Got half way to the lake this morning and remembered that I forgot the key. One hour later we were back in business. The boy found it quite humorous until he realized his gameboy batteries weren't going to hold out for the entire trip. Needless to say there will be an extra key hidden on board by next weekend. Surely I am not the only Homer Simpson to do this - anyone else???

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"Why work when you can fish?"

Welcome to the club, Steve. There's more of us than you know who have done exactly what you did. Only difference is they ain't tellin'...

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Steve, I have become so forgetful that I plan in my sane moments to idiot proof me against me. Keys for both boats stay in the truck. Rationale, neither boat is going to the lake without the truck. Now, if I could just remember where in the truck I put the keys.....oh well.

Been there done that, was headed to purtis creek one weekend from irving, got all the way to my brother-in-laws house which is close to purtis and put my new trolling moror on my boat and was BSing with my brother-in-law and haveing some beers and wanted to check the motor and make sure it was going to start put the the muffs on the motor started running the water and looked for the key well there was no key, it was still in irving, to make a long story short i drank to much to be driving and my wife had to drive all the way back to irving to get the key and did not make it back untill 1 am, i was in the dog house for a long time.lol now keep the key on my ring and one in my truck.

ray

We have all probably done the forgotten key thing a few times. I keep a complete set of keys (boat and truck) in my first aid kit in the boat. Also, a few dollars in quarters, a spare set of glasses, and a good phone list. Never know when they will come in handy.....

I LEAVE THE KEYS IN MY BOAT. I FIGURE ITS NOT GOING ANYWHERE. THERES NO WATER AROUND MY HOUSE. IF YOU HAVE TO TAKE THE KEYS OUT OR WINTERIZE IT YOU ARE NOT USING IT ENOUGH.I ALSO KEEP A SPARE ON MY KEY CHAIN.

BEEN THERE!!!IT SUCKS

I took my nephew to Barren River Resv this summer and arrived early. We had stopped at a bait shop about a mile from the ramp to purchase some minnows. Everything was beautiful! Light winds, mixture of cloud cover, the hybrids had been hitting, etc. As he pulled out of the water, I reached into my pocket for the boat key. I looked up the ramp and he was out of sight. I remembered that I had the keyes earlier, as I had unlocked the storage box to get a minnow bucket. When my nephew got within shouting distance, I asked him to go back and check the SUV for the boat keys. A smart*** reply was his retort, loud enuff for several others around the ramp to hear. 5 minutes later he returned, no keys.

Then it hit my 59 year old mind! I had fumbled in my pocket to get the exact change for the minnows and must have left the key on the counter at the bait shop. As my nephew burned rubber in MY SUV and RangerTrail trailer, I subconsciously smacked my forehead for my ineptness. My Father passed away recently from Alzheimers disease and my lapses weigh on me.

He returned in 15 minutes, with the keyes. A trying start to an otherwise beautiful day on the water. I really don't need this stress!....two weeks ago I lost a set of my boat keys at the same ramp while entertaining family. Just think....it will only get worse!....SMILE AND LIVE FOR TODAY.

FishTex101 is right....the only thing worst than forgetting your boat key is to drop your truck keys in the dink. I always keep an extra boat AND truck key in the boat tool box.

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I allways keep a set of boat keys in my tackle box. And yes, I have had to use them.

Tini

[This message has been edited by Tinisson (edited 11-15-2003).]

I keep a boat key with my every day keys and a truck key on my boat key ring....
I have also had to use both.... I have also tried to hotwire my boat and blew up the starter.... but thats another story...

I put the boat key in the glove box of the truck at the ramp when I unload. There is a checklist I go through, and it aint that long, tiedowns, transom saver, plug out, lights working, electronics removed and stored in cab, all rods secured and nothing to fly out, trolling motor disconnected, live well drained and BOAT KEYS PUT IN GLOVE BOX.

When I launch, I put the truck keys inside a dry storage cooler on a loop so that, even if the cooler were to go overboard, the keys would still be on that loop attached to that cooler.

I have never lost my truck keys in the water and I have only once gotten to the lake without the boat key, but I just bypassed the ignition and was on my way. However, I have been with other people who have forgotten everything but the boat. They forgot rods on occasion, bait, drinks, fishing license, boat keys, life jackets, tackle box, net, cast net, coolers, you name it, they have forgotten it at one time or the other, so I fortunately have learned from the mistakes of others, and I hope I have't jinxed myself in saying it.

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www.nightfishing.net

Just had it happen to us this weekend. My mom had to come to the rescue and bring it to us.

That happened to me this weekend!!!!!!!!

My wife came to the rescue and I was only set back by an hour. Funny how I can read it on here and still screw it up!!

I did this a few years ago out on ray Roberts. Me and a Buddy set out to got to Ray Bob one weekday afternoon. We drove all the way out there and were getting ready to launch when we realized we had no keys. We didn't have enough time to go home and come back. So we started going through our keychains trying different keys and wouldn't you know it!....he had a key to a filing cabinet that started my boat. It was hilarious!!!!!

I cant recall if we did that well fishing wise, but i learned somewthing new that day.