Most memorable Excursion?

[Dv8oR]

Obviously by the headline!

What was your most memorable fishing excursion?!?!?!?!?


T

[Treblemaker]

Just today I fished a SW river by myself since everyone I know was working. I took a half day off work and started fishing just before 8am. I had tied only 12 spawnbags and went 9 for 13 on steelhead before I ran out and quit at 11am.:eek:

Just about everytime I hooked up I looked over my shoulder and saw nobody else even on the river. I thought I was dreaming. Life is good!

[DIRTY DOG]

sound like you where near my house in allegan as there has been next to no one on the river except for the weekends good job on the catch

[Lion Den]

It depends on why it's memorable. One memory that I wish not to repeat was 3 years ago when I filled my 17' Lund with 46 degree water. We were on a pod of fish in 305' fow. Our nice east wind kicked it up a gear. (fishing out of GH,MI) I was catching fish on a west troll and turned back east over the fish. We had to troll close to 4mph into a head wind to get bit. In the process we took some water over the bow. Unknown to me, my bilge wasn't working properly. Long story short, ended up with water over my ankles in my boat. I radioed a friend in a larger boat a few miles away and called him to my cooridnates. He positioned his boat so that I could tailgate him, as I bailed. We got back safely. (obviously) Word to the wise, upon inspection of the pump, a one inch piece of mono and half a sunflower seed was all that kept the pump from working properly. That plus a larger boat solved that problem. Another that ranks up there was fishing the Grand Haven Offshore 4 years ago. It was called short on account of 13' waves.
As for fish catching, several come to mind, but I'll make it a quick 2. Several years ago my dad and I landed 50 super jumbo gills in under 45 minutes in gusty 17 below temps in WI on Christmas morning. The second was this summer in the Cabela's Challenge. We had a quick flurry of salmon action as we were setting lines. I buried a treble hook into my knee. I netted 4 salmon for my teamates before jerking the hook out with the needlenose so that we could continue.

[Dv8oR]

Thats great stuff LD and Welcome to GLF!!!!!!!!!!!

Sounds like you fished a time or two........!!!!

T

[Satisfaxion_Gauranteed]

I was in Charelston, SC staying on the of the islands on the outer banks during my honeymoon. I had scheduled an off shore charter for the following afternoon. We showed up and the charter captain came out to tell us that he had to cancel the charter. The reason he gave was because, "the bridge didn't blow up right." I thought it was a practical joke, but he brought to the end of the pier and showed me the section of bridge missing. The city had just built a new bridge and hired a company to remove the old bridge. They were supposed to blow a whole section of the bridge on this huge barge so that the channel woudln't be closed for any longer than an hour. They missed causing the channel to be close for the whole day while they removed the bridge section from the water. I never did get to do my fishing trip!

Of course being newly weds at the time, we made up for it.

[GLF]

There is one memory I have never forgotten. Back in the 70's when my father was getting into salmon fishing, he picked up an old 15' fiberglass boat with a 90hp Johnson. This is back in the days when you had wire cables for steering. I am not sure if the motor was to big for the boat or not, but it seemed like the back end sat deep in the water.

This was around 1975 and I was 8 years old. We were just south of Big Sable Point out of Ludington fishing in the fall, when we took a wave over the back of the boat. The wave over the back swamped the motor and we could not get the engine to start. We frantically reeled in the lines and downriggers as we took some more water over the back of the boat. There was no bildge pump on the boat. I had my hands over the holes in the transom where the steering cables went in, and my father was bailing water with a bucket, and shouting for help. We did not have a marine radio or signal flares. I am not sure if they were required then or not.

We had a turn of luck, and a boat that was fishing near by had pulled their lines and came over to assist us. They hooked a rope to us and started towing us in. While we was being towed, my father was able to get the motor started. My father thanked them, and we went back to the dock.

Talk about being up chit creek without a paddle

We never went out in that boat again. My father sold that boat and purchased a 18' boat. He named the boat "Whopper Stopper". A few years after that, there was a lure manufacturer named "Whopper Stopper".

If you are ever out in rough water and loose a motor, raise the motor and hang an anchor, drift sock, or something off the front of the boat. The drag created by this should turn the boat around so the bow of the boat is facing the waves.

[CaptLevi]

Well there was the day I had a few PWT boats following me around the DR watching me catch over 25 walleyes in about 3 hours. I released over 10 fish in excess of 7 lbs. with a few in the 10 - 12 lb. range. Finally hung a limit of 17 - 20 inchers and called it a day. They were all struggling at best and it was just my day.

Or when my buds swamped their boat on the second day of our trip to Northern Quebec in late May. I had to rush outta the cabin in just my skivies, motor upriver in high waves, rescue one from the river, and two from shoreline rocks. Myself and one other buddy had to feed us for the rest of the trip cuz all we brought was stuff to make fish with. We had the trip of our lives (!), while the other four had the worst trip of theirs!

And their was the charter when the Barneys girls were shakin their money makers :eek: :D :grin: on Sporty up and down the St. Joe channel!

[Dv8oR]

Back when I was a younger tyke!

My dad had bought a 16ft Starcraft with a Johnson outboard. We used to drift St.Clair for Walleye ALOT. This was the only one I ever seen him buy that was brand new.

The family went up to Houghton Lake and I asked to take the boat for a tool around the lake. (memory fuzzy, might have been the big Long lake)....

Anywho, after some begging and pleading, he let me take it out by myself. I think I was 14 or 15 (this is fuzzy too).

I was having a blast cruising around and figured I'd get a little closer to a shore that had some eye candy! Of course I'm hoping some hotty would flag me down and ask me to take her for a ride! As I'm tooling, trying to look cool, like its my boat, I look down to see rocks just in time to hear the prop hit them.

He wasn't that mad about the shredded prop, but did say he'd never let me drive any of his vehicles again! (I of course am thinking, come on man, I'm just a kid and you let me take your boat out...lol....)

(There is a story with a car at 16 that goes hand in hand with this story)


T

[Priority1]

My Son and I caught 28 nice eyes in 2-1/2 hrs. Most of them were never even touched we would reach down with needle nose pliers and just twist the jigs out of their lips. Most of the fish were between 4 and 6#s. This was on the lower Tittabawassee River. My son just got out of school about 4:00 PM, and my work was slow that day anyway.

A Close second. This past August off Manistee, we had 4 fish on @ once with 2 men in the boat. This was right after setting up, and way before sun up. We boated two of the fish, and went on to limit out. We were in 4 foot seas, and a friend that was going to fish with us opted to fish with his bro in a 14 foot boat:no: (Real Rough Ride). We had plenty of room for them. LOL:grin: Go figure.

[Priority1]

My Son and I caught 28 nice eyes in 2-1/2 hrs. Most of them were never even touched we would reach down with needle nose pliers and just twist the jigs out of their lips. Most of the fish were between 4 and 6#s.

A Close second. This past August off Manistee, we had 4 fish on @ once with 2 men in the boat. This was right after setting up, and way before sun up. We boated two of the fish, and went on to limit out. We were in 4 foot seas, and a friend that was going to fish with us opted to fish with his bro in a 14 foot boat:no: (Real Rough Ride). We had plenty of room for them. LOL:grin: Go figure.

[Walleye Express]

Heres my most memorable worst day of fishing. During my earlier years of chartering, I had a Charter trip booked with 6 guys from a popular, local trucking firm on Saginaw Bay. All showed up drunk at 8:00am at my dock. They had finished working 2nd shift and decided to stay up the rest of the night at the firms warehouse and drink. I almost canceld the trip then and there, but the waters were calm, the fish were coming easy and they seemed to be taking direction well. The day was productive as fish after fish kept the rubber bands stretched off the releases. But as the day, the warm sun and continued drinking wore on, the boys started to get lazy and would argue over who was going to get up and get the next fish. At one point I had 4 fish dragging on the surface, with nobody willing to reel them in. With the boat in auto pilot I kept reeling in fish and not resetting those particular lines, until there were no lines left in the water. I left the rods in the holders, so these boys never knew they were no longer fishing. Ya.....that drunk.

Now the bad part. As we neared my boat slip at days end, I chose who I thought was the sobberest person too get in the front of the boat and simply stop the boat by pushing on the dock post as we gently came in. I guess being drunk also effects your ability to tell how far away things are as well. We were still a good 10 feet away from the post, when this guy leans over the rail, hands/arms stretched out, and falls flat overboard in the water ahead of the boat. I shut the boat off, grab the back post and scramble onto the dock to see if goofy is all right. He's fine, but covered with green algae as he pulls himself out of the drink. After I clean their fish, the head drunk pushes a wad of bills into my hand. Here Capt. Dan. Theres what we owe you, plus a generous tip and a $50.00 deposit for next year, same time, same place. I unfold the wad, take out two 20's and a 10 and shove it back in his hands. There won't be a next year I tell him. And the next day I add some new info to my brochures and web site info. One 6 pack of beer allowed per person, per day on all Saginaw Bay trollling charters. No alcohol at all allowed on any of my other trips. And if you show up drunk, I keep your deposit and you can fish from the docks.:eek: :confused: :grin:

[Dv8oR]

GLF and I had a pretty memorable one just last year!

We took out a rookie friend of mine who was manning the wheel at the moment, standing....

He slid down in the chair, while jamming the throttle on just about full tilt and I had the bow trimmed up at the moment.......

While we almost went swimming, we (GLF and I) were hanging on for all we were worth screaming at the poor guy, PULL BACK, PULL BACK!!!!!

He was looking at us in amazement and trying to realize what the hell we were talking about..... bow pointing at the sky!

He figured out what the problem was and pulled back on the throttle, I don't think any of us talked to each other for about 5 minutes.....
The poor guy felt pretty bad about doing it, all comes with time and experience!

Now! I got no problems taking rookies out, so don't think thats what I'm doing here, is bashing, after all, we were all rookies once!

T

[Mark]

I'll try to make this long story short. A group of us just got out of college and went fishing in northern Lake Huron on a gorgeous day in early June. All of us had spent many summer days fun fishing and tournaments and after a quick inspection of the boat we were off. It wasn't long before we started putting some fish in the boat. Our boat was a 21' Cobia, self-bailing style boat with a big Yamaha outboard in about 140' of water about 2 miles offshore.

For those who don't know, a self- bailing style boat has an open transom that is just above the water line, so water passes freely in and out of the boat so it's a little wet back there most of the time. The deck is sealed off with bilges (auto and manual) underneath.

It was a little choppy, but otherwise a great day with no one within a couple miles of us. After landing a big trout on the leadcore, I started to send it immediately back out at which point I noticed the water in the back was a little higher than normal. Within seconds, the boat started to tip backwards. We tried to fire big motor but it was too late. A quick distress call and the boat rolled over and we all went into the drink along with lots of gear.

A south wind that day brought the water temps down on the surface and it was hypothermia time real quick. The 5 of us sat on the keel the size of a fish cooler shivering, and dumbfounded at what just happened. Luckily, a buddy was fishing a couple miles from us and ran as fast as he could to us. The next 8 hours were dedicated to towing the boat in upside down, riggers still out and getting it to shore with what gear we could. The Coast Guard that day was not helpful and that's where I'll stop with that.

What had happened was that the deck integrity failed, and the bilges both failed. After pulling the bilges, one had rubberbands in it.All in all, I consider myself one of the luckiest guys on earth to be here today with a valuable lesson learned.

[GLF]

WOW :eek: What a story Mark! Glad to hear everyone made it.

[Priority1]

You are a lucky SOG Mark. Things can and do go wrong in a heartbeat. Your cool head, and that distress call saved your life.