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1lipripper
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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 02:21 pm |
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We've all heard the clichés..."bad day fishing is better than a good day at work; Work is for people who don't fish; etc." But, seriously tell us about your worst trip fishing.
For me, I was fishing a summer night tournament just after getting my first boat...a fish n ski.
When we left the ramp it was cloudy. But as we made our way out onto the main body of the lake the clouds thickened and the wind picked up. The farther we ran up the lake the bigger the waves.
Suddenly, we hit a large wave, which rushed over the bow of the boat breaking one of the windshields and filling the boat with water. We scrambled around, headed for shore with the bilge pump working for all it was worth and us bailing water with a coffee can. Then the rain came...heavy.
There was a covered, private boat dock nearby so we took cover under it. It was really weird watching the golf ball sized hail stones plopping in the water. Splashing violently.
Then, as suddenly as it arrived it was gone. We finally got to start fishing. It was tough. Tournament started at 7pm and was going to end at 11pm. It was now about 7:30pm
We caught a couple, but nothing to write home about.
At about 9:15pm, we pulled up on a shallow water marker and began casting our spinnerbaits up on the hump. Then, I heard the strangest sound...it sounded like static from an am radio. It was coming from my rod. The higher I raised it up the louder it got. My partner said, "Look at this!" As if by magic, his fishing line began to lift out of the water. I told him, "Let's get out of here! Now!!" Static electricity was in the air.
We cranked the big engine and ran across the lake for cover. We beached the boat on the sandy shore and in one movement we both ran out of the boat up to a covered picnic table. This time when the rain, thunder and lightning passed we got in the boat, headed back down the lake to the ramp, dropped our fish back in the water, put the boat on the trailer and left, thankful to still be alive.
On the way home we were listening to the radio and the news anchor said there had been a tornado on and near the lake. We had no clue that a tornado had passed through.
The next day we learned that not one of the 63 boats in the tournament had caught a fish. They all left.
If we had just weighed in those three fish...
Now, what about yours???
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Matt Blair
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Posted: Tue Jul 22nd, 2008 05:30 pm |
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I'll make this as quick as possible...it was a long ass day.
Day 3 of the IGFA World Championship in Cabo, 2008. We were in 10th place going into it.
The boat we had drawn had broken the day previous so they gave us their back up boat. It looked like Columbus had just crossed the Pacific on this thing and a wonder that it floated.
It was dark, I had adominal cramps and one thing would relieve that. I stepped into the most gnarly, smelly boat head I have ever used...maybe the worst head on land or sea that I've ever been in. I did my best and made it back to the cockpit.
Water was spitting in our faces as we tried to get set up. We were moving forward but somehow diesel filled water was still spitting at us??
The boat's outriggers consisted of a crew member holding a pole to the side of the boat with a rubber band holding the line out. We did our best to keep our cool as every boat in the tournament passed us laughing as day 3 started.
I lost 4 fish. As I tried casting a live bait to the fifth fish, my feet went out from under me and I threw my rod/reel overboard as I tried catching myself before my face split in two across the hand rail. I caught myself, not the rod/reel and that sank to the bottom of the sea. With luck, my bait wrapped around another line and I was able to hand line 450+ yards of line with a well tied knot at the end to my reel.
We had another tailer and Matt Wallace tried rigging up a bait to cast at but it had a piece of cloth wrapped around it. Frustratingly he threw the rag away and cast the bait. No bite. Brandon joked that the cloth must have been the plug to the live well. They looked, it was. The live bait were flopping around.
We hooked up on a nice marlin, I was on it. "Back up, back up!" I yelled. We were fishing with 30# test and 50# flouro leaders. The boat couldn't reverse. Snap, I lost another fish.
We were skunked that day, other boats caught as many as 8 billfish, but we came back well on day 4.
I'd like to have that day all over again, starting with the foul head. I would change a few tactics, starting with my 1 year old son's wipees. MB
Attachment: The Start for web.jpg (Downloaded 440 times)
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o-show
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Posted: Thu Jul 24th, 2008 05:30 am |
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Ok here's one so bad it lasted multiple days...long read but the extent of my misery needs to be fully documented. for those that like to speed scan i bolded the best parts.
Part One:
A couple years ago I talked my buddy Tom F. into taking a suicide run ( driving after night after work with no sleep) down from PHX to SC. We planned to cruise around the bahia for sierras and such. We loaded up my explorer and hitched my 17'alumacraft to it and hit the road. Everything was fine until we were sitting at the stop light in Hermosillo in front of the hotel where you turn left. That's when Tom said " Man, it smells like burning tires". We were in hermosillo after all so i didn't think the smell was that unusual. We turned left and went about 1/2 mile when i realized it was a tire on my little trailer that was on fire.
We pulled into that really crappy 24 hr Llanteria in the really crappy part of HMSO, I'm sure everyone thats driven through HMSO knows the one I'm talking about, Its on the one-way street section right when you have to do that left turn. By now it was about 1am and the guys at the 24 hr shop were drinking quite heavily. It started to drizzle as the guys tipsily searched the stacks of oddball tires looking for a 12" tire. After a half hour or so they gave up looking and I started to realize that we might have a serious problem.
We had a conference then Tom F. left me to guard my little boat while he took of in my truck to try and find the 24hr walmart. Rumor was they carried tires. Tom F. knows close to zero spanish so I doubted he would be able to find wallyworld but I put my faith in him.
Tom was gone an awful long time.....To long in fact and I had a goup of about 6 or 8 guys hanging around me and my little boat asking for beers and such and i started getting nervous. One of the guys that was sleeping against the building during this whole ordeal woke up and asked what was going on. He listened as his buddies explained the situation and he walked over to his little Yugo looking car and pulled a tire out of the trunk. Perfect fit for only $50 bucks. Tom arrived an hour or two later with no tire, Walmart didn't have 12" tires either. no problem, lets roll.
We pulled into SC as the sun was trying to come up but the Huricane was holding the daylight back. We sat in the Explorer next to the fish cleaning station in the marina and watched the moored boats get thrown around like rag dolls. We actually fished on the rock wall during the onslaught from the heavens. We heard a huge crash but didn't know what it was. We kept fishing for a bit then went to Tequilas for Breakfast. We learded that the crash we heard was their sign blowing over.
Tequillas had no electricity and we were served cold day old coffee with warm milk and cold chiliquiles. I've had may great meals at Tequilas but this one was not one of them. We got in the Ford to leave and realized our $50 tire was flat. I unhooked the trailer so cord on the mini air compresor plugged into the cig lighter will reach the tire and the front jack wheel on the trailer fell off, rusted through. No big problem. pump up the tire in the huricane force winds and get in and turn the ignition. For some unexplained to this day reason the back window of the explorer shattered and fell out onto the street.
Next morning we actually go the tire patched and launched the boat. Caught a few sierras, a couple skippys had a good time. We were supposed to be back in PHX for a 10pm photo shoot so we left around noon. that's when the trip got real bad.
The tread on our $50 tire came off as we reached HMSO aound 2pm. We limped into HMSO on the treadless tire and found the firestone. Over the course of the next 5 hours hitting every tire shop, junkyard, driving on the treadless tire over pot holes and such we realized that the tires on my trailer are the only 12" tires in all of mexico.
We gave up and knew there was no way we would make it to PHX on a bald tire so we searched for a place to lock the boat up and leave it. Every storage yard we found was secure. securely locked up for the night that is so we found a quite street and unhooked the boat. we were taking all the gear out of it and stuffing it into the rain soaked explorer with no window when some dude came out of his house and asked us what we were doing. Oscar turned out to be the nicest guy in the world and he opened his gate and we pulled the boat into his back yard. We exchanged numbers and we left. I knew I'd never see the boat again but oh well.
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o-show
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Posted: Thu Jul 24th, 2008 07:00 am |
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part two.
We got back to the border without the trailer or boat. This is where I made a huge mistake. I should have kept driving but habit made me pull into the permit return lane. The nice young lady at the booth where you turn in your 7day permit wanted to collect taxes on the boat and trailer we didn't have and she assumed we sold in Mexico. She harrassed us for a while and wouldn't let us leave without paying an exhorborant fine. I finally got back in the explorer with no window and drove off. She started yelling and ran ito the little trailer. I was nervous that the police were chasing us and my butt was so puckered that it nearly took a bite out of my truck seat. We made it over the border but the hour or so it took to get over the border took about 3 years off my life.
Of course we missed the photo shoot and caught heck for it. We worked for a couple days and I bought 2 new tires at Discount but I couldn't get the window fixed. On our next days we headed back to HMSO on a suicide run to see if the boat was still in Oscar's yard. The phone number he gave me was missing 3 or 4 key digits and I assumed it was fake and I didn't even think I could find his house again. We finally found his house and he was home and the boat was still there. We gave him a couple gifts for himself and his wife and mother who lived with him and a toy truck for his 2yr old son.
This is where we made an even bigger mistake. We dicided that since we were in HMSO we should drive over to kino bay and launch the boat for the afternoon. Kino bay sucks. The launch ramp at the trailer park was ok and the scenery of the ocean was fine but we couldn't fish. We headed out a little farther than I was comfortable with in such a small boat looking for structure. We got skunked and the engine started sputtering and I determined that we blew a head gasket. We limped back to the ramp.
Tom jumped out as I held the boat just deep enough so she didn't bottom. The ramp was very steep and ended about 5 feet short of the water. They must have had an extremely low tide that day. The tide was starting to come in but the engine was overheating and we couldn't wait the couple hours for high slack tide to cover the ramp. Tom backed the trailer into the water on the sand beach in the lee side of the ramp. I timed it perfectly and surfed a wave onto the trailer and yelled "hit it". Well the explorer was not in 4x4 mode and she sunk immediatly to her rear axles. I pushed the boat off the trailer and let it float thinking the reduction in weight would allow us to get out. He shifted into 4X as my boat floated down the coast. The weight reduction theory didn't work. The windowless explorer was burried. nice big steep waves were hitting the tailgait and spilling into the cargo area as the explorer started to get sucked out to sea.
A circus erupted as the dude at the trailer park tried to pull us out with his little 2wd nissan and 50' of twine. After 10 minutes or so the police showed up and then the fire dept. the whole time the explorer is getting deluged with waves. The fire department took about what seemed to be 4 or 5 hours to get a chain hooked up to the firetruck. I had to swim underwater under the front end of the explorer in the churned up murky water to get a chain wrapped around the tow hook. After that it took about 3 seconds to tow it up to the hard pack.
We opened the doors to let the water run out for a while and the fire dept and police help us drag the boat up to the trailer and put it on. The fire dept and police guys were looking for payment for services but I had very little cash. I was running on about 16 hours of sleep for the week and was extremely upset at my unfortunate circumstances. We didn't know what to do and after a standoff we convinced them that we would go to a banamex and come back with cash. I don't think they believed us but they allowed us to leave. The explorer actually started right up and seemed to run fine. I was a little concerned about the crushed gravel sound coming from the hubs. I was also a little worried about the burning smell from the seawater boiling out of the catalytic converter. My cell phone wasn't working either. It seems cell phones don't like being submerged in salt water. We couldn't find a banamex and I don't even know if there is one in Kino Bay so we had a quick conference and decided to pull a dine and dash style escape. I was so paranoid that the police were following us that I drove a little faster than acceptable to put distance between us. The road between Kino Bay and HMSO is probably a little better than driving through the sahara desert with no roads but not by much. Driving for multiple hours in 100 degree plus heat with the windows down and in soggy shorts sitting on a soggy seat is not fun.
I was doing about 95 when I saw the flashing lights in my rear view mirror just north of the toll booth on the north side of HMSO. I really didn't mean to be going that fast but lack of sleep combined with lots of caffeine made me do it. Thoughts of prison life in mexico flashed before my eyes as I slowed down and looked for a place to pull over. I had slowed to about 45 when the cop pulled up next to me and rolled his window down. he signaled us to pull of the road but without a shoulder to pull onto I just shrugged. He drove next to us for a mile or so yelling something I couldn't understand and everytime I slowed down even further he waved me on to follow him. He finally gave up and pulled into the center median, whipped a u-turn and took off at an extremely high rate of speed in the other direction.
I made it to km 21 without any other incidences but this is where I made another mistake. I pulled into the permit return lane again out of habit when I should have just kept going. I locked eyes with the same girl from 3 days before. this time I had the truck, boat and trailer but no permits at all and to top it off I left the title to the trailer at my house in PHX and the license plate was missing from the trailer. I think it got ripped off in the ocean. For some reason she was extremely mad that I had nothing to offer. After a few minutes of giving us grief she gave up and told us to leave.
I made it back to PHX alive and safe but did not go back to SC for about a year after that. That trip was more stressfull than the time I ended up in prison in Puerto Penasco a few years earlier.
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hans
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Posted: Fri Jul 25th, 2008 06:54 pm |
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I liked Your Story and can only tell You , that is the Spice of Live. Enjoy it, dont forgett it and if You are again in Problems in Hermosillo, give me a call , i can Help.
Enjoy Live , .... Hans
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Rudy S.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26th, 2008 04:29 am |
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Please let us know when you plan on returning to Mexico. I for one do not want to be on the highway on THAT weekend.
Crazy adventures are pretty cool in my books, irresponsible hijinks are a completely different matter. Sounds like you are very unappreciative to boot.
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o-show
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Posted: Sat Jul 26th, 2008 07:42 am |
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Sorry you didn't like the story Rudy. I appreciate your comments but we all do dumb stuff once in a while.
Blue bells have stinging capability????!!! Jeez, I used to snorkel through them all the time without touching any....but only cuz of dumb luck. ... Mon Jun 30th, 2008 10:00 pm
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Rudy S.
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Posted: Sat Jul 26th, 2008 05:56 pm |
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O-Show, to be quite honest, what bothered me more about your post was the typical behavior by tourists that gets twisted around to make this country sound more dangerous than it really is. Bolting through a checkpoint with your backside "puckered", dining and dashing from the very people who saved your a#@ from losing your vehicle AND boat, and worse yet, having serious doubts about finding your boat where you left it, even though you were smiling and thanking him at the same time, really speaks volumes about your character.
Ignorance on my part for having been in the water alongside bluebells pales in comparison, but you must have a lot of time on your hands if you were able to dig back that far in this forum. My only question is, why didn't you comment on my stupidity upon reading my original post? Never mind, the question was rhetorical.
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o-show
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Posted: Sun Jul 27th, 2008 04:08 pm |
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Welcome to the forum Rudy, from the information on your profile I assume you haven't been around here long. It is a nice forum, don't you think? Bart has done an excellent job keeping it informative and friendly. He and most of us on this board have zero tollerance for name calling, flaming, trolling, baiting, use of foul language, attacks on a persons character etc. Out of respect for Bart and all the hard work he has done I will not respond here to any of your latest comments.
If you wish to continue our dialog you can pm me through this site or, you can e-mail me at the address listed in my profile. If you have a need to unload your baggage on me in a public forum please register on the other san carlos site that is more tollerant of this behavior. Pm me if you want the url. When and if I begin to actually care about your opinions I may respond. Don't hold your breath, it may take a few days.
By the way it took about 1 second for me to find your postings and about 1 minute to read all 10 of them, so no, I didn't waste a lot of time. To view a user's profile and read their postings:
click on the member's user name.
select "view profile"
select "postings" tab.
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Rudy S.
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Posted: Sun Jul 27th, 2008 06:04 pm |
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Your whole story reads like "Dumb and Dumber 3". Sorry to offend you dude, I'm sure the guys you stiffed are a tad bit more offended.
By the way, I,ve been around these parts for 35 years, no need to welcome me to anything.
I'm surprised I was the only one who rsponded to your thread in this manner. Did anyone else find his post wierd ina juvenile way to say the least?
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wes
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Posted: Mon Jul 28th, 2008 06:24 am |
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I enjoyed the story, and I feel it shows the people of Sonora in a good light. And I don't believe you are obligated to pay the police or fire dept. for the help, that is their job. In no way do I believe this story makes any of the locals sound bad. Thank you Rudy S for bringing this light-hearted topic to a screeching halt.
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tontotom
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Posted: Mon Jul 28th, 2008 05:11 pm |
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I really enjoyed all the stories. No need to take anything personal. I've done many stupid things in my life that I will not take time here to publish.
I've tried to push trips like this and a mind doesn't think properly with very little sleep.
Tom
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barato
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Posted: Mon Jul 28th, 2008 05:22 pm |
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i really enjoyed it too....my only reservation is that it'll inhibit anyone else from posting their story, as who could compare to that series of misadventures??
and along the lines of walking a mile in your bro's moccasins, it might be easier for us to see the "best" way to handle stuff while we're sitting safely (and dry) in front of our computers than dripping wet and in the middle of stress overload.......be charitable, as we've probably all done things we might wish we'd handled differently later...???
great saga! along with a few lessons on stuff to watch out for. 
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dc2harden
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 04:29 pm |
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I don't know if it is the worst day fishing or the worst trip fishing because I could have been working and it is seared etched and locked in my memory. Last year in San Carlos with Catch 22 (Fernando, Steve, and Gerrardo) my Kevin Gavin and I got together as we try to do every year. This trip was a series of incidents that seemed to never end and we have multiple witnesses and pictures.
Lets start with day 1, the fishing was a little slow but very nice weather, Life is good beer is cold and we are relaxing. Then Fish On, big bull Dorado, Visions of fish after fish in the boat flashing in our minds. This was just a vision. (At this time I should state that hindsite is 20/20). Gerrardo (bless his heart a true fisherman) managed to gaff the fish and get him in the boat (Nice Big Bull Dorado) then the series of incidents begin. The fish developed attitude and threw the hook right into the thigh of Gerrardo (Pictures are available). We secured the fish (priorities) then went to work on the hook. Found a pair of pliers (rusted) found another not quite large enough. Gerrardo has hook in leg and we don't seem to have the tools, locate another boat find tools finally get the hook out, flush with salt water (goes in one hole comes out the other). Gerrardo refused to go back in fished the rest of the day slow fishing but most enjoyable). Ok enough for the first day.
Day 2 Full day planned hopes of lots of fish (didn't happen) breakdown.
Day 3 (Fernando) Catching slow but we are fishing and life is good (no great). Then the highlight. Find a body (Human) in the Ocean. Being good citizens we make the appropriate notifications. 6 hours later the Navy arrives (not in a little boat but in a Navy Ship). Explained the delay (Thankfully we did some planning and had plenty of Beer). Upon discussion with the Navy, it was brought up that we would take the body in (Great Finale). Thankfully that didn't happen and we left the Navy with Lucy (We were bored) and made haste. (rough day on the water).
Day 4 (Steve and Gerrardo) Fishing chasing our tails seems to be slow. Wait word of Tuna!!! Wee Wee!! Head out (Way Out) Chase tuna finally get into them. First round (4 rods) (4 tuna on) and (3 and 1/4 in the boat) Shark got 3/4 of Gerrardos. nothing left but the head. Can only imagine what is next. (Did I mention Kevin decided to jump in swim with the whales). Did we forget something? Remember I said something about hindsight (Tools, Notification and now Fuel). Made it back to the Marina not the one we left from but back to the Marina (running on vapors and wishes). Finally back into port.
I wouldn't say I have ever had a bad day fishing but will say, this trip was the most memorable. I will say this about my friends Steve, Fernando and Gerrardo they diefinetly know how to provide us with memories that last a lifetime. I could go without the series of incidents but be it known that we are back in October to do it all over again. I might mention that for all the incidents we had one hell of a good time and hope we are not banned from fishing with them again......Are we?
Thanks Catch 22,
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marti gras
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 05:38 pm |
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| DC I would not have responded to the post started by a radio announcer that has no clue on saltwater fishing & is just using this site for propaganda but I remember your trip & the pictures & talking with steve geraldo ,fernando Id say your trip was one for the books not sure if I would have thrown the dorado back but I was,nt there congrats on a fun trip !!!!
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No Sniveling
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 07:43 pm |
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DC,
Fernando was texting me the details the day you ran across "Lucy". Being the callous, primitive cretin that I am, my first response was "Any fish under it???"!!
 Craig
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Stuart
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 09:31 pm |
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1 picture = 1000 words.
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marti gras
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Posted: Tue Jul 29th, 2008 10:54 pm |
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#$%^&*(((((*&^%$ouch
Stuart wrote:
1 picture = 1000 words.
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daveMac
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Posted: Wed Jul 30th, 2008 02:11 am |
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| Shoulda used a circle hook
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Stuart
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Posted: Wed Jul 30th, 2008 03:48 pm |
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daveMac wrote: Shoulda used a circle hook
Uhhhh.... Mustad 16/0 circle hook it is!
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