4th of july after fireworks shows on texoma are always scary.i always just pull up to a beach and pray no one hits me or my boat. seen it happen before

Fishing on Ft. Phantom one early March day, wind came up from the north creating a pretty rough ride back to Crow's Nest. Another boat takes off so we drop in behind, letting him cut the waves in front of us. Well, guess what, the guy simply stops in the middle of the lake, I wasn't watching as close as I should have and we ran up on him so fast I was just able to crank the wheel hard to the right to miss running up on top of his boat. I just clipped the right rear corner of his boat with the bottom of my hull, sending a huge wake up into his boat. Scared the life out of me and my wife, but almost made the other guy and his partner die from fear, not to mention hypothermia.

Needless to say you should not assume the boat in front of you is going to do what you think and don't follow directly in their wake no matter how far ahead the other boat is from your boat. I thought I had plenty of following distance; I was wrong!!!

Back when I was young and stupid some 36 years ago, I was in Port Aransas with my buddy Jeffery Williams. Anyway, we got this dumb idea to go out on the highway past the Mustang Island State Park to scout out a place to fish in the gut. Anyway, we turned onto one of those side roads labeled Gulf Road # _____ and ended up in a bird sanctuary that paralleled open water. There was this little cove that moved from shallow water to the deepest bluest water in a hurry and there was this sand bar bottom type structure cutting across the middle that allowed us to wade out 50 yards from shore with deep water on two sides both behind and in front of us. Anyway, we had been fishing there for a while with the water coming up within 12 inches of our armpits, when we suddenly realized all of these Portuguese Man of Wars had drifted in all around us while at the same time a huge shadow passed right by us. When it passed by us again, and we saw that it was a large shark of some kind, we decided to get the heck out of there as fast as we could even though we had to wade through the Man of War tentacles. Fortunately we were wearing blue jeans and long sleeve shirts;we were more scared of the shark than the long streaming stingers. Fortunately we had been fishing artificials and did not have any shrimp scent or fish blood or scent on our clothing or skin. I have never been so scared in my life.

Keep your head on a Swivel looking for those Oil Tankers!

Yes, they are mangy & scary looking, I've had them come knee deep in the water trying to get my stringer of fish. Only thing between them and their attempted free meal was my Gig, and I wasn't giving up my hard caught Flounder!

Lake Conroe, 1980ish. 17 foot bass boat on the north end up from Caney on the main lake. Front blew in, straight line winds of 50+ mph. Swells were so big when you were in the bottom of one the land disappeared. Only time I saw dad a "little" scared.

Lake Livingston 1973 in a 14 foot v bottom john boat rented from Beacon Bay marina with dads 12 hp Gale Bucaneer outboard. Dad forgot the motor was in drive and pulled the rope to start with the motor turned 90 degrees to one side. Motor started and boat laid over to one side. Coke bottles were rolling out of the botton of boat into the water.

Lake Conroe 1980 when the Hydrilla covered most of the lake. Got Hydrilla all tangled up in the outboard and had the bright idea to get the paddle out and pry it off the back of the boat. Got motor clear and headed back to scotts ridge ramp and let brother out to go get truck. While waiting at the dock on brother to back trailer down noticed our feet were getting wet. Looked down and water was pouring in boat from floor drains. Obviuosly we pulled the t shaped plug out of the back of the boat while prying the hydrilla free. By the time we got the new plug out of the freshly sealed blister pack and back in the drain hole there was about a foot an a half of water in the boat and the bilge pump didn't work. had to land the boat on trailer full of water and get a tow up the ramp since truck wouldn't pull all that weight out. When a passerby asked my dad what he was doing still on the ramp dad replied, "sorry, we've got to put the lake back". Classic!

Lake Houston late 1970's. While waiting on my brother to back the truck down to load, dad noticed someone cutting my brother off and backing down the ramp out of turn at Lake Houston Marina on 1960. He backed down in the center lane and my bother was able to pull down next to him while he was still loading. Dad loaded the boat quick, disconnected the fuel line, trimmed the motor up and turned wheel toward the line cutter and hammered the gas sending a wall of water into this guys boat. After it was all done the guy came over and poked my dad in the chest and asked him what was the matter and dad being 6'4" tall weighing in at 260 with a 54 inch chest leveled this guy across the chin and left him laying there on the ramp. I realized at point in my young life....don't mess with my dad!

Went for a swim in the san marcos river, my son went under in a whirlpool. I ran and saved him, then not 15 mins later a middle aged man went under at the same spot, I dove in to save him as well. After that I headed home. My son now wheres a life jacket anytime he is around water

Reached for a trap on Rayburn stuck on some brush about 2 to 3 ft of water deep. Got the hook embedded in my hand, and it was windy and cold. Almost got dragged in the water due to the wind blowing my boat.

Watched a man die from a distance on Lake Houston in then 88 or 89, in March or April, water was still cold. Lost control of his boat got thrown, no life jacket, or kill switch. By the time we got there he had already went under.

Camping on an island we had a storm beach out boat. It was full of sand and water. Luckily she ran and got us back. Not the worst, but don't ignore the weather reports. I parked on the north side of the island and a front hit about midnight. I lost a lot of gear out of the boat.

Another time we were duck hunting Fork and doing rather well cause the wind was pushing birds off the main lake. After a few limits we headed back into the wind. It was pretty fun until my boat became a water scoop. We tossed all decoys, camo and anything else to conserve the weight of us and the water. I am not sure how my motor continued to run. We had 2" of boat that didn't have water in it. We idled to the next bank and as soon as it hit bank the boat just sank....luckily it decided to sink on the bank. Pulling that boat up that hill through a pasture was a chore. I never will forget. We had to go through the pasture cause we couldn't make it back to the ramp (even with the boat empty of water).

Fishing Lake Gatun in Panama in one of the more narrow areas.

An older car carrier ship passes and looked to be no big deal. Until we see the wake which was a 6 foot tall wall of water coming toward us in our 14' jon boat.

(6' wake) + (14' Jon) + sheer wall - no where to go but head on = major wet.

Scared to death at the time.



P.S.

Would give almost anything to be back on Lake Gatun. Fish all day and hit one of the local bars on the way home for some ceviche and pickled turtle eggs all washed down with whatever is on tap and cold.

Of course, this would have to be shared with the company of one of the local native females because.... well because.




Wait, we were talking about Dangerous Moments on the Water. Sorry. Got off track.

I got caught on Cedar Creek during a micro burst years ago when it used to rain. The waves were horrible but it was the baseball sized hail that made it real bad. There is no where to hide n the middle of the lake when you are just trying to stay afloat with baseballs pounding on you.

Fishing on Lake Nacogdoches a few years ago when the water was so low that only one lane of its 4 boat launch lanes were open. There was a storm starting to creep up so I was getting ready to put the boat on the trailer when a bolt of lightning hit about a 100yards from where I was at..at that point I made a mad dash back to the ramp...along with 20 other boats. About the time I got to the ramp it was starting to rain and the wind was blowing about 30/40mph which was blowing prob 3ft waves into the boat ramp...I was in the water trying to keep my boat from washing up on the shoreline along with a few other people doing the same. There was a line about 20 vehicles long using ONE LANE ramp during all of this...after about 20/30 min the storm blew over and finally someone asked if I need help holding my boat off the bank since the wind was still blowing while I went and got my trailer and loaded up..there were 3 other boats that still needed to launch when I got loaded. That was probably one of the most scariest times I have had on the lake.....The fellow that hepled me with my boat earned him a nice little tip also..Its good to know that there are still people willing to help someone else.

Working a creel survey for TPWD on Lake Fork many years ago. Real busy weekend, so I walked down the ramp to catch fishermen as they loaded. A woman soaking wet walked up and asked "Can you help me, my husband is trying to kill me?" Evidently she had jumped ship, and she pointed to one of a number of boats circling out from the ramp. I asked her if he had a gun, and she answered that yes, he had a pistol. I then pointed to the top of the ramp at my boss and said "See that man? He can help you." I watched as she spoke to my boss, and was amused when he (the district biologist) shot me a glaring look. They then left in the State truck when he took her to call the sheriff from the nearby tackle shop. Well darn, I couldn't figure out which boat her husband was in so I went to the top of the ramp and continued my work. About 12 boats later I asked a fisherman "Well, how was your fishing today?" The man answered "You ought to know, your friend left with my wife in that truck." "Thank you sir!" and I retreated!!! Working the boat ramp from sunup to sundown you witness a lot of weird stuff (including two instances of folks launching their vehicles and trailers along with the boats!!!

my cousin and i were trotlineing at steel creek on whitney, when what sound like a airplane coming around the point. it was a airboat that was very loud and seem like forever to get pass us. got pass us and then it went quiet. going to the ramp,saw the game warden towing it back to ramp. the womam in front had a braided pony tail that got through the metal cover and into the generator belt. she was in bad shape, with her two kids there too. the ambulance picked her up at ramp. it had jerked her back into the cover and knocked her out. hoped she got o.k.

Picking up a trot line around 3am that was tied to a stump sticking about 2' out of the water. I look up and I am eyeball to eyeball with a water moccasin coiled up ontop of the stump.

I do not know who was more scared him or me. It was me.

Reached down one time to grab some minnows out of a bait bucket to see a tail of a snake coming out of the bucket. All minnows and bucket were donated to the lake.