cameras are bad luck.

[gophish]

i just had my most flaccid incidence of good luck while not having a camera. Its happened several times to me, enough to develope the theory and enough to puprosely leave a camera behind on some days.

but this sat. i forgot my camera.. no prob. buddy had his... well in the process of switching out of his car to his dad's truck, we forgot his camera as well.... the result...biggest walleye of my life...somewhere around 30" guessing 11 lb. probably....

some of you must have some good stories of you own and i'm interested in hearing you thoughts of the luck of no camera.

gophish

[Blaine]

No stories from me, I NEVER leave home without the camera

[delmuts]

i know the feeling! forgot mine ( it was the first time out last spring) fishing alittle river near here. caught a 4lb. +_ smallie! she was gorgeous!! no pictures**&^*&^^ del

[psegriz]

For me it's not forgetiing the camera, it's forgetting to take a picture. Sometimes a person gets a little pumped and just forget the camera is there. One time on a nice little river caught some decent fish and photoed them. Wish I had some pics to refresh my memory what they were. Well b4 the trip was done we managed to tip the canoe. I'll give ya 1 guess where my camera is. I'm sure I'm not the first person to have that happen.

[BUSHWAC]

21" Brook Trout- made me think about keepeing her. back it went!

[EBass]

Oh yeah, if the camera is at home that's going to be a great day of fishing. My boat saw 2 20" smallies this year but only in my and my buddies memories will they remain. A 30" walter - that's HUGE! Oh well, you know it and the fish knows it and that's what really matters. Must've been a hard battle with a brute like that. Same with that big ol trout. A 13" trout can battle pretty hard to for the size a the little bugger.

[Maximum12]

I'll second that - never leave the camera behind.

The biggest fish I've ever caught was a 40 inch plus northern at a buddies' cabin last spring, over 20 pounds. No camera, miles from the cabin, no pic. Which led me to buy a couple of disposables which have taken up permanent residence in my tackle box. 'Course, I too often get so jacked up from a big fish that I forget it's there. Someday I'll get all my cylinders firing at once.

[Finlander]

Opening day of walleye season on Mille Lacs we were trolling shad raps over some rocks when my son gets a fish on, then I get a fish on too. I thought he croosed my line at first until his line went one way and mine the other.

So he ends up pulling in a 17" smallmouth as I am still fighting what I thought was a musky.

Then all of a sudden a huge smallmouth jumps at the end of my line and gave my a good ride on my trolling rod.

Finnally get the fish in the boat and it is a 21 3/4" smally.

I ask where is the camera? No Camera! Oh well, got the picutre in my head. Biggest smallmouth I ever caught!

My largest largemouth 6lbs. 4oz. thats on the wall I caught ice fishing, 1/2 hour later pulled a 10lb. pike through the same hole!

[gophish]

Ebass,

indeed a brute of a fight. it was on my crappie rod which sometimes is inadequate for large crappies i think. plus four lb test. we took our time and did it right and got it back in the water in no time at all. thankfully i had five witnesses one being my best friend whos always around to back me up.

but how about that 21" brook trout. thats amazing. where did that get caught at whoever it was?

[Kingfisher]

It happened to me last spring, my brother-in-law from Billings was with, he always carries a disposable camera so I didn't think about it, besides we were going to fish a local lake with no large walleye? I caught a 30 + inch walleye, no camera!! Back to the water it went, without any evidence to show for it. Still FUN.

[riverrat56]

I have had the camera thing happen to me a fair share of times, mostly just with smaller fish that i would have lied to get a picture of though, but when i always forget the camara is deer hunting, last year on saterday i had it with, didnt see a deer, sudnay i forgot it, shot 2, this year same thing, brought it in the morning, forgot it in the afternoon and shot a deer, so now 3 out of my 4 deer all i have is pictures of them hanging. Another question for all of you-how many times have you forgot the net and lost the big one because of it? Ive never lost one because of it but had some interesting landing incedents with out it.

RR56

[ivegottabite]

it seems to never fail. i went salmon fishing on lake michigan this summer. first salmon i caught was 14lbs, NO CAMERA! the other guy had one but found out later it wasn't advancing after the shots, so he didn't get any pics either.

[PikeTipper]

I thought my camera jinks was finally broken this year when I got some nice pics of walleyes and a smallmouth that I caught when I had brought a disposable camera along. Problem is now I can't find that darn camera anywhere...

[Finlander]

Last year ice fishing Lake Of The Woods I catch a suspended 26" walleye and promptly get two snapshots with my camera.

The biggest walleye that weekend and for the history of that house as all the big walleyes were measured and marked on the door of the house.

Go and get the picture developed to find out the only two pictures not to develop were the ones of my walleye!

Go figgure!

[JoeTC]

I fish alone a lot and it would be hard to take a picture even if I did have a camera. And of course my biggest walleye and my biggest musky have come fishing alone. My buddies still give me dump and say they won't believe me until they see the pics.

[John19]

I think this goes beyond cameras. You can be the most meticulous of packers, in getting prepared for a trip, but it never fails. The one thing you forget to bring, you can bet your going to need it!

John

[BUSHWAC]

gophish, were you wondering about my Brook trout? It was not caught through the ice. It was caught in a beaver pond that we hiked into a couple years ago on Husky Jerks. There were 3 of us and I think we must have caught 30 or more trout, all Brookies. We had multiple 17” and 19” fish. I don’t think we caught one under 14”. The 21” fish was built like a Smallie and I guess that it was 4 pounds minimum. Every fish was let go, but rumor has it that not long after we were there a couple people went in a filled a cooler with a limit of trout or two?? The place is maybe a hundred yards long at most. It was a precious little fishery. We have been back a couple times but have never had a day like that.

[GoodToGo]

My wife and I did a pack in fishing trip into the mountains of Eastern Washington for our honeymoon (11 years ago?!). We both caught many, many trout, including the largest to date for both of us. After four days, and snapping about 50 pictures without changing the film it dawned on me that the camera was empty. This still gets brought up occasionally...not in a good way, either.

[snatcher20]

Me and a buddy on an east metro lake the spring of 2003. Caught 6 lm bass while crappie fishing right after ice-out with a little jig and bobber. Probably would have been close or over the 25 pound mark with the 6 fish. All from one spot without moving the anchor, one cast after the other. We must have been close to a 5 pound average. And of course, it's the ONE time in like two years, we forget the camera.

[gophish]

bushwac,

that is amazing.

what area is this in. i know its not in se. minnesota where i come from and there are milions of miles of trout stream. the browns have chased all the brookies out..

i would do my best to shoot anybody who tried to fish that hole that wasnt me.. hehe... in other words. thats a once in a million people's lifetime hole and you dont even need a camera cus it probably would not have even done the place justice. i worked in ely all summer and lost three rolls of film. but pictures cant even put into words how awesome some of my days were.

[BUSHWAC]

gophish,

Yes, it was amazing and thanks! The spot is in northern Minnesota and it’s a very easy walk in from a gravel road. A little too easy but the access to the gravel road has been gated by the land owner now. It’s pretty much all private property. He also heard about the people keeping fish out of the pond and wants to prevent harvest of these Brookies. My good buddy can still get us in but I haven’t been back for over a year now. One of those days I’ll never forget. I still love that stream fishing though and spend a fair time chasing the fins down in your area. It’s still a toss up between the north shore and the southeast for my favorite area!!