Dumb Mistakes.

[mdeiley]

the way you were heading i thought for sure the batteries in the flashlight would have been dead. it happens to all.

[Crawlerman]

heh, No kidding. I was glad we didn't have to swim underneath this rather scary looking bridge down by the Carver acess.

I got a small flathead (6lber or so) and WWG got a nice 12.5 lb Channel which I told him we shoulda gotten a picture of. We were only able to fish for about an hr and a half because of the inital delays; and due to we thought there was a storm coming in so we got off. Typical that it ended up missing us too. Oh well...

[Aquaman01]

John remembers this day - the day I learned about 'drifting' a jig.
Pool 2, 1st time out with my spiffy new Gapen's I'd saved all winter for. I was in Dennis's boat with my son, and I had a jig 8' down on the bottom, and my son needs a re-tie. I set my rod down & start chewing on the line and realize it's braid. I'm working this re-tie and looking for my knife and we start to drift. We must have drifted over a snagpile, 'cause I hear the rattle and look up just in time to see my new walleye rig go over board. I was 1/2 way stripped down before I realized a) the water was 58 degrees and b)really really fast. We tried (thanks Dennis!) to snag it up, but nothing.
I won't be making that mistake again anytime soon.
Only launched with the plug out once - and Walleye_GFA witnessed it - otherwise I'd never admit it to anyone

------------------
Aquaman
<')}}}}}><{
Peace and Fishes

[Crawlerman]

Went to the River last night with Waste Water Guru (aka John)... and one would think people with this much expereince wouldn't make dumb mistakes like this? I counted five; and we almost sunk the boat twice (mistakes 3 and 4). Perhaps this can be the start of a thread for other dumb or potentially unsafe mistakes people have done (or failed to do!)

Mistake #1: I had bought $7 worth of suckers (as WWG told me too) Which were not needed since we ended up getting some bullheads for free from Dennis Steele(formerly Fish head) on the way to the launch. Suffice to say the sucker minnows didn't survive the trip either, and were all dead by the time we got to the launch.

Mistake #2: I wore my GOOD normal shoes, forgetting to change into my crappy ones or watersocks. The launch was very muddy and I sunk into the mud with one foot while launching the boat, completely engulfing and destroying those pair of shoes. Another $30 down the hole!

Mistake #3: We got the boat launched, and beached it on the shore. I notice some water on the floorboards and point it out to him. WWG forgot to put the plug in the boat! And so the thing was taking on water fast! He runs up, gets the truck; and were lucky that we are able to get it on the trailer before it totally submerged! And this isn't the end of it either....

Mistake #4: So after draining the boat, as we had a little difficulty getting it launched before WWG decides he wants to try to drive the boat off while I back it in. I warn him that it's prally not a good idea, but he insists; so I shrug and note to back down as slowly as I can. We don't even get that far. As soon as I release the parking brake; FOOSH! The boat falls partially off the trailer with the bow sticking high in the air. Basic law of physics: when you have a 200 lb guy and a 50 lb motor in the back with little to nothing in the front; guess which end is gonna want to go up when released? Somehow he managed to stay in the boat and not get thrown into the water by this; I quickly ran out and re-secured the wench to the teetering boat and pulled it back on the trailer; pulled it forward slowly, and let him out again. Fortunately neither the boat nor the lower unit hit the ramp as it was still on the trailer; but we flooded the rear compartment AGAIN as water was send fooshing over the transom when that little stunt happened.

Mistake #5: Here's where it gets REALLY scary. The boat has no Nav lights. And we plan to night fish. We had to navigate back on a fairly narrow and treacherous stretch of the Minnesota river in the dark with only a flashlight that would let me see about 10 feet in front of the boat. The water was filled with snags and floating debris. We managed to miraculously make it back with scraping the bottom of the boat only a couple of times, and dealing no noticeable damage to the prop/lower unit. That was really scary though, even though we only went about 5 mph on the way back because of it.

[Grabs]

Trust me,...WWG is a dangerous man! He almost killed me once too!

Ever hit a over hanging branch at 15-20 mph!

[can it be luck?]

When it rains it pours....I'm sure it's not all WWG, just a bad day!

[Mykal]

At least you didn't run out of gas and float aimlessly down the river, at night, with no nav lights. Could always be worse I guess. So, did you catch any fish?

[wastewaterguru]

Well, like ya said.....it could have been worse. And considering the limited fishing we did, I was happy to get the two fish we did. We had several bites that we missed as well.

As far as the plug goes......I have no excuse other than the fact that I usually fish out of an 18 foot Lund Fisherman that stays in the garage (Thus the plug stays in it).

Just had a brain fart I guess.

The scary part of the boat ride wasn't that scary to me. Unless you have a RiverPro jet boat, you always run the risk on the river of bumping a few submerged logs. Wouldn't have mattered too much how much light we had, we still would have hit 'em.

Still had a good time though.

By the way Crawlerman, I know ya felt a little uncomfortable during the nightime boat ride........but, openly posting to everyone that I was breaking the law without nav. lights is not a good way to get invited back.

Yes, I said that with a smile. Give me a call and we'll try again another day if you're up for it.

P.S. Grabs, I think it was more like 25 to 30 mph.

[Blackstarluver]

PRALLY????????????
God lyk!
JC

[Grabs]

I guess it was hard to tell exactly how fast we were going at that time.

"The scary part of the boat ride wasn't that scary to me."
No, I suppose not much is scary after living through what we did last fall.

[wastewaterguru]

I still don't know which was scarier.....

Last fall or last WINTER!!!

[Northlander]

Once dragged my anchor 6 miles and didnt realize it until it lodged on a rock pile and turned the boat around on a dime! Duh!

[Dano2]

HEH, HEH, did the same once, only the little 9.9 I had at the time almost twisted off the boat. Had a sherlock on there and didn't have the key with, so I couldn't straighten the moter back ,had a fun time driving across the lake back

[Crawlerman]

I did that once with a float behind minnow bucket and almost lost that... Put her up to plane, and then noticed something yellow bobbing in the distance of my wake, and a frayed stringer tied to the boat. Drove back and got it.

I also left the trolling motor down once and was wondering why the boat wouldn't plane all the way back to the launch. I only looked behind me to see that the trolling motor was still down about 100 feet from the launch.

[Crawlerman]

I did that once with a float behind minnow bucket and almost lost that... Put her up to plane, and then noticed something yellow bobbing in the distance of my wake, and a frayed stringer tied to the boat. Drove back and got it.

I also left the trolling motor down once and was wondering why the boat wouldn't plane all the way back to the launch. I only looked behind me to see that the trolling motor was still down about 100 feet from the launch.