The lighter side of fishing, tell your most embarrassing boat fiasco

[TreednNC]

I'm sure there's been more embarrassing but this one made me taste my boots. I was loading the boat at a busy ramp two weeks ago and there was a Subaru backing a jet ski down the ramp, or attempting to. I nodded to another fellow walking to his boat on the dock, and said "this ought to be good...". He turned to see the Subaru chasing that short little jet ski trailer back and forth as it backed down the ramp. I loaded my boat cockily, and hopped out, got in the truck and up the ramp I went......with about 2-3 people hollering at me and waving their arms. Low and behold I had left the motor trimmed all the way down and the skeg was dragging as I came up the ramp.

[DockShootinJack]

Ouch!

[shipahoy41]

Ok. I am human. My most embarrassing moments came in my later years of fishing. I had already owned two jon boats as well as a bass tracker 17 foot boat. When I moved to Alabama I decided to get a fiberglass boat with the steering wheel mounted on the side.





It was a Crosby sled boat. I was so very proud of the restoration I had done on it and finally it was time to launch the boat.

You would have thought that I had never driven a boat in my life. Getting the boat in the water was the easy part. Trying to get the boat to go where I wanted was so embarrassing. It took me about two hours to get used to looking straight ahead and coordinating turning the side steer to go where I wanted. It was even worse trying to put the boat back on the trailer.

After about three trips I finally got the hand of it.

Mike

[Gone Fishin']

I wish we had video of that. I can only imagine that was a steep learning curve.

Ok. I am human. My most embarrassing moments came in my later years of fishing. I had already owned two jon boats as well as a bass tracker 17 foot boat. When I moved to Alabama I decided to get a fiberglass boat with the steering wheel mounted on the side.





It was a Crosby sled boat. I was so very proud of the restoration I had done on it and finally it was time to launch the boat.

You would have thought that I had never driven a boat in my life. Getting the boat in the water was the easy part. Trying to get the boat to go where I wanted was so embarrassing. It took me about two hours to get used to looking straight ahead and coordinating turning the side steer to go where I wanted. It was even worse trying to put the boat back on the trailer.

After about three trips I finally got the hand of it.

Mike

[Mstr Dan]

ok, my turn. Several years ago the wife and I found a little two person boat. Don't really know how to describe this little thing but it had a small outboard motor and a steering wheel. Our daughter was a small thing so we could squeeze her in between us. Well when we put it in the water the motor would start just fine and idles great. We started out across the lake and a few hundred feet from the ramp the motor quits. I start it and it goes a feet feet and quits again. After several attempts at this I am quite frustrated and getting a bit vocal in my frustration. I decided I will just have to paddle my way back to the ramp. To do so I sit on the gunnel to paddle. Long story short in my rage at the motor and situation the good Lord decides I need cooling off and I find myself in the lake! My daughter still thinks it is the funniest thing ever and tells everyone about it. We decide to sell the little monster and just as I sell it I find the problem. A cracked fuel line. Shame on me is all I can say!

[Prinetucky]

Okay, I'll play

Have been around boats and water most of my life, enough that I figured it was high time I purchased my own. Came across a screaming deal on a 2001 22' sun tracker pontoon boat, jumped at the opportunity to get my new fishing platform out onto the lake, there were four of us. Upon reaching the launch everything went smoothly and we piled on and headed out onto the lake, the fish finder registered fish so I shut it down and we fished.

After a little while fishing I figured to try another area, boat wouldn't start, tried everything, poured gas in the carburetor even, still nothing, stroke of luck had another pontoon boat out on the water and he towed us back to the ramp, got the boat loaded and headed home. Once back at the house I parked the boat, put the clam-shell on the out-drive and proceeded to try and start the boat, still nothing, finally I broke out the manual, previous owners kept all literature pertaining to the boat.

In reading the manual I found a small section that referenced a button on the shifter that allows you to apply throttle without engaging the transmission........ Yup you guessed it, push the button in, raise the shifter and apply throttle only and she fired right up.

[Hanr3]

I'll play.
I waited until my sons had grown up before buying my first boat. I coached little league, Scout Master etc with my sons. So it was my time to play. I bought a 14' 1957 Alumacraft. It was about 50 years old when I bought it. Bought a 1959 Johnson 10hp motor for it. Motor was finicky at times. I started a Crappie Club and we started having tournaments. One night tournament my oldest son fished it with me. We made it a camping/fishing weekend. He brought his Black Lab. We boated from camp to the ramp and registered. Fished the tournament, dog and all. Went back to the ramp for the weigh-in. Finished the weigh-in about 12:20am and loaded all 3 of us (son, dog, nd me) in the boat and headed back to the campsite. The lake is 315 acres and 10hp limit. About a 20 minute boat ride from the ramp to the campsite. 5 minutes into the trip back to camp the skies opened and dumped buckets of rain. It was raining so hard we lost sight of shore. Sonar units didn't have map chips back then so we navigated by sight. The rain made it impossible to see shore. Then the lightening started. It was a blessing nd a curse. Here we are in the middle of the lake in an old aluminum boat, in a heavy downpour, navigating between lightening strikes. Every time the sky lite up we could see shore, at least the tree line.
I think we are getting close to the campsite and see a light off in teh distance. That can't be right, we shouldn't be that close to the light. We must have passed our campsite. I turn around and the terrain didn't make sense in relationship to the light. Somethings not right. Where the heck are we?
I thought to myself, trust your instincts. Tim, you humped all over the world at night in the Marine Corp.
You're on a lake. Find camp.
So, I went to where I thought camp should be, despite the light being in the wrong place. Screw that light.
Found camp, beached the boat and the lab made a bee line for the tent. He hide under the cot and didn't move the rest of the night. The next morning, I look down shore to figure out that light. It was a light from a campsite further down shore. They showed up while we were fishing the tournament.
To this day my son tells everyone that story. He calls it "The night we almost died on Evergreen Lake!"
Photos from that campout. By the way- everything in camp fit in the boat and we boated to camp.

[Fishnwiz]

I invited a friend to make a 75 mile drive to fish with me. First stop close to boat ramp, no fish, motor had a hard time starting. Took a long ride to other end of lake, caught some fish. Motor would not start. Well, I’ll troll to nearest boat ramp and have wife pick me up to get truck, no problem except trolling motor quit working. Wind blew up to bank. Ended up calling Lake Patrol and of course they had no boat on the lake so about a 4 hour wait for an officer to get there and tow us back to a ramp.


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[Atimm693]

I use the rope method for launching, take straps off, put plug in, drop winch, coil the dock rope loosely on the deck and hook the other end to the stake pocket on the truck. Back in and grab the rope once the boat floats off, tie it off to the dock and away you go.

The key here is making sure the rope is tied fast to the bow cleat, something I overlooked one day, holding my rope watching the boat float away slowly. Attempts to lasso the trolling motor were unsuccessful.

Thankfully this was in the summer and there were kids swimming nearby that offered to help me out, all is well that ends well.

[Ketchn]

I use the rope method for launching, take straps off, put plug in, drop winch, coil the dock rope loosely on the deck and hook the other end to the stake pocket on the truck. Back in and grab the rope once the boat floats off, tie it off to the dock and away you go.

The key here is making sure the rope is tied fast to the bow cleat, something I overlooked one day, holding my rope watching the boat float away slowly. Attempts to lasso the trolling motor were unsuccessful.

Thankfully this was in the summer and there were kids swimming nearby that offered to help me out, all is well that ends well.

the lasso it thing looks pretty easy when the real cowboys do it , found out myself in person one time , you must pull back on it quickly when it goes over the head of the 4 legger , if not , it can ride back to their groin area as they try to elude said capture method and when it comes tight down there and they get that REALLY WILD look in them beady eyes ....
THEN you discover the real meaning on a let's rodeo ..... just saying .....