Most Embarassing Moments....

[Dan052]

I was invited to go fishing with a friend of mine, and his dad, who is a professional angler....or at least was a professional angler...i haven't spoken w/ either of them in years...

anyways, we were out one chilly mid april morning, searching for some hawg largemouth, during pre-spawn at stockton. Around 3 or 4 hours after getting on the water...probably around 10am or so...we had already landed quite a few bass...nothing worthy of bragging about...but his dad soon landed a NICE 3-4 pound kentucky. With the competitive nature that I have, I became more determined to catch the largest fish of the day...I concentrated heavily with every cast, and made sure every hook set was clean.

At one point i reached down to grab the bag of doritos laying on the deck, and almost as soon as reaching down, i felt a strong tug at my line...I knew i didn't have a good angle on the hook set, so i desperately raised my rod in the air, as quickly and aggressively as I could...leading to me rolling off the back of the chair, off the side of the boat and into the freezing water. I was back on the boat about as quickly as I had fallen in, even though I was now soaked from head to toe.

managed to toss my rod into the hull before bailing off the boat though...my friend grabbed the rod and landed the monster 12 inch largemouth, that apparently got the best of me.

we rode back in to the marina...i sat in the truck with the heat on for about 30 minutes, and I ended up wearing an extra pair of long johns and a rain gear for the rest of that day of fishing.

[eric1978]

I was a kid, probably 12 or so, and I was camping with my best little fishing buddy and his family at Carlisle lake in IL. We spent most of our time at the spillway catching white bass cast after cast on Tiny Torpedos late into the night. It was a blast.

Since I was a youngin' and there was no such thing as having brewskies around the campfire, I just had to have a line in the water at all times because there simply wasn't anything else to do. We were back at the campsite and I told my buddy I was gonna catch some catfish. He was a much better fisherman than me at the time, and he told me there weren't any fish right there where we were camped, and he was probably right, but I was gonna show him. We were really competitive and there was nothing better than proving that little smart-mouth punk wrong when it came to fishing, because he was wrong so rarely.

I set up a tight-line with some stink bait, casted it out a mile into the abyss of darkness, stuck my rod in a rod holder and wandered back up to the campfire. I'd put a bell on the tip of the rod because it was pitch black and couldn't see a foot in front of me. I'd just about forgotten about my rod when, about 20 minutes later, all of a sudden that bell was just ringin' like crazy. I thought I must have hooked up with the biggest cat in that lake.

I ran down and grabbed my rod and gave a good yank, and I felt a HUGE pull. I couldn't see a thing. I started laughing and throwing the insults at my buddy about how stupid he was, and how I bet he wished he'd set up a tight-line, too. I didn't care what it was I'd hooked, I was just happy to prove him wrong and make him feel stupid.

It was the strangest feeling, though...I could feel a BEAST of a fish pulling back hard, but I could reel the line in with ease. I was utterly confused. I kept on a reelin' and tuggin' and the next thing I know I can't reel anymore. I've got the treble hook all jammed up in the rod tip. What the hell? My buddy is next to me rolling on the ground in laughter. I look up behind me near the campfire, and one of the girls is kicking around all tangled up in something.

When I wasn't looking my buddy had tied a long piece of mono on my rod tip, and elaborately wove it around some trees and back up to the campsite and set it up like a trip wire. Turns out that huge fish was just a stupid little girl all twisted up in some line tied to my rod. I lose again.

[clivus]

I was sharing a boat with one of my dad's best friends (Aaron) on a fly-in trip to northwest ontario. I was about 8 years old at the time, and my dad and older brother were sharing another boat. Aaron had fouled the outboard with his line, and had raised the lower unit and was leaning way out over the transom attempting to remedy the problem. Oblivious to Aaron's precarious position, I let go with a huge two-handed cast which landed Aaron in the drink, cussing and sputtering. Pretty bad day for an 8 year old!

DJ

[kdan]

It was one of those days way to cold for anyone with common sense to be out fishing. Myself and my best two buds went to Bennett for a day of winter time C & R. We were going to fish the water below the bridge and down through the high bank hole. If you have fished this, you are familuar with the flat rocks that tapers into deeper water. In my haste to be the first in the water I did not notice that these rocks were covered with ice. Making some kind of smart mouth comment about being the last one in I proceeded to slide on into deep water while sitting on my butt after falling on the slick ice. Yes, that water is over your waders if you are on your butt. Had to walk on down stream to get out where there was no ice. Luckily, my buds had enough extra clothing for me to change out ot the wet ones and continue fishing. Would not have been so bad if I hadn't made the wise comments right befor taking the plunge. No, I wasn't the guy SWMO was talking about. lol

OR

I didn't feel much like Einstein when I got caught on the wrong side of the river at Norfork when they ran water, either. Had to wait for some one to come by in a boat. Actually feel kinda good to have at least made it out, even if it was on the wrong side.

[zander]

It was a nice late summer day at Taneycomo a few years ago. My wife was pregnant with our son and we decided that we would rent a kayak and paddle around lower Taney where Scotty's now is. I was planning on getting a 2 person kayak since my wife didn't really know a whole lot about paddling or boats or anything and I did. The folks at the kayak rental place which is no longer in business really did a good sales job on me trying to upsell me on getting two kayaks instead of renting a 2 seater. They went on and on about how many dates they had seen go wrong after putting two lovebirds in one kayak, blah, blah, blah. I figured why not and got two kayaks. we got in and paddled way up river. Then my wife got tired and I had to tie the front of her kayak to the back of mine and tow her back down towards where Scotty's is now. Finally we got back there and she decides to paddle up that little inlet right across on the hollister side of the river. She is going forward and I am following about ten feet behind. All of a sudden she started screaming at the top of her lungs and stopped paddling. I have no idea what is going on at this point. she keeps screaming and it is getting more desperate finally i hear her yell "SNAAAAAAAAKE!!!!!!!" I look and there is a coiled up water snake on a rock at the mouth of the inlet and she is heading right for it. I am yelling at her to stop and she is still screaming and watching her kayak glide through the water like a guided missile right at the snake on the rock. Of course the kayak hit the rock at which point the snake flipped into the water, and my wife totally freaked out (as if she wasn't already freaking out) and jumped out of the kayak where she thought the snake had fallen in. With a big splash she went right into cold Lake Taneycomo. she got over to the rocks but of course she was freezing. thankfully some folks from Nebraska had a pontoon boat and brought her to the dock on the other side. I got the other kayak and her paddle and went back ot the other side. It was very embarrassing. she later said that she was so scared of the snake she couldn't even think of putting in her paddle to stop or even steer away from the snake.

Needless to say it was the last time for a kayak for her, but thankfully the baby was just fine.

[Flysmallie]

After spending many hours fishing (read sleep deprived). I lost the keys to my car. After a frantic feeling of en-pending cash letting to get the ride started back to St. Louis. I was kindly reminded to check the bottom of my waders again after several time doing just that. Only find them located conveniently hidden by the cushy tongue of a new pair of chotas.

Now most would think that's not embarrassing. Maybe kinda dumb, lucky, or maybe even funny but alas this happens while in front of a couple of dozen people that I consider friends, mentors, and generally would like their approval.

Of course any friends of mine know. That a proper fishing buddy would never let a good ribbing get away.

And they didn't disappoint.

Not to mention Phil sent a guy to retrieve some tools to unlock your car. You had everybody looking everywhere for your keys. I think all that special coffee made you numb.

Hopefully you can keep track of them this year. I'm sure somebody will always be checking to make sure you know where your keys are!

[jjtroutbum]

Not to mention Phil sent a guy to retrieve some tools to unlock your car. You had everybody looking everywhere for your keys. I think all that special coffee made you numb.

Hopefully you can keep track of them this year. I'm sure somebody will always be checking to make sure you know where your keys are!

Ronnie with the salt Thanks bub.

[MaxDrown]

First of all, you're all liars. The stories I will tell are all true and lack any embellishments albeit less funny funny that the stories above.

Chad and I are fishing the Eleven Point with Brian Sloss. Brian put us on a lot of fish, but we lost a lot of flies in tries, rocks, and who knows where else. Near the end of the day, Chad got a snag on the bottom, but refused to lose another fly. So, he takes off his shirt because he doesn't want to get it wet, and leaps over the side of the drift boat and swims down to the bottom of the river and retrieves his fly. Yay! $0.60 saved! A few minutes later we pull up to the cement boat ramp, Chad steps out of the boat and steps on a slippery rock and falls backwards into the river getting completely soaked, including the nice, dry shirt he had so painstakingly kept dry a few minutes earlier. After make sure he wasn't hurt. I had a good laugh at his expense.

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Chad and I were wading the Maries up near Jeff City. As is normally the case we get caught up in the conversation and the 10000's of blue gills, and end of way downstream of the families. I yell for my wife to come pick us up in the canoe. I haul myself over the side first. Then Chad tries to haul him self in. My wife makes a very elegant weight adjustment to balance the canoe, but I go completely launched out of the canoe catching at least 3 feet of air.

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Chad, Matt, and I are wading the Little Piney in Nov. I decided to make one more step towards a snagged fly (again to save $0.60), when the water took my feet and my dignity away. A grabbed hold of the branch that the fly was snagged on, kept a hold on my rod, but my waders filled with very cold water very fast. I was drug off and under the branch and down stream very quickly. I did let go of the rod to save my life. After a made it through the shoal, I stood up in water that came up to my knees (the rest was in my waders I guess).

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I took a scout troop down to the Eleven Point to camp and fishing. We were going to go fish the bridge near Brian's fly shop that night, but discovered I had locked my keys in the car (4 hours from home) along with all of my food, camping gear, and (most importantly) fishing gear. Fortunately, we were able to talk a locksmith into driving out and unlocking the car. Unfortunately, we were not able to get into any fish that night.