't a bite, I was in the process of moving the boat, he set the hook on a log, broke my best rod off at the first eyelet up from the reel. I got kinda pissed, hey, that was $100.... Soon after that we head back to the ramp, beach the boat, and since he can't back the trailer, I jump out to fetch the trailer. Only the rock I thought I was landing on turned out to be just different color mud. Burried up to my knees, lost both shoes, and ended the day feeling like a complete and total IDIOT. Try not to go too long without doing something stupid, it'll make you feel better about life...

 

[Tom Jones]

Great stories guys. Unfortunately, been there, done that on most of those.
I guess my dumbest thing was when I was 17 years old I had to go fishing right before a tornado came thru the lake. This was before the early warning systems were so good. The day started out with blue skies, so out I went. It was about a mile out this narrow, windy creek to the main lake. As I approached, I could see large whitecaps rolling and a boat coming up the creek. The men in the boat were waving frantically at me and as they passed me going back toward the ramp, I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Coming directly behind me was the darkest storm I had ever seen, with a tornado in the center. I turned my boat, a 1973 Fabuglas tri-hull with a 60 hp Evinrude, around and tried to get back to the ramp. I was about1/4 mile from the ramp when a wall of rain, hail, and wind hit the boat. The hail felt like thousands of bees stinging me all over. Within seconds I felt the boat lifting off the water into the air and then slammed down at a 90 degree angle from my original direction. Now I'm headed full speed into the bank! I get her turned back into the wind and throttle back up to speed only to have it happen again. This time I'm looking to land the boat on the nearest bank and try my luck on shore. Just when I see a good spot to land, lightning strikes a tree and splinters it right in front of me. Seeing this as a sign from God NOT to stop there, I turned back into the wind again for another try.
I kept at a slower speed trying to keep the boat down in the water as much as possible. I don't think I've ever tied a boat to a dock as fast as that day, then I ran to the restrooms as this was the only cover available. Inside were the other men I had seen earlier. It was over in minutes, but seemed like hours. All of the sudden, there was an eerie calm and it was over. We slowly headed out to see the devastation. Limbs and trees down everywhere. Looked like a bomb exploded. I didn't say a word as I loaded my boat. Everything still seemed in slow motion. My boat had over four inches of water and ice in the bottom from the intense, but brief deluge.
That was the first time I thought I might die, cause you know that you're invincible at 17. If it did nothin else, it has made me ALWAYS study the weather forecasts before I go fishing, and ALWAYS wear my life jacket when the big motor is on.
All these stories remind us that "YOU CAN"T BE TOO CAREFUL!"
Have fun and enjoy life (especially the fishing )!!!!!

 

[Marke Cicero]

Tom, that's not a dumb thing, that was scarey!! I can't even imagine how frightening that must have been. I'm glad you made.

I really enjoyed all of your stories. You guys were killing me, it's been a while since I laughed that hard...

There is something missing though...15 replies and something just isn't right?????

SCOTT, are you hiding???? Where's your story big guy?

 

[Staci Matheis]

Patience, Marke, is a virtue! I've just been too bust trying to figure out how to use my new scanner to upload pictures!

My story goes back about 25 years and involves my old friend Ken.......

He had just bought a small used run-about and we decided to take it to the nearest body of water to test it out and do a little fishin'...... We hooked it to the back of his DATSUN 240Z (Ken was always SO proud of that car!) and headed for the Mississippi about 50 miles north of St. Louis.

We got there without incident. Motored around for a few hours without incident. Fished without incident. And got back to the ramp without incident. Man! We were a couple of Old Salts!

Ken backed his DATSUN 240Z and trailer down the gravel ramp and dunked the trailer in the water. I motored the boat onto the trailer. Ken attached the strap and started to pull out. For some reason, that I have since forgotten, half way up the gravel ramp, Ken decided to stop the car, shut off the motor put it into gear and come back to the boat........

All of a sudden, boat, trailer AND PRIZED DATSUN 240Z start a backslide! I was closest to the open driver's door so I jump in...... I try to stand on the brakes to stop it - but it was sliding on the gravel! Son-of-a-gun had momentum now! Slide all the way down until the water level was WELL above the door sill! Filled the entire cockpit with Mississippi River water!

The boat was floating now - and so was the trailer! They cocked sideways in the current! I managed to get the PRIZED DATSUN 240Z started - glass pack mufflers don't sound nearly as threatening when submerged! But we couldn't get the PRIZED DATSUN 240Z out! It was too gosh darn heavy with all that water and the gravel was too loose!

While I sat there keeping the motor running (and glass packs gurgling) Ken ran to find help...... He came back with a guy in a van and a tow rope who managed to pull us out.

On the drive home, we sat in wet seats, rested our feet on soaked carpet, smelled Mississippi River Water Mud Bottom...... And wondered why the water temperature guage was running so hot.......

Back at Ken's home we unhitched the trailer and proceeded to strip the PRIZED DATSUN 240Z of all it's interior - WITHOUT letting his wife see what was happening! It was then that we noticed that, even without the trailer attached, the PRIZED DATSUN 240Z was squatting low in the rear.......

Back there, we discovered the reason for the engine running so hot...... Ken didn't carry a spare tire....... The well that would normally hold the spare was FILLED with water! By this time, we were both exhausted and had no desire to sit there and bail it out....... Ken grabbed a long screw driver and a hammer. Stuck the pointy end into the bottom of the well and struck a blow! Water streamed out the newly formed hole in the body of Ken's PRIZED DATSUN 240Z!

Boat was quickly sold.

Car never was the same!

me!

 

[Marke Cicero]

Scott, that was the best! I could barely read it from the tears pouring out of my eyes.....LOL!!!!
Definately worth the waiting for.

Marke

 

[Mike Paul]

Heres one for ya, went out fishing with a buddy a couple of years ago, nice Wisconsin 50 deg. day, the bass were hitting topwater in the shallows so I whip out the old reliable scum frog and chuck it into the pads. about 1 second after the frog hit the water a bass grabbed it and I reacted by promply setting the hook hard, but I missed the bass and the frog came flying at me at mach 1, My first reaction was to duck out of the way, but my hand slipped off the seat and "YOU GUESSED IT" I fell right in the lake. As I scambled to get out of the cold water and back in the boat, all my buddy could do was bust a gut.(nice friend). well I got back in the boat and gathered myself then continued fishing, I cast back in the same spot and caught that little bugger, a whole whopping 10 incher. O-well lesson learned, wait 2-3 seconds before setting the hook with a scum-frog, I finally did read the back of the package!!!LOL