This past Sunday at Tawak for me. GPS was running on my dash with tracklog up. I was headed to the ramp at the state park. The rain got so hard I could barely see past the front of the boat. As it began to slack some, I saw the woods directly in front of me. I had not looked down at the GPS for a few minutes and was 90 degrees off course.

The other time I was in college and headed out in a jon boat to a duck blind in the fog. After about 20 minutes we ended up back at the ramp. It's hard to believe you go in circles when lost, but it is so true.

Got disoriented in the fog once on a power plant lake. I didn't have my GPS turned on at the time. When I finally realized I didn't know where I was going, I turned on my GPS and discovered that I was going in the complete opposite direction. Even following my track back to the ramp I still did not think I was going in the right direction untill I finaly saw the ramp.

I am usually pretty good with directions from competing in Orienteering as a youngster, but before I got into fishing me and my wife had rented a jet ski on Lake Travis and went tooling around and realized we didn't have any idea where we were. Fortunately I paid close attention to landmarks as we went by, and got to be the hero. Lol.

Pretty much the same situation,duck hunting, got turned around heading to our flasher, we had hung in the trees on Somerville..GPS batteries carped out halfway to our spot

I have yet to be disoriented on the lake in MY boat, always use trackback, just follow the little line, and trust your electronics

A few years back I was duck hunting on Aquilla. It was dark, cold, and REALLY foggy with zero wind. I could barely see past the boat. I was idling 25 yards off the bank to get to the spot I was hunting. Stopped for a few seconds and the boat swung on me. At that moment I had no idea were the bank was. I just stopped the boat and sat there for a few minutes until I was able to figure out what direction I was pointed. Complete spacial disorientation. Now I know I should have had a compass or a GPS, but I didn't. It was really weird to know I was 25 yards from the shore, but had no idea were it was.

Fished the old US Bass circuit years ago at Rayburn. Left Twin Coves at NOON! Still had about 6'(yes 6 foot) visibility then. Ran 15 miles to the 147 bridge (Harveys)by compass and at 60 mph. 60 mph x 15 min.=15 miles. Yea!went right thru the Black Forest and didnt touch a stump!At 15 min. exactly,stoped the boat. Was within 50 yards of the 147 bridge. If you've never fished with the best in the nation then you dont know what a REAL boat ride is!!

Traveling at anything above idle speed in a thick fog is extremely dangerous, not only to yourself but anyone else out there in the fog. Besides having a compass on board, the other most important thing to do is to SLOW DOWN!!!

Upper end of Toledo Bend about 3 or 4 years ago!

There were four of us camped during a scheduled fishing/reunion trip for retired, ex co-workers in March. We started these trips when we were working together in 1972, and they have continued through retirement. That is another long story; and, the experiences are some of the very best memories that I enjoy. This day was not one of the highlights.

We woke up one morning in camp to heavy fog, and didn't think too much about it. We were waiting for the fog to burn off to go fishing. I believe there was an Oil Man's, or Redman Bass tournament in progress that week. We had seen some of the pro-types and the 300hp powered rigs a day or two before. While eating breakfast, we could hear what sounded like 2 or 3 of the big motors at WOT in that very heavy fog. From the bank, it seemed that visibility was down to 10-15 max! We knew they had to be running GPS; but, it still seemed very dangerous to us.

At around 10AM, the four of us decided to idle down lake in two boats approximately 3 miles as the crow flies, but about 5 miles by following the very crooked river channel. Other than the channel, the water is shallow, with trees, logs and widow makers everywhere; and, the lake was down 2-3 feet. We still expected the fog to burn off at any time. The temp. was in the high 40s, and expected to reach the high 50s.

On the water, we couldn't see more than about 20 feet. With depth finders, we managed to stay in the channel most of the time and find a buoy marker once in a while. Then; we began to see the same high forked tree about 3 times, and the grassy top of a hump about 4 times! So; we decided to idle across the stumps toward shore to look for a particular cove to fish. We rode across stumps, got hung up a time or two and made it into the wrong cove. We didn't recognize the area, didn't know how far the shore was and were just plain lost. So; we broke out lunch, floated around and visited, still waiting on the fog to lift.

One of the guys gets vertigo in the fog and he was nauseous the whole day. Another continued tossing a 1/8oz. bubble belly to trees and laydowns and caught about a 12# striper. That perked up the group. I made a cast every once in a while, but was very concerned when the fog hadn't lifted by 2PM.

Around 3PM, we decided we would have to try to find the channel again and idle back to camp. We did finally find a channel marker; and then, discovered that we did not know which way to follow the channel in the fog. The lake was low and there was very little current in the river channel on the upper end. Our two boats gathered up around the marker and finally determined the current flow and which way to return to camp.

As some will know, the channel in that area doubles back on itself several times in a short distance, and it is hard to determine whether the next found marker will keep you in the channel, or take you across a stump field. Well, we crossed a few stump fields at idle until we returned to an area that was easier to navigate back to camp. The fog did not lift all day.

That was a very long day of being lost on the lake. Also, I have to mention that two of the party were retired pilots and there was not a compass on either boat!

Now there is a compass on each boat, and I stuck a GPS on mine. I never want to be in that situation again.

Dam cajun Ive never seen it that bad. Ive spent a few hundred winter days on Toledo and never seen it last past 11:30am. I can usually slowly navigate the fog at night by looking at the moon or stars. If I get real lost I try to find a bank and slowly follow it while fighting stumps.