Stupid is as Stupid does.....

I was reflecting on the past couple years of some of the more "stupid" mistakes that I've done and hopefully learned from here's a few things and please feel free to add any of yours to the list so we can all learn.

- After catching a few fish I noticed my worm needed to be shortened cause it was tore up at the tip, lesson learned: Berkley Powerbait taste like what I would think an armpit would taste like.

- I used to use "Spike-it" chartreuse dye but, last year I had read so many great reviews on JJ's Magic I bought some, I found it to be an awesome dye but...... Lesson learned: JJ's and hot sun do not mix well with each other. After opening my bottle that mysteriously became pressurized from the heat I looked like I had jaundice and my legs, feet and hands were all a pretty shade of yellow for 3 days!

- Lesson learned.... never be in such a hurry to get my boat fixed that I don't get it done right!!!

I have learned that when I put my poles in the back of the car, or in the trunk, to either drive to a different spot or to leave for the day, to use these four steps to keep from snapping off the tip of a rod:

1) carefully place the rods into the car so that no part will have the door or trunk shut on it, 2) look again to make sure no part will be caught in the closing door/trunk, 3) to shut the door/trunk slowly, while watching the rods, and then 4) to stop just before I shut the door/trunk and open the door again, just to make sure.

Works for me 97% of the time.

Always double check that drain plug to make sure you havnt forgotten to put it in! Hahaha

BOAT - Bust Out Another Thousand

Remember BEFORE floating the boat off the trailer to:
1) Verify the boat keys are in my posession
2) Trim the motor down and crank once - to verify adequate charge on the cranking battery to get it started.

It ***** when you figure out one of those requirements is not met after the boat has floated free of the trailer. Especially in March when the water is 45 degrees.

And on to the #3 - verify after parking the tow vehicle that the keys to said vehicle are in your pocket before locking/closing the doors. Especially when night fishing and planning to get off the water at 1 AM. Buddy's wife *really* loved being woken up so she could bring his spare set to the lake 2 hours away. In my defense, I did verify there was a set of keys in my pocket... I just didn't consider that they went with a vehicle still parked at my buddy's house 2 hours away.

never lay a g loomis down with the lure still in the water !

i made a cast out the left side of the boat to surfacing stripers, immediately they went down, and then came up on the right side of the boat with a fury, i laid the g loomis down with the spook still 30 yds out the left side of the boat. i picked another rod up and made a quick cast to the school o the right side of the boat....BAM! fish on, i got that one in, cast again caught another and then everything calmed down. at some point i realized the loomis rig was no longer in the boat ?!?!
and just like that a revo stx and a g loomis jerbait rod......gone?
the striper trolling rod that was laying on the deck with "DEAD" bait about 6 feet deep off the side of the boat should have left a lasting impression on me.....obviously it didnt

Never ever put a plug in your livewell overflow drain no matter how much you want provide the most favorable environment for your catch or bait on or off the trailer for however how short amount of time.

It is likely you wont remember the plug is in until you pump enough water into the boat that your get feet get wet.

When your feet get wet don't jump into the water to check your bilge plug.
It is not the bilge pump you hear running it is your live well pump and you can't turn that off while in the water.

Once you have gotten pretty good at remembering the above you can rig up something to keep things like shinners from clogging up your livewell overflow causing the same problems.

I never have sunken by boat by doing any of the above but it has definitely put me into emergency mode.
I do know a fellow you was beached and a shinner got stuck in the drain and sunk his boat one night while camping.

Tie your lures on away from the edge of the boat. They still fall in with one bounce.

I can not list all the stupid things I have done fishing:

One of the best boners was launched boat early in the morning boat buddy parked the trailer and tow vehicle up the long steep ramp to the parking lot walked down long steep ramp stepped in the boat and water shot up through the floor drain---forgot drain plug; boat buddy (65 years old) runs up long steep ramp retrieves the trailer and tow vehicle gets in line (tournament) I have the bilge pump on, it is early March in Illinois water temp about 45 I get the drain plug go to the back of the boat and I am able to reach down and put the plug in get most of my shirt wet. pull the boat and to my horror water is shooting out of the drain hole. I know the plug was not tight and now it is in the water as it has been blown out of the hole. It is still dark we are wading in the cold water with flash light looking for our drain plug. At this time the only good thing that has come from this fiasco is we are keeping about 75 fishermen entertained while they are waiting for the pretournament meeting. For some reason i shine the light on the boat drain hole and to my surprise I see the drain plug stuck in one of the two livewell drains. Our luck did not improve during the tournament no check. Talk about stupid boat buddy still fishes with me.

It wasn't me, but at a tournament as I was waiting to pull up to the courtesy pier to get my partner...

Always make sure your shoe laces arent wrapped around a cleat on the courtesy pier before attempting to step out onto the boat

Always make sure you unplug the extension cord prior to pulling your boat out of storage, you look funny dragging a 50ft bright orange extension cord down the road

HM.........I've shared this before, but I will again here.

A few years back.......many years back, I used to fish Patoka quite a bit by myself.

One day I went after work, and was pushed for time, so I was in a little bit of a hurry. When I launch my boat by myself I always have a system. I prep the boat, remove straps, and then hook a rope to the front AND the truck. ALWAYS. Then I back down, hit the brakes, the boat slides off, then I quickly pull up 5-10 ft up the ramp, throw the truck in park, hit the parking brake, and jump out of the boat, BEFORE the rope gets any tension on it. That way I can feather it going out, and pull the boat to the bank, tie off, and go park.

Well.....on this day, I did all that, except I managed to throw the truck in reverse and some how, I didn't put the parking brake all the way down. I jumped out of the truck, ran back to get the rope, but what did I find.....the TRUCK rolling back towards me.

By the time I managed to jump in the truck and SLAM on the brakes, the front wheels were in the water, and the back seats were UNDER water. ****. On top of that my crappy 4.2l v6 didn't have enough ass to haul 6 billion lbs of water up the ramp. I had to SLOWLY pull the rig up the ramp and let the water drain out of the cab and the truck bed.

I finally get the truck up the ramp. Still shaking I go back to the rope to pull the boat in............well, the rope broke, and my boat is floating down the **** lake. SHEITE.........double SHEITE. On top of that, there are 3 "locals" fishing from the pier laughing their asses off. I mean they are laughing so hard I think they are going to hyperventilate or something.

I stripped down to my undies, and went swimming. AND it was a **** good swim....about 50 yards. I managed to reach the boat, and pull myself aboard.

I went back to the ramp, tied up, got dressed and went fishing.

It was one of the BEST 5 hours I've ever had on that lake.

I can still hear those toothless fools on the pier laughing their assess off though.

Later,

Geo

[QUOTE=GeoFisher;492404]HM........
I can still hear those toothless fools on the pier laughing their assess off though.

Later,

Geo[/QUOTE]

Hey George, were they laughing before or after you stripped to your skivies:o. I can just here them now. And were their bangoes in the background?!?!?!?!??!?!