ttt

TTT

Hi all, I am a new boy to your forum and was enjoying the tales. I live in the Uk we were fishing from a small boat of the east cost, we had not been catching much when I suddenly found my rod going mad. After a long time trying to bring what we thought was the catch of the day to the surface it finally came to the top, I had managed to lift the anchor, shock and horror we had drifted way down the coast.

It tok os an hour against the tide to get back to our launch site, and I was constantly reminded at the club after that about the clunker i nearly caught.

Some great stories guys. I have a few but they are all freshwater:

One time we were launching my johnboat in a private lake. We put everything in the boat…. fishing poles, tackle boxes, battery, trolling motor, ice chest, and put the plug in. The usual routine is back the trailer down until the truck tires are at a certain spot then climb out onto the tongue and finish pushing the boat to the end of the trailer. Then climb in the boat from the trailer so you don’t get your feet wet or muddy. Backed down and started to climb out on the trailer and something didn’t look right. The back of the boat not floating and was under the water a little. Didn’t undo the tie down straps!!!

Another time we were anchoring over a crappie hole. I was watching the fish finder and GPS and my buddy Doug was on the bow waiting for my call to drop anchor. When I felt we were right on the spot I gave the cue to drop anchor. I heard a big “cur plunk” and I said “you could have been a little more stealthy dropping anchor” “gonna scare the crappie”. I got no response from Doug and he was quiet as could be. I noticed the boat was still drifting and looked up to see him frozen and staring over the bow. He had tied like a 5 foot piece of rope to the anchor, thinking he was tying to the big pile of rope in the front of the boat.

Last one. We were crappie fishing at Gibbon’s creek and ready to head in. We untied from a tree and I made sure to pull the minnow bucket in and stow it away. Day before, by accident I had taken the minnow bucket for a 30mph ride dragging beside the boat. Then I headed to the boat ramp not going real fast. When I idled back for the no wake zone something wasn’t right. No one pulled the anchor we had off the stern and we drug it all the way back. Luckily it was a small anchor and no damage was done.

Oh great stuff... I don't quite feel so bad now...yet...

My "fond" fishing memories started at a very young age. I'll start back as far as I can remember. We were going Floundering in Late Nov/Early Dec and I was ~6yrs old, Dad had a flatbottom Jonboat with a 20hp Johnson, we launched out of the Port A municipal ramp and ran up the ICW almost to the Lighthouse, I was so happy to get to go Floundering with dad, I had a "small" pair of waders that swallowed me and wearing a pair of dad's old shoes over the stocking feet. This was back when we still used foil over 3/4 of the lantern to Flounder, this comes into play later... Dad lit my lantern and handed it to me with the instruction: No matter what, don't drop the lantern in the water. Well... the water was murky & we had less than knee deep (on Dad, about crotch deep on me) visibility and we were trudging along toward the lighthouse with Dad dragging the boat, we walked about 5 min trying to get to the grass in hopes the water would clear up when I step into a Stoner hole, down I went and WOWZA that water was cold! I managed to stand up and spitting seawater with waders full and the glass shattered on the lantern and had gone swimming. amongst the laughter Dad & Uncle helped me in the boat, we had a 1/2 plastic barrel to put the Flounder in so I crcawled down in the barrel to get out of the wind and Dad gave me an old army wool blanket to cover with, About 20 minutes later when they finally gathered their composure he looked over and said "All I heard was a scream and a splash, I looked over and you were trying your best to keep the lantern above water, all I could see was the Arm & lantern!"

Then the trip got better.....

We crossed the ICW to the back side of St Joe, I stayed in my barrel and was watching while they trudged along until we finally gave up ~1am. We started heading back, They didn't have very good spotlights back then... So were cruising along just barely on a plane and dad kept wildly swinging the spotlight around like he was looking for a landmark, heck I even knew where we were... then I heard him say to my Uncle "Somewhere around here is an old shrimpboat that the cabin roof sticks up during low tide... BAMMMMM..... found it. I got thrown out of my barrel into the front floorboard, Uncle got thrown from the middle seat over the front and into the water. There wer were, on the coastal edge of the ICW with out Jonboat high & dry on the roof of the sunken shrimpboat...

Fortunately it was a Jonboat and it was light enough for them to push it back into the water, the bow was a little krinkled but didn't leak. Once we calmed down and got our nerves back, then we laughed hysterically. Dad ensured us that there were no more obstacles left between us & the Harbor.

More to follow...

We fished alot when I was growing up...

I had been on many Trotline/Throwline catfishing trips with Dad and at the ripe young age of 12 I had it ALL figured out...

Dad had already taught me how to run the 7.5hp Evinrude in the San Antonio river hear Charco, so we were going to Mathis Lake, down near the dam to catch some big flatheads. Dad backed the trailer down and I anxiously mounted the motor and connected the fuel line, couple cranks and It fired right up like it was supposed to do, Dad unhooks the front and I pop it into reverse and gun it... Notice ^ Mounted... not tighten the screws... I twisted the handle and the most amazing thing happened... The prop jumped out of the water and the motor took off... without the boat attached... I'm still not sure to this day if it was fear or lack of common sense but I sure wasn't going to let go of that handle! SPLASH.... Fortunately for me the sudden dunking of the motor ended the combustion process because I remember the lower unit hitting my leg before I let go!

As I gathered my bearings my dad was holding the bowline and laying on the dock screaming with laughter... so were quite a few other people in the vicinity. Of course, after I assured them that I was OK, the laughter continued...

Luckily I was only in about 6' of water, we recovered the motor, pulled the spark plug, pulled the cord a couple times, re-assembled & about 20 pulls later it started back up. We ended up having a really good trip after that... Lesson learned, make sure the screws are really tight...

lol, good stuff

TTT

Well... once I learned this fine lesson and my Dad gained a bit more trust in my Boatmanship, I was allowed to use the boat on my own...
I was about ~14 at the time and living in Skidmore, Had this bright Idea that my buddy and I were going to run a trotline in Corrigan Creek on his grandfather's place... We set up camp and all is well, seined up some perch out of the tank and away we went. We had set a trotline along an undercut creek bank where I suspected a big flattie was hiding under...

The next morning we were collecting our bounty of some nice 5-7lb Channels and when I eased the Jonboat up to the trotline I could see it tugging and started getting excited. My Buddy was my "Lineman" in the front and I hadn't taken his lack of experience into consideration... Well, He grabbed the line and started working down to the 1st hook where we had a big cat, he was tussling and yelling, I was trying to hold the boat steady and he was freaking out, Finally I told him to drop the line and we switched places, Once again, I hadn't taken into consideration his lack of experience and "assumed" he knew how to run the boat... bad idea...

I told him to ease me back up to the line, fortunately the overgrown monkeygrass cushioned our wide open impact into the bank...

I manage to grab the line and screamed at him to get me the F outta here and BACK up... poor guy couldn't handle the stress, threw it into reverse & gunned it... Fortunately the creek was only ~20ft wide at this point when we went sailing into a fallen tree of branches, This was when I discovered the true intent of a kill switch attached to your wrist! The Yellowjackets were quite hasty to express their anger with the interuption of their nice summer morning

So we took a moment to reflect upon the series of misfortunate events and I go over the basics with him and he eases me back up to the line, I'm working my way down & struggling with the fish... unfortunately not paying attention to what the "Captian" was doing... In his keen observations he was trying to replicate my 6yrs of boat operation experience and had put the motor in reverse again and forgot that minor detail. Now, I was fighting the trotline and fish and the boat being in reverse and his full attention was on what I was doing...

Well... I was trying to get my hand under this 35lb Blues gillplate since we didn't have a net and I realized the boat was dragging us backward, I yelled at him to get me some slack on the line... Well, he guns is again. I had already gotten under the gillplate & had a firm grip that I didn't plan on letting go... SPLASH... over the front I went, Fortunately I stood up and the water was only chest deep... once I regained my bearings and still had a firm grasp on the fish, he had already pulled the ripcord and was standing up watching me, With some extremely colorful language I politely informed him to PADDLE back to me!

That was the last time I had the joy of being the Lineman and getting to land the fish... Some strange reason I just had a psychological stigma of letting somebody else run the boat...

I was stationed at Ft Lee, VA and lived on a Houseboat. We also had a 14' Johnboat with a lil 15 Mariner. Some buddies & I from work had gone down the river and set some lines and were catching nice 5-6lb Blues & Channels on the lines, 1 point where the 2 Rivers came together we dropped anchor (Cinderblock) on a shallow sandbar and were nightfishing, Man it was cold... we started noticing frost forming on the seats but we were catching fish, We decided to pull ashore to build a fire and we went to the Water treatment training facility down on the river, the Army had set up a real nice beach with 2-3" round smooth riverstones, this comes into play later...
We scrounged up some dry driftwood and made a small fire so we could warm up and hung out about an hour, about 1am we decided we would run the lines 1 more time & call it a night. Well, you see slimy moss likes to grow on these smooth flat flatstones... I got in back and started up the motor, the other guys loaded up and our Lineman was pushing us off, just as he tried to transition into the boat he lost his footing, granted the water where he fell was ~4" deep but with the slick rocks and the ice cold water he was floundering around trying to stand up and managed to finally get on dry land... amongst the hysterical laughter I managed to get back to him, several of us shared 1 of our layers of clothing to get him something dry & we made a bee line back to the house...

Somebody else's turn... I feel like I'm telling on myself too much...

More to come later

hahaha, i dnt think anyone minds lol TTT

If anybody can relate... please feel free to chime in also

My Buddy Chris & I were fishing the headwaters of Belton Lake on the Leon River at Iron Bridge park. There is a real nice primitive campground and a Boat ramp that was high & dry from the drought, It was Late Feb 2007 and after a harsh winter and Hunting Season the fishing bug had really hit hard, especially when we had a few consecutive clear days in the high 60's/Low 70's so we decided to plan a fishing excursion.
Our Fishing Excursions don't only consist of throwing a couple rods in the boat & grabbing bait on the lake as we go, these are major expeditions, multiple vehicles, grocery lists, boats, campers, tents, enough wood for an Aggie Bonfire, sustinance for 3 weeks, even if we only plan on a 3 day trip...
The weather had turned considerable sour between the time we began the planning phase and the time the execution actually occurred, at night it was dropping into the high 30's and the daytime was barely sneaking over 50.
Well, the water was down ~16ft that year and there was roughly 50yds of waist high weeds from the end of the Boat ramp to the water's edge. Launching the boat consisted of a good 4WD vehicle and backing the boat off the riverbank. Fortunatly we were using a 14' Jonboat with my lil 15hp Mariner, good for the "Skinny waters". The 1st afternoon we established camp that somewhat resembled an army outpost and by the time we got around to setting out throwlines we only managed to get 1/2 dozen set out. The following morning we picked up a couple nice Blues & Channels and that evening we were going to extend our set further up the "River" that more resembled a large creek.

We ran across a couple shallow spots where I had to lift the motor & coast over fallen trees, snake thru some shallow spots all the way setting lines in deep holes, undercut banks etc. Eventually we came to a huge fallen Willow across the river that we couldn't pass. Judging from the terrain of the bank, we were in a deep hole and I spied a perfect "tying branch" right in the center... this is where the mighty powers of observation combined with a Pint of Vodka don't really mix... This branch hanging down about shoulder high (when standing) split... the branch that protruded upwardly had fresh spring buds sprouting, the branch hanging down was obviously dry with parts of bark fallen off... So I holler at Chris, my Lineman... Grab the INSIDE of the "Y" to tie off... this is where it went south... Chris is roughly a foot shorter than I am, so he had to reach a little higher than I would have... and as soon as he stood up I had a vision of the future and premonition that it was about to get ugly and I started chuckling, well... chuckle turned to laughter when he grabbed the low hanging "End of the Y" and I was doing my best to compose myself when he started losing his balance and pushing the front of the boat while holding onto the dead branch... and then it happened... *SNAP* ... Chris & a 4' section of tree went swimming... well, the water was still in the lower 40's, when he came up the 1st time he still had both hands on the branch and was trying everything he could to stand on water and put the branch back in the tree! Just as he was about to go under he decided to abandon the branch and grab the boat instead! We helped him back in the boat and I called back to camp to have them throw some more logs on the fire and turn the heater on in the Camper... well, they knew... Chris went swimming again!
So I volunteer my Carhart to him and as expeditiously as I can safely get up back to camp we go. Chris is looking sorta popsicle-ish and cursing the whole way, I get him back to camp and help him up to the Pop-up Camper, I throw him some dry clothes and he was stripping out of his wet clothes... Just as I stepped out I mentioned loudly for him to close the curtains on the Big Bay window... As I walked over toward the fire I could see his glowing white hiney semi-distorted through the somewhat transparent plastic "window" and threw a comment in his direction to the effect of "Wow, guess the water was cold"... his Wife, innocently sitting snuggly by the fire with the same view the rest of us had said out loud "No, It wasn't the water..." We burst into laughing as he came out of the camper stating that the water was so cold the crown jewels had retracted for some warmer weather.

We have called him "Turtle Chris" since then... always a good way to get his blood pumping

Greatness Nophears!!
My best incident was last May fishing out of Port A. My brand new little darlin' bride and I were honeymooning there, and Mrs. Philpot, being the perfect bride, allowed me to drag the boat with us on this deal. Its Monday 17May09 and the wind is howling from 3 directions at once. The guides aren't even going out... Mrs. Philpot and I have driven 5 hours to go fishing, so a little bit of wind is NOT going to keep us on the beach. Can ya'll hear the stupidity that's resounding through my little mind here? We leave the protection of Port A harbor, and it looks just like the perfect storm where the Lydia Ann, Aransas, and Corpus channels are colliding, and my 18' aluminum cc starts taking a heinous pounding. I am unaware of the damage that's taking place, and we make it in after numerous and near-catastrophic bounces and jolts. Next day we're 6 miles up the Corpus channel and Mrs. Philpot notices there's 6" of water standing in the back of the boat. The bilge pump isn't keeping up with the inflow, so we get to full throttle asap and start heading in. We're sharing the water with a 1000' freighter that's throwing a wake like a small tsunami and I nearly catapult Mrs. Philpot several times as we get over the wake. All ends well with us making it into the harbor and onto the trailer. The problem turns out to be that about 36" of weld has split directly under the console, and man it's amazing how much water can come through an 1/8" wide crack 36" long.
I think I lost a little bit of my Tarzan mystique with Mrs. Philpot by nearly drowning her on our honeymoon....

Yeah, that tends to cost you quite a few "He-Man" points!
This is a really good story, we both got wet but neither of us had to fall out of the boat to do it...

My wonderfully trusting friend Chris and I got a wild idea that we were going to take my 14' skinny Jonboat up to Miami, OK (pronounced: My-AM-ah) to go Spoonbill fishing out of it. At that time I only had my lil 3.3 Evinrude and the trailer was designed for a much larger Jonboat. After the 10hr bouncing trip thru the lovely OK Highway system we finally got to our destination.
The next morning we launched and for the 1st time ever, I had a really hard time starting the little motor, it had always been a 2 pull start, but I got it started and pulled up to the dock and noticed a little water pooling already. We didn't call it S.S. Leaky for nothing... He parked the truck and when he jumped in the front, he noticed that there was a 2" crack perpendicular to the front seat where it sat on the front Trailer support... No biggie, we can handle this... That's why I buy good lifejackets...

We took off from the dock WIDE OPEN... and still didn't violate the "No Wake" zone... we knew we had about a 3 mile trip up the river. We had a pretty stiff North wind (bad direction) and as I started around the point to head up the river and the motor sputtered and dies, so I crank and crank and crank and get it started, battle the wind to stay out of the ugly looking main lake & get us closer to the shore and the motor keeps cutting out...
... backthinking (you know that's bad when you have to backthink) I used the last of the old gas from the 3gal can to mix some more, uh oh... trash in the carb... This could be bad, but in my redneck theology, I can fix this, I'll just dump the bowl and get some clean gas in it & we'll be OK....
We get close to shore & he's trying to paddle and I'm desperately cranking but were not making headway and all the other intelligent fishermen decided it was a good day to stay home... we were about 50yds from shore & he threw out the anchor to keep us out of the main part of the lake while I tinkered.
The 3.3 is an intriguing motor, mini lil 1-cyl & a pint size fuel tank built onto it. Getting the fuel bowl off was very easy, then there was a plink & plunk. I heard it, Chris heard it and probably every fish within a 1/2 mile heard it... but neither of us could figure out what it was.... remember the crack?... well, I had finished my coffee cup and it was the closest thing we had to a bailing bucket, so I took the minute to throw a few cups of water over the side...

reassembled the fuel bowl that was full of water and debris, 2 pulls & she was running like a champ... for about 20 sec... then it started acting like it was flooding, smoking, sputtering and there was fuel pouring out of the cowling.... uh oh... Luckily the fuel switch is prominently mounted on the side & able to shut it off quickly...

I pulled off the cowling and found the fuel was coming out the front of the Carb... Float valve needle... 20' deep in the lake...

We made a democratic decision and agreed that we drove all that way a day before everybody else and dangit, we were going fishing...

2 pulls, fired the motor up and away we go! Bail Bail, turn fuel valve on, Bail bail, Turn fuel valve off... this goes on for the 30 min boat ride up the river...

The only way to catch these Spoonbill is by snagging, we have these super heavy duty "Tuna" style Snaggin rods, Penn 209's with 108lb Braided Squid line, 12/0 Trebles and 16oz sinkers, we drag them along behind us bouncing them off the bottom in ~20' deep river channel, point the rod at the back of the boat, when the line gets taunt, make a full swing pull forward, letting the weight settle and the boat to pull the line tight again, then we puuuuulllllll..... Yes, it's lotsa work...

So I got into a rhythm, Bail Bail, Puuuuuullll rod, turn fuel off, puuuuulllll rod, bail bail, turn fuel ON, Puuuuulll rod, bail bail....

Fortunately this only went on for about 45 minutes before he hooked into a nice 53lb Sow, we managed to get her into the boat, tagged and tied off, bailed all the water & headed back to camp, I was exhausted!

Turn fuel on, Light cigarette, bail bail, turn fuel off...

luckily with the 15-20MPH wind pushing us we made it back to camp in about 20 minutes....

Good times...

Both Mrs. Philpot and I are impressed after reading the spoonbill saga!!!! Total committment to the event man! We can't always choose the circumstances that we have to endure, we just choose how we endure them. Greatness bud.

Ohhh.... I'm just really getting started... just waiting for a few others to chime in to tell their stories also...

ttt