Worst day ever

[Red Childress]

Since it is Monday, I thought we could continue our depression by sharing our "worst days on the water" stories.

Even though I will not use my ever popular 'near death experience' (that toothyfishman loves to hear), I still have plenty of choices.

[stushsky]

ok i'll bite...although these aren't really terrible but more comical as after-thoughts, my first two that come to mind include...heading out alone backed the boat down the ramp and into the water, start the motor and pull the truck up into the parking area. as i got back into the boat i noticed that there was water up to the top edge of the one empty seat pedestal hole in the rear of the boat and the bilge was pumping water. sat there thinking ok the cover was slightly off the back end of the boat overnight and it rained so i thought a few minutes the water would pump out and i would be on my way...NOT...as i came to my senses and realized if that were the case the water in the boat would have emptied out during my 2 hour highway drive, it kept rising so i ran up got the truck and pulled the boat back up the ramp and watched as it took a good 20 minutes for the water to empty out the DRAIN PLUG HOLE. as it turned out when i put the drain plug in by "feel" in the dark before backing the boat down initially i wrongly put it in the livewell intake hole which is literally a couple inches away! secondly (the very next morning by the way) i again backed the boat down the same ramp (and yes i put the plug in the right hole this time) with rain fast approaching i already had the canopy top up on the boat and thought i would just troll a while till the sky stopped falling. well as the boat slid off the trailer and into the water i stopped the truck as i usually do and got out to grap the rope that i always tie firmly onto the front roof rack on my explorer when i am heading out alone. needless to say the rope came undone as i was backing down the ramp and when the boat slid into the water it just kept on going since the pretty strong wind that morning was of course blowing directly down the ramp out into the lake and it grabbing ahold of that canopy top like a giant sail! i stood on the dock and watched my 6 month old fish and ski take off across that lake without the pilot in a good 15 mph wind! wow did that look odd...wish i had a picture but i couldn't since my camera was on the boat... thankfully another boat was out nearby i was able to flag him down to retreive the wind highjacked ship! if you gentlemen are reading this you know who you are and thanks again... as i said, not terrible things by any means but if we can't laugh at ourselves for the "things" we do at times then it's time to hang it up... oh by the way the first day i caught 2 and the next day i put 1 in the net so i suppose it kind of cancelled out the other crap... and for those that beleive in the moon phase thing, these two days were the day before and day of a full moon! moon phases have yet to really prove themselves for improved fish activity for me but it did prove something else to me...!

[river rat 83]

Last August my 15 yr old brother Evan and I had a pretty bad day on the water south of Kennerdell, PA on the Allegheny. We were drifting with the bow pointed downstream (fast water), trolling motor down and Evan was on the front deck. I am fishing on the back deck when we hit a rock extremely hard at the stern. Thinking nothing of it, I could see a couple big smallies "sunning" on the shore and went to cast while glancing down to see the whole rear compartment in front the transom almost full of water!! I started the boat and powered up while directing Evan to empty our small cooler and start dipping water out.

It was quite a battle to get er' out of the water, between dipping water, and getting the trailer hooked up to pull it!!

**$750 dollars later she looks bruised but is all welded up and ready for the river

[Arizonangler]

Here's an embarassing monment for you. I was fishing weed choked Marsh Creek lake one day last summer and I had a band clamp holding the transducer for the depth fider on the trolling motor. Well. weeds got completely entangled on the clamp so I reached down to clear off the prop and sliced my hand wide open on the clamp. Bad enough right? NO!! As I was approaching the ramp to get the boat out of the water I noticed that there were about 150 people getting ready to run a race through he woods. As I leaned over to get ready to reach out for the dock, I leaned on the bloody palm of my hand that I had cut. Pretty slippery stuff blood. As 150 people watched from shore my hand slipped right off the gunnal and my legs flew up over my head and in I went. I was laughing so hard when I was under that I nearly drowned. People on the dock were rolling. Pretty comical I must say.

[NitroMusky]

I've got an embarrasing one from last season. we have a river/lake up here that we launch from the middle of an oxbow in the river. its a couple miles to the lake through a few shallow areas, so its a pretty slow ride. We normally put in and just head towards the lake. this time we decided to check out the other direction and do some back water action on the river; as do some other folks who happened to put in at the same time as us. Now, this river is part of the canal system here and the state came in years ago and bypassed the oxbow creating a canal a mile or so in length around the oxbow. so we get near where the oxbow connects back to the maintained portion and the other guys pass us going back 'the long way'?!. there is about a 200 yd stretch of waterchestnut standing between us and open water. We should have known better by the fact that the chestnut was clear across the water and undisturbed by any boat passage but we say 'what the hell' since it would have been a long 20-30 minute ride at least to get back around and it looks deep enough. So we gun it from a ways away and get up on plane and we're crusing through it no problem. about half way through the boat starts loosing speed and i keep increasing the throttle to keep us going. quickly we're moving at just a few feet per minute at 3000 rpm till we stop altogether and the motor is now just slinging muddy water. crap! we've go about 50 yards to go at most and we're stuck in about a foot of water. tried gunning it in foward, reverse, trim up trim down clearing weeds. nothing. except for slingning mud. it was obvious to us and the other boats on the other side that we were stuck. We had to get the paddle out and spend about a 1/2 hour cutting away the plants and pushing ourselves through the muck at about an inch a minute until the depth started dropping about 20 ft up. All the while in full view of a few other boats including the guys who had passed us earlier to go back the long way and were now happily fishing just ahead of us. learned our lesson the hard (and embarrasing) way.

[NitroMusky]

got another fishing story...well, it happened while looking for a lake house this winter, so its sort of fishing related.. long story short: looking for a lake or river house in the middle of nowhere by driving down random roads leading towards a certain river that might sound familiar if you've been reading . its me, my wife and 7 yr old daughter, about an hour from our house on a sunday AM, in 5 degree weather. we turn down a private road off a side road and i decide to continue down the portion of road that unplowed with my wife yelling at me to turn around. Well, we get the truck stuck about 300 yards in and in knee deep snow. 4wd? nothing, 4w low? still not even rocking. private road- onstar wont help. oh, its unplowed? tow trucks wont help- one did give me a 2x4- yippee. fire dept? nope. called 911, sent sherriff. he couldn't help! just scratched his head made a couple calls and said 'sorry'/ no one could help becuase it was unplowed and no one had a 4wd tow truck and the local agency vehicles are not allowed to tow with their vehicles. all the sherrif would do is tag our vehicle with an abandoned vehicle tag. so now we were going to have to try to get it plowed ourselves or wait till spring.

this is 4 hours later, starting to get dark and I've been digging the vehicle out on and off in the meantime while dealing with the no good roadside assistants who won't even look at the vehicle. I finally realize that the back tire had slipped over the edge of a RR tie along the driveway and the axle is now resting on it. got the jack raised up the axle, put the magic 2x4 under the tire and got us back in business. let me say, that was scary there for a while...

[Red Childress]

I had a husband/wife crew from Maryland a few years back that wanted to get a musky so we were hitting the water at first light so I get the boat launched and we begin loading up to leave the ramp. Just as I helped everyone get on board, I heard a strange sound and saw 4 rods with all the tips missing. I looked up at the husband and his face said it all......he had stepped down onto my St. Croix rods and sheered every tip on the port side of the boat!! He thought I was going to be upset but I told him it was my fault for not addressing that issue before climbing aboard.

Fortunately, we still had the rods on the starboard side so we could still complete the mission. About 3 hours later, he is pulling a top raider right past me and I saw a mid-40 inch fish following and he stopped the bait. I told him to give it a yank, he did and the fish just sucked it in. He fought it for a minute or so and just as I was sliding the net in the water, she got off.

[ppalko]

Few years back my brother in law and I had a trip to the Allegheny planned. I wake up at 3 AM to the sound of driving rain and thunder. He shows up at my place and we figure what the heck, the rain is supposed to quit and the dam should keep the water clear anyway. We pass through Punxy and notice a lot flashing lights and stuff. Hmm....As we head north, we reach a valley and see more flashing lights. A creek has flooded over the road and is now 300 feet wide. Well, I know all kinds of alternative routes so we head back a few miles and head west to cross Redbank Creek, which is raging about 1 foot from the bridge deck as we cross! Onward....a few miles north we notice more lights....the town we need to go through is under water along the creek. More detours and finally we reach Brookville. We stop in McDonalds and everyone is talking about how the town is underwater....Onward....remember that dam will save us. We reach the Clarion and it running low and clear...huh?? No more floods north and we fish the day in 30 mile per hour winds...not fun in a canoe but hey we came through hell and high water to get there. We head for home wondering what we'll find. We get south of the Clarion and find a big swath of downed trees along the same road we went north on in the AM when at that time, those trees were all standing. As we near Redbank creek, more lights and water. All the towns along the creek are under water by feet. We'll need to go around so head west. We see the Allegheny from a ridge look out and can count docks, trees, house parts, etc, all flowing south. We cross the river, just before the bridge in East Brady is closed and make a huge circle to find a way back across the river to reach home....6 hours after leaving Warren. I check and 9+ inches of rain fell from training storms over the Brookville Area that AM. A tornado caused the trees to blow over. By the way, I caught two trout and a small musky and watched news footage that night of a house floating down Redbank Cr. Maybe with all the rain north today floods are a bad subject!

ppalko

[the yeti]

Perserverence!!! things can get a lil' hairy there from that valley the river follows from Franklin/emlenton/clairon and on down. luckily, each year, we usually just get the runoff (pretty high water though late spring) but the high winds seem to flow right over and past us off of I80 or from Kennerdell.

My epic worst day story......It's slightly long, but it sets up a few other stories i'm goin to tell that co-relate, later on...just read and laugh. Late May 2003, I took 3 vacation days (on the frontside of a weekend, but the backside of a terrible rainstorm, but the days were of course, planned months ahead) so i could our brand new tracker 25th anniversary 175 inboard jet in the river. we get to camp, and the river is just raging, as it does in that neck of the woods april/may and even june. sometimes it can go down though, pretty quickly too...i've seen it drop 5-7 feet in 2 days...so i still had hope. but, the river's almost in the yard, which, by parker standards makes it about at the 13 feet mark and, quite honestly, unhopefully high, actually, unrealistically high and fast. normal level is between 2.5-5 feet.

So we wait, as i've learned to do at camp..and drink, and play cards, and all that crap....Wed/Thur/Fri...it drops 2 feet. by this time i'm tired of playing spades, tv, even beer...i got cabin fever and i need to fish. baby mamma at the time was just pregnant. i get the bright idea "let's take it up Kahle lake" (an electric only lake mind you). Really windy days too..heh heh..of course, my dad thinks we oughtta just pack it in and make the most of it by staying put.

Off we go, and, of course you can imagine, first trip, new boat, new lake...i'm taking EVERYTHING...it takes like 2 hours to get the boat loaded from 7 am. we're only going right up the damned hill..what could i possibly need? right? RIGHT? so we finally get there, launch, fish for ten minutes....trolling motor quits working. no cell signal, wind from the west, blowing us across the lake, quickly too, so i drop the anchor immediately and start fiddling with batteries, which, by all standards, on a boat THAT heavy, a 43 lb thrust motorguide 12 volt is relatively undersized. you can imagine the cheap ass batteries (cranking and deep cycle) Tracker sent too. no go...wires look good, water levels are good, everythings good. wind still HOWLING...now i'm dragging anchor. basically, we're on the backside (last day) of a 3 day cold front...gray skies, windy, all that crap. hurricane residuals, if you will...in hindsight, it was the start of those bad hurricane years and the far reaching results they can produce in the W.PA area.

So, i decide i'll move my rods to the back, put baby mamma behind the steering column and ..you know, the less wind drag, the better, right?.. so i pull the lil' 10 or 15lb anchor up and start throwing it and drag the boat. At first, 150 yards (or so it seemed) didn't SEEM like that far. 20 feet or so a throw, i'm doin juuuuust fine. i'm 6'3, 250 on a non-primanti brothers roast beef for lunch day, so, you know...NO problem right. Wrong...kahle lake is mud/silt bottom or whatever, and really weedy, good thing for those Gosh-darnd weeds. First few throws, i didn't quite realize that the anchor was REALLY FREAKIN hard to get free at first once i had pulled the boat over to it...then i realize, it's stuck in the mud, cuz, there was um, all this mud, ALL over the brand new carpet on the brand new deck of my BRAND NEW BOAT. thank God i'm not one that obsesses over aesthetics, really, i'm very pragmatic. so now, i'm pulling 15 lbs of mud up, and clumps of weeds..ah who cares, nothing a lil' hosin off won't fix.

Lets just go head and say for every 15 feet i pulled the boat, the wind blew me back..12 or 13 feet. about a half hour into it, i made a deal with myself...as soon as i hit 3 feet of water, im going to skivvies and hopping in and towing the boat MANually. about an hour and a half later, and 30 yards of progress, i'm ready to fire the big engine and just go home, regardless of stupid lil' rules on a 250 acre lake that NOBODY else was on. but, in the back of my mind, i have to say, i was terrified at the thought of my first outing, my luck, the game commision rolls by JUST as im pulling up to the dock. Part of me, i'm sure, was subliminally me being stubborn too that i WAS GOING TO WIN at all costs without firing that motor over...i'm really fun to fish with, did i mention that!

now theres so much mud, that i ACTUALLY had to stop for a bit, re-anchor (more like anchor drag at a rate of about a foot every 10 seconds or so, so, i'm losing valuable progress just to reduce weight, cuz the wind is just SCREAMING now) scoop it off the front deck to reduce the weight so i'm not dragging extra weight, and believe you me....after 2 hours of throwing, dragging, and getting wind pushed backwards, there was a lot of mud, and not a lot of me left to continue. i was just (if any of you listen to Opie and Anthony) plumb tuckered. Matter of fact, at that point i was getting pretty pissed off. Baby mamma is just pleading the WHOLE time to turn the key, get us over near shore, jump on shore and drag us to the launch cuz, yep, you guessed it...about 3 minutes after we launched, ms. preggo announced she had to pee. i'm like "pee off the back, it'll reduce us by a pound"..i'm also thinking other unfathomably violent and creative things to shut her up. i digress.

i quickly clear the mud, and see that i hit a 4 foot spot on the sonar...i'm in...OVER my head. 1 step forward and i just dunk. yep, forgot to drop my pants..wallet and phone and all...all in, last cast, final answer, etc. so i just start swimming with the anchor rope till i hit bottom..all the while thinking..."boy, this couldn't get any worse". i make it to shallow water, then to shore. at this point, i feel like i've completed a triatholon...shot putting, dragging, swimming (and towing!)...i pull the boat to the launch, tie it off, get the boat on the trailer (or so i thought, mind you, its only my 2nd time trailering a boat too!!!!)...the wind had pushed the boat sideways, and i had no idea how to check if it was straight. quite frankly again, i was just interested in gettin back to camp, getting outta those wet clothes, a warm shower and lotsa beer. wrong.

Boats on, i'm soaked, the bitch pissed (oops), and we're headed back. we get back. Across from camp, we're lucky enough to be real tight with a gentleman that owns a motor shop and a nice parking lot that allows us pretty much free reign with boats, vehicles, parking, etc.

so, here i go, the narrow lil' street that river avenue in emlenton is (right by the bar BTW), i pull past the lot, and start backing up...wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong AGAIN. 20 mins after i'm just having NO LUCK, traffics' backed up and i'm feelin like a real assjack. i can't get this trailer and boat in this lot if my life's counting on it. i take a run around the block and let traffic unclog. At this point in the story, I find it particularly important to point out how when you're trying and struggling to do something specifically difficult or unfamiliar in Emlenton, and it involves vehicles on River avenue....good Sweet JESUS does everybody and they brudder just come out to watch you fail miserably, but offer no help. particularly, when people see a big clump of cars in Emlenton, other cars are almost magnetically, if not magically, attracted to it.

Back to biz. so, i get lucky after my traffic unclogging run around the block, and i turn hard left as im backing, and the trailer and boat go right in the 20 foot opening that is the parking lot. i start straightening..WE'RE good!!! that is, until my dad FINALLY decided it was time to come out and F'ING help???!!! SERIOUSLY. so now, in my tired, cold, distracted, frustrated, ready to be a non-boat owner state, i'm paying attention to him giving hand signals...he's facing me, i'm, of course facing him, looking over my shoulder, and watching mirrors, which is all, different, exhilerating, and a bit confusing cuz in my mind, i was doing just fine a few seconds ago. he points to my left, i turn...yep, left, which, in turn, yep, turns the boat, left..NO NO NO...STOP.. he meant turn right. at this point, i'm just ready to get out and tell him to do it. no no, go head, you can get it...he points...LEFT AGAIN....i feel a lil' (here's where the wrong 3 paragraphs comes in...nothing is ever as easy as getting home and having a few beers) BUMP and, just keep pushing back and giving her gas, cuz, remember, the boat is...what...crooked...OH S**T!!!! what was that?

Neighbor guy, who lets us use the lot had parked his big truck and camper in there....i thought i had lots and lots of room.....remember the wind? remember it blowing the boat on the trailer crooked? factor in my inexperience at loading, unloading..backing, parking, and just in general what seemed like EVERYTHING i tried my hand at that day? yep...my road runner thrust move of "just backing up" without a care in the world at that moment...tore open his whole fiberglass quarterpanel on his dualie work truck.

it gets better. the next weekend, the river is relatively low, so we get the boat in, and my dad decides he wants to park the trailer in front of the house in the "yard" and chain it to the railing of the porch. you know, trailer thefts are a HUGE epidemic around there. usually, when i'm leaving, i just pull up in front of the house, put the dogs in, load up, and leave. wrong, i back up to get onto the "avoid the water meter pit" spot....SCREEEEAAAACH... boat "bumper" all the way down the side of my truck.

it never ends.
wait'll my next vacation story!

[the yeti]

i also find it particularly tickling to point out:
about 3 months later we ran into a game warden at Kahle lake, and i told him the gist of what happened.

word for word he goes "what kind of asshole wouldn't just turn the boat on and get the boat over", which, of course, i'm thinking....the...same....thing....as i'm telling him the story...how dumb do i look (but stubbornly, again, in the back of MY MIND, i DID the right thing, AND I won, right?!?!?!)

then he goes "no, your luck, it's be some substitute part-timer guy that'd write you up for every violation he can cuz he's bucking for a job....better just throw the anchor next time too". HA HA HA HA. i still don't know what to do!!!HAHAHAHHAAH!!!

my next 2 stories if you're still following, will literally blow your mind. seriously. Kinzua broke me the 2nd time i was up there. the first time, i was just enthralled by the majestic beauty and limitless water to fish. when i retire, i will retire to that area of PA.

til next time.

[ttabaleulb]

LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot wait to hear the others!!!!!!!!!!

[Red Childress]

Some of these stories should be copywritten and formed into some type of fishing video like "Dorf on fishing" or something....

[ppalko]

I use a 17 foot square back canoe as my "boat" and have fished in it everywhere on the Allegheny including the reservoir. A bunch of years ago the reservoir came up so high it flooded back into the surrounding timber so far that you could literally fish in the woods. I was fishing Sugar Bay in my boat alone with my dad fishing from another boat with his buddy. He crossed over to the other side of the main lake and I stayed in the smaller arms of the bay. When I returned from an adventure up a small creek, the wind had begun picking up significantly. I headed out toward the main bay and noticed some pretty big swells and whitecaps forming. Not fun in a canoe with one guy. I needed to cross the bay to get to the "launch" and had to basically surf on the swells to make it. Instead of crossing the main bay I eventually decided to stay in the woods all around the bay as the swells were much smaller there. My dad thought I drowned when he couldn't find me as I was no where in sight as he returned. I finally came out of the woods near the road that enters the bay and functions as a launch. I actually caught a bunch of fish too once I found the creek channel in the woods.