Mine was at Purtis Creek. I launched the boat with my daughter in it. My brother pulled the trailer out and went to park.
I went out far enough to be out of the way and was circling around waiting on him. My daughter said Dad, where’s all this water coming from about the same time my shoes got soaked. I headed for the bank, trimmed the motor up and beached it. It was a bit of a steep bank so the transom was at a pretty good angle at the bottom. I was reaching down under the motor to get the plug in and my inflatable vest blew up like one of those life raft going off in a closet on one of those old tv shows.

Found some guys that had that issue one time but it was not forgotten it got pulled.

I dated a guy in college that lived very near Toledo Bend.
We were going out frog gigging one night and put in at a little natural boat launch locals knew about.
Got out past the standing snags into the main boat channel and we see a light flashing at us looks like.
We go closer and hear some guys yelling at us for help.

Well, they had backed their bass boat up next to some snags to fish and somehow the plug got plugged, they were half sunk and scared shatless.
We loaded both guys up in the john boat and took them to where they put in across the lake.
They said they were half floating for hours and watching the alligators swim around after dark.
This was way before cell phones.

Went back out there the next day and their boat had sunk, not very deep water and it was a fairly new boat.

I've fished a whole day with the plug out in my boat. Turned the bilge pump on and kept fishing. No big deal.

Done it twice, I was actually surprised how much of a non issue it was. Bilge pump would come on about every 10 minutes and run for a few then kick off.

several years ago I came back to the ramp at Eufaula and there were couple older guys wading in water trying to guide their boat up on trailer....got my trailer,ran my boat up on trailer and by this time they had pulled their boat halfway up ramp and water was pouring out of drain...obvious they had forgot to put their plug in....one of them asked me "did you ever do this before"...told I had done it once years ago but never again because I never take my plug out...and if i do,I stand there til water finishes draining and immediately put plug back in....
one of them commented "that's crazy"...my reply was "crazy is when you standing on ramp with water pouring out of your drawers and your boat's drain because you forgot to put the drain plug in.."....

I left it out once, was close enough to get it to the beach, saved the day

Good stories only I got was from a friend was out fishing and took on water he got the boat on plane and told guy to pull the well he did and threw it in the lake...

Not mine, but back in the 80's I saw a 1960 something ski boat sink in about 20 feet of water on Lake Waco. The two guys that were in it said "F" it and left it there. Watched them drive off from the ramp with an empty trailer.

One reason i carry a spare.

I left the plug out on a stern drive recreational boat during early Spring. The water was cold enough that no one planned on water skiing or tubing that day. The stern drive V-hull holds a lot of water before it comes creeping across the floor boards. I ran the boat at 30 mph with the trim up and the bilge pump on so it would drain from both holes. I had a friend tie off a ski rope while we we running across the lake. Once the bilge pump stopped running, I stopped the boat and jumped over board holding the ski rope in one hand and the brass screw in plug in the other hand. It was cold but I managed to get it in there. After that incident, I started keeping the plug and the boat key in the same cup holder. I won't pull the key out of the cup holder until the boat plug is installed. It is much easier to fix those mistakes while the boat is still on the trailer at the boat ramp.

Nobody in their right mind would ever forget something like that, said no boater ever.
I think my first time was back in '97 with my brand new Triton TR-21 PD. Launched the boat and rode a few miles up the lake. Stopped to fish for a while and when I went to move to another spot I stepped in ankle deep water in the cockpit. Guess I forgot to check the block for an auto bildge pump because I dang sure didn't have one. Was too much water to get on plane so I plowed for a while with the bildge pump on.

Went out with my FIL at Amistad shortly after he got his first boat. We ran about half way up devil's canyon and finally stopped before we realized the auto bilge was pumping constantly. It was winter time, so I had to strip down in order to keep my clothes dry.

Only problem was that I'm not sure me jumping nekkid into the cold water taught my FIL his lesson. He'll tell stories of at least 2 other times where he forgot the plug after that trip.

Done it several times. My first time I fished for quite a while and I figured it out, I pulled over to the bank and whittled a sweet gum limb and wrapped a little black tape around it so it would form to the threads and screwed it in from the inside.actually sealed better than the actual plug

Met my cousin and friends at a lake with my boat. Cousin had a new to him boat and just before launching I asked him if his plug was in. He looked down and said, “Yep”. We launched him and he motored over to the courtesy dock and waited for me to launch my boat. Suddenly he sees water at his ankles. Water was over his batteries and motor wouldn’t start so we had to pull him over to the ramp as my buddy runs to get his trailer. After it was on the trailer and draining water, my cousin looks down ant the transom and says, “ hmmm, I guess I put it in the wrong hole!”

about 20 years ago, it wasnt a plug I forgot to put in... it was a week after I had forgotten to tie down kayak and it had flown off the top of my car hitting nose first into the pavement at 65 mph.. had some road rash on bottom of kayak and bent bow tip.. used some JB waterweld and hit the water the next weekend going offshore.. got about two miles out and conditions got bad.. I was taking waves over the bow for half an hour when I realized I had a lot of water inside hull and it was getting worse.. turned around and headed back in..

with following waves trying to paddle back in, it was burying my bow worse and worse as more water seeped into crack in bow that I didnt get sealed completely.. it got so bad I couldnt control kayak going forward and had to turn bow into waves and let wind and sliding down the back of each wave push me back to shore... it was taking forever and I still hadnt made it to the surf zone.

couldnt believe I made it back in... people all over the beach watching my return.. I was about 20 yards off the beach when I lit up a victory smoke.. so proud that I didnt have to be rescued at sea.. sling one leg over the side to jump out before hitting the beach and all the water shifted to that side and dumped me. Im sitting in two feet of water, wet cigarette broke in half hanging from my lip, sunglasses disappeared, rods in surf... most embarrassing kayak moment ever, for me.