Can't believe I did that! Funny stories and forgetting stuff.

[Random guy]

I was in Thorne Bros the other day going through the new baits and looking at some of the changes to the classics and we got to talking about “those trips”. You know the ones that you drove for five hours and forgot the rods sitting in the garage, or put the boat in the water and forgot to put in the plug or unhook the straps.

We have all done these things whether we want to admit it or not. I figure as muskie opener draws closer we could go back to some of those oops moments and maybe prevent a future tragedy or “You remember when dummy Jonny did that”.

My favorite is the time when GPS was the newest gadget on the block and we got a couple to try out while pre-fishing a little tourney. Of course in that day and age we didn’t have map cards and the nice maps that come on the unit didn’t exist. You had a five pound unit with a big flip up antenna that was about 8”long a six inch screen with a dot in the middle. We messed with them a little before we went out and figured we had a rough idea how to use these things and we could use them to come back in of off this odd shaped lake at night for a test…bad idea.

The day wore on and fishing was terrible so we pushed late into the night looking for fish. Finally all three boats came together by the tried and true method of flashing or Navi lights at each other. Of course none of us new exactly where we were on this new massive body of water in the darkness. So the great idea came to plot one of those waypoint deals into this new gadget and let the arrow guide us home. After a few arguments about how to do this and how we were all going to follow the one guy that seemed to understand it best we were off into the darkness. Naturally being not only musky fishermen but tournament guys we all had to be first to the dock. So it became a small race back and forth as we traveled the “estimated” six miles to the waypoint that was to be docks at the resort. In our great intellect we never realized that the old pointer/street style guide didn’t tell you that you could be of course by ½ a mile. Just turn right turn left was as fancy as it got. Needless to say we did find some nice mid lake structure that night. Three high performance musky boats all parked twenty feet in on a mid lake sandbar that came out of the water about 2-3 inches and gear spread out for the next 20 feet in front of the boats. The worst part was when the resort owners sent boats out to get us and help us get our rigs back in the water they asked why we decided to go through the narrow channel and not take the main lake…What narrow channel?

The six of us (aka Beached Boys)tried as hard as we could to cover up and never speak of “That trip”. There was no way this would go forgotten, and it was brought up this many years later. Nobody was hurt so I figured we could all get a good chuckle out of it.

So let’s hear it. What bonehead moves have created that musky trip of a lifetime for you?

[delmuts]

jkopn! did you see in the last outdoor news about the guy that was trying out his new gps in the fog and found an out house?

[Random guy]

No I didn't, sounds like a good one. Last weeks edition?

[Paul Waldowski]

John,

It almost sounds like you are talking about the Loran-C system and not GPS. Loran was the precursor to GPS and operated off of radio signals and not satelites. It basically worked off of the old sytem of pick up 3 radio signals and then it would get a fix of your position by triangulation.

Used it for a couple of years mainly on Mille Lacs and man at times it wasn't the most accurate and we would have quite the adventure in the middle of the night.

[delmuts]

jon. the one dated may 5.page 13, a little pic. beside the picture of the the artical of operner and boating safety. ooops!

[Muskydanno]

That reminds me of a similar bone head event on moose lake that i pulled just last year Jon!! Except i couldnt even blame bad technology. Its funny how in this day and age we focus so much on our electronics sometimes that we just dont see what is plain as day in front of us.

Last summer i was on moose lake for the first time hunting skis and was hopping from reef to reef trying out spots when i decide to hit this shallow rock bar not far from the landing .I was concentrating intently on my globalmap trying to pinpoint this thing and realized i was zoomed out to far to get an accurate fix on my location. I then zoomed in to find out i was right smack dab on top of the shallowest part of it already.(luckily i was only doing about 30 or 40 at the time) I shut down the motor quick and started vigorously hitting the trim switch and looked up as my prop and skeg met some of the fine structure that i was trying to find to see a nice big ole' hazard bouey whipping by!!

The people swimming at the landing got some good humor out of that i'm sure. Just goes to show that good ole eyesight is quicker at finding reefs with hazard bouys than relying on your gps on a small lake!!

Last year on mille lacs i decided to take a break from musky fishing to throw topwaters for smallies. I am right behind half moon island enjoying the calm and here comes this dude full throttle with his puddle jumper and 25 horse evinrude between one of the markers and shore. I'm thinking to myself there is no way that this guy cant see where he is going (then i thought back to my lapse of judgement earlier in the season) and as i was reflecting back , the silence was shattered by alot of rock meets metal grinding noises followed by alot of swearing!!

The absolute biggest bonehead move i have ever made though and one that scared the dump out of me was a while back when i was fishing the two points area on leech lake. To set the stage this was on the fourth of july weekend back when that nasty straightline wind took out a ton of trees in the area. I saw the storm approaching from a ways away but no lightning so me and a buddy decided to stick it out a little longer than we should have. Anyone who knows leech knows what happens when the wind gets blowing out of the south down into portage bay. Take that fact and add the straightline winds of that day and thats what we had to drive back to federal dam in . We had already started back when the storm hit so there was no turning back. To this day i have never seen waves that big on an inland lake in my life. We both had lund explorers at that time and nowhere near enough horsepower to beat the storm. Two boats four people and alot of dirty shorts. The thing i remember most is the waves were so big and so far apart that we were more or less surfing through them , so driving wasnt hard but the sheer size of them was scary. Big enough so that when i was on one side of a wave and my buddies boat was on the other that we couldnt see each other. That is why i now own something that does 70, and has a better chance to get me off the lake. I may not use the speed much , but its nice to know its there if i do need the edge to get me off the lake.Because you know as musky fisherman we always stick around for "just one more cast" and it bites us in the rear more often than not because we just dont have the common sense to get off the lake in time!!.Its part of the sickness.

[Random guy]

Quote:

---

The absolute biggest bonehead move i have ever made though and one that scared the

dump

out of me was a while back when i was fishing the two points area on leech lake. To set the stage this was on the fourth of july weekend back when that nasty straightline wind took out a ton of trees in the area.

---

Dude! I was on Submarine/Annex when that thing started rolling in, had to wait it out hiding behind Pelican Island. I have spent many many hours guiding on Leech and those had to be some of the biggest waves the boat ever seen on the way to Pelican. It amazed me how fast the wind and the waves came up, it was minutes from calm to death trap.

Most of the Guides and avid fishermen on that side of the lake were launching out of a couple resorts, as the soggy boats rolled in after riding it out all of the wifes and girlfriends were lined up on the docks waiting to see if one of the boats didn't make it. We all decided the storm wasn't that bad compaired to the docks.

[Muskydanno]

That had to be hairy over there too Jon!! You were probably thinking the same thing i was that day. "Now look what i got myself into" When the wind is blowing the rock bite is on takes on a whole new meaning on that day!!.

What was crazy was how fast it came in. Didnt hardly have time to think twice about moving to shore. You were stuck on pelican and i ended up shacked up in the shower house at federal (Contact US Regarding This Word) because trees were falling all over the place. It was one hairy ride in thats all i remember. Will never forget the way the lake looked that day.Makes me realize why the lake can get so dangerous at times.

[MuskyBrian]

We were out last year And hardly ever use the anchor at all but we threw it out so we could get some casts on this submerged reef in some thick wind. Nothing happens at the spot so we start heading back to the dock and I notice the boat is driving really weird, And i can't figure out why. We start to approach the dock after a 2 mile drive and I am really concerned something is wrong with the motor when all of a sudden I Hear a Real loud snap at the front of the boat and I realized the problem...We had driven home the entire 2 miles with the anchor still out because my buddy forgot to pull it in...and of course, All right in front of the entire resort.

[cliffy]

Well, I thought I would share my thoughts. I don’t normally forget items at home on fishing trips, or forget to pull up the anchor..etc. My claim to fame is something I find myself doing at least twice each summer..and I am sure we all do it once in awhile...or at least I hope I am not the only one.

I have a tendency to leave my boat straps on while trying to launch the boat. It usually plays out like this:

-Arrive at boat launch

-Pull off to the side and arrange stuff in boat, cooler..etc.

-Remove transom saver

-Back boat into water

-release the wench strap

-push

-push harder

-rock the boat up and down while explaining to those in line that my rollers must be sticky

-getting really Pi$*offed

-get back in truck, pull forward and few feet, reverse hard and quick stop. Watch boat stay in place

-realize that the boat straps are still on

-pull boat out of water, remove straps, have panic attack, run to front of boat just in time to hook up the wench strap/rope as boat was slowing working its way off trailer onto dry ground.

-back into water, remove wench strap, boat slides off, park truck, get in boat, head to an isolated place on lake and pretend it never happened.

OPTIONAL ENDING IF WIFE OR FRIEND IS WITH ME.

-before leaving the launch, make a public statement that my wife and/or friend forgot the straps and thus its their mistake.

-if wife with me, spend the rest of the day saying I am sorry.

-if its a friend with me, spend the rest of the day getting razed and hearing this story several times over the rest of the summer.

Cliffy

[RuKiddingMe]

My biggest bonehead move goes something like this.

I have a little 14" wide V w/15 hp Ev on the back, well over the 4th of July last year my old man stopped by the house and I was having a problem with the throttle on the tiller. We removed the cowling and proceeded to look at the throttle control and where it was getting hung up, we found the problem and decided to work on it another day (like at his house where all the tools are). Now my garage in our Townhouse is an incredibly small 2 car and I can barely get the 14" in there, but I somehow make it work. Well with the back of the boat being so close to some shelving I couldn't the cowling seated properly and told myself secure it before the next time you go out. Yeah you guessed it I never did secure it and sure enough it was gone when I got to the launch. Funny thing is I know right where I lost it, as I entered the highway I heard a loud noise in back but paid no attention, sure wish I wish I would have now. By the time I got back to the spot it was gone. I tell you the cowlings are HARD TO FIND and expensive when you do find one. I have yet to pick one up, and it I ever see one on the side of the road I'm grabbing that beast and it's going on hsolist for sure, it's gotta be worth a hand full of lures atleast.

RU

[TBone1]

My brother and I spend a few days every year on LOTW and stay at a friends cabin just outside of Morson. Great place to be and we usually have an awesome time. Last year was differant. We set out on the first morning and dropped our shore lunch gear off on Rabbit Is. and set out to catch a couple of wallys for lunch, and then went after Musky's. After fishing a few hours we decided to go back and eat.I was getting the tater's and beans ready and he was taking care of the fish, he says to me "did you bring the oil"? So we had taters and beans for lunch, no fish, man, was I P.O.ed. The next night just before dusk we were heading back to the cabin and I headed the boat between 2 islands that we had fished earlier and Tim told me to watch out for rocks, and I gave him the- yea whatever, don't tell me look, and the next thing I know 1/2 of my skeg is gone with some of the prop. He has a great way of tellin me I told you so, it consists of a little chuckle, drives me nuts! So the last morning of the trip we are wiped out, we had been fishing hard, battled storms just about every day, and didn't have the success that we anticipated, and were on each others nerves, like two brothers can be after a miserable week, we decided to put in a couple of hours of fishing before pulling the plug. As we're heading out I'm staying close to my track from the previous day, but not close enough, I slammed a reef and before I could trim up and shut the motor off we had hit 2 more times shearing the remaining skeg and destroyed the prop. There was complete silence-- then a little chuckle. Can't believe we're going again in a 3 months!

[MuskyBrian]

The Straps....Hilarious, blame it on others exactly what I would do

T BONE...that sucks!!! I have good luck with rocks so far in Canada but there's certain lakes where my fingers are always crossed when we drive without a map

[buzzin for bass]

O.k. I'll be the first with the plug story. I have a 15.5' tri-hull run about that I have converted into a fishing boat, complete with front and back fishing decks, livewell...the works (at least for an old runabout). Anyway, turning the old runabout into a fishing boat was a two year process. The first year I did the front deck for me and by the end of that season all my fishing partners complained enough about fishing out the bottom of boat between those old two-way fold out seats that I decided to put a deck in back. The first time out after completing the back end of the boat I was so excited to see how it all worked that I wasn't paying attention when I launched the boat and just started fishing, and I was alone. I fished for almost an hour without noticing anything. The pedastal seat in the front is right in the middle of the boat and with the tri-hull design as I took on water from forgetting the plug I just sank straight down. About an hour into the trip I moved to the back of the boat to grab something and as I did the the boat started a slow rock, I then noticed about 10 inches of water on top of the original floor. Luckily the old 50 hp merc. fired right up and I cruised back to the ramp at about a 60 degree angle from all the water. Talk about embarassing, when the only way to get water out of the boat is the little hole in the back it takes just as long to get out as it took to get in. I sat at the ramp for an hour with my boat on the trailer while the water drained as people drove by.

[TBone1]

Brian, there were some tough lessons taught to me that week, thats what happens when a guy gets cocky and complacent

[Random guy]

It amazing when you are running late and everything is going h**l in a bucket how much worse it can get.

I was fishing one morning before I had to pick up clients. Thought I would use the kicker and troll around for awhile trying to find the ciscoes so I could put the clients on them later. Well I don't know if I screwed up my booking or what happened but the clients had been at the dock waiting for an hour and I was still six miles out. Of course I shut down the kicker, threw the rod on the deck, fired up the main motor and opened it up trying to make time...yep forgot to put the kicker back up. About the fourth or fifth time it slammed up and down I realized what was going on and shut everything down before the kicker snapped off only to have one of the local walleye guides yell across the water "Way to go Jonny,woohooo" I waved pulled my hat down and avoided him for two weeks.

[cjac]

Cliffy.......that is too funny! I've not done that yet, but I'm sure I'll do it this summer now! That's what I get for laughing!

For me it was driving up to Mille Lacs for a day and realizing the boat keys were left on the workbench in the garage......no keys limits one's options!! I felt like criminal having to hotwire the boat!

Left the suglasses on the bow as I was hooking up in the garage.......amazingly 40 miles later they were still there!!

More tales to come from this season I'm sure!

[Gus]

Our cabin is water only access and we arrived late at night. No moon that night and it was pitch black. The ride is a pretty easy one, no obsticles in the way but the opposite shoreline. The first treck across went fine. We took it slow and made it. We got the cabin lights on which you can see from the lake so now we had our bearings in the darkness. Back to the landing for trip number two. This time on the way back to the cabin we were going full speed expecting to see the lights on in the cabin. Well, it turns out the propane fueling the lights was so low that they went out while we were across the lake. The next thing I remember is seeing the rocky shore just Feet in front of me! (insert explicative and fill shorts here) Luckily there is a small bay directy to the left of the shore we were about to slam into which we were able to veer into as we cranked the steering and throttled down. We missed the shore by feet and to this day I'm still surprised we didn't hit a rock with the motor before we could kill it.

[jigeye]

My story starts with owning a fishing boat with an outboard for years and as the family grew we decided to upgrade to a larger fiberglass fish and ski with an I/O. I bought a used one that was in really good shape and took it out for a few cruises on my own and noticed the knuckle made some noise when I was making a sharp turn so decided to pull the outdrive off and grease the knuckle. That wasn't too difficult I thought. OK it's time to take the whole family out for a day of fun in our new boat. All the kids and our stuff are loaded, the wife backs me in and I start the engine. Everything seems to he working. I put it in reverse and it comes off the trailer than I shift it to go forward except it still is in reverse. I am standing waving and hollering at my wife to back the trailer in so I can try and load it back on to see what I did wrong. She backs it in with a "you should have taken it to the dealer" look on her face as I back it close to the trailer than jump out and turn it around and hook it up. I than pull it out and forget to shut the engine off. People are chuckling at the launch. I figured out that I didn't have the shift cable attached properly so get that fixed and try it again. Wife backs me in and parks the trailer. As we are sitting there in the water waiting for her I noticed the back of the boat seemed to be in the water more than usual. I not only forgot to put the plug in but left it laying on the back of the trailer at home. Well it did not make the trip to the landing. So I start pumping water out with the bilge and it is barely keeping up. I quickly drop the wife and kids off at the dock and tell my wife to run and get the trailer. By this time my wife and kids are not happy with me at all. We have to pull the boat about 12 miles to the nearest hardware store to buy a new plug. 2 hours after we left home we finally get on the lake.

[MuskieMojoTackle]

Took a header off the dock on Tonka 2 years ago in front of about 100 people and one CO.

Going in to load the boat. Put my foot out to slow it down and then gracefully step on to the dock and go get the truck. Well, the dock was one of those that float on the pipes and the corner that I stepped on sagged under my mass and dumped me right in the drink.

So, if you remember seeing a big, bald moron fall off the dock at Grey's Bay...yep, it was me.

[muskieboy46]

two years ago in the late october i was planning on fishing tonka. So my dad backs the boat down while i hold the rope. Everything goes smoothly and i begin walking backwards slowly bringing the boat to the end of the dock. Well, the end of the dock was a lot closer than i had thought and so i ended up going for a swim. The best part was the dirty looks i got from people as the boat and i were in their way of launching.

[kunk]

A couple of years ago the three of us go up to Vermilion for our last outing of the year in late October. About the time we are hitting Hwy 53, Bill asks if anyone remembers loading his tackle box. No one could remember picking it up, so we all pull together and assure him we have plenty of jigs, leaders, lures, etc for all of us. We get up there and sure enough, we didn't have his box. The other two of us give him a lot of dump, call him an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly for forgetting the most important thing. We get unloaded and put the boat in the water, and go back to the cabin to get ready to go out. I'm in my bedroom taking off my clothes preparing to go out on the night, and I realize my duffle with my clothes wasn't there. I had driven up just jeans and a light shirt. So for the weekend, while the other guys had long undies and heavy jackets and rain gear, I had to share my fishing tackle and fish in the clothes I was wearing and a light jacket borrowed from one of the other guys. Believe me, late October is not the time to be on Vermillion dressed like that, especially at night.

Kunk

[DeBo101]

I spent 8 days on the winnipeg river at the end of august last year and it only took my 2.5 hours to catch a 41" ski. I caught the fish on a grinder spinnerbait and that became my new favorite bait. The next day I managed to get it wedged in a crack of a granite point and I couldn't wiggle it out for the life of me. I was wet up to my shoulder but it was just deep enough that I couldn't reach it. Should have just cut the line and cut my losses NO WAY. So what do I do? Park the boat on the rock strip down to my B-day suit and go swimming in the 60 degree water for a stupid spinnerbait. I did get the lure and shivered for the next our or so but I was happy I had my lure back. I am glad no one had the unfortunate luck of wandering near the point while I was reclaiming my lure. The best part was 4 hours later I cast the bait out and the blade lands about 30 feet past the rest of the lure (a spinnerbait isn't a spinnerbait without a blade it is an odd looking jig ). So I took the lure off my leader and put on a Rad Dog. Then I stopped for a moment and thought about the silly things we musky fisherman do .

[Muskie_Man]

Forgot the transom saver on!!! Not good for the prop!!!!!!

[efgh]

My wifes uncle and father-in-law and wives went to milacs fishing about 15 years ago, they took the uncles boat which had twin 40 H.P. Evenrudes on it, they used the axcess off 169 that was about 75 ft. from the road. The uncle took the boat out alone to get the motors warmed up, he decided to give his brother and woemen a thrill and came for shore wide open, his intent was to back off the power when he got close to shore, the back of the boat would set down and the wave behind would set the boat on the beach, only it didn;t happen this time , a cable screw let loose on the carbs, the motors were wide open closing the gap between water and beach, the next thing they saw was the motors spitting sand out from behind, up across the beach, when he got stopped the nose of the boat was on the stripped line of the high way, the props were in bad shape, it took all 4 and some passers by to get the boat back to the shore and reloaded.