Lesson's learned

[troutcrazy]

Went fishing yesterday on the Cumberland River. Backed my friends boat into the water and parked the truck. We fished all day and into the evening. Great day caught tons of fish...until I realized I had misplaced the keys to his truck. We tore the boat and all tackle boxes to pieces...never found them. Figure they fell in the River sometime during our great exursion. Finally found cell phone reception on the upper part of the river and called home (an hour plus away) to have my friends wife drive down to Helm's Landing, a place she's never been, in the middle of the night. I learned a few things last night:

1) make your friend back his own boat into the water...that way he'll loose his own keys and you won't feel so bad!
2) safety pin your keys to your shorts
3) check safety pin that are holding keys to your shorts every 10 seconds
4) never eat all your food assuming you'll be going home at the end of a day of fishing
5) never drink all your water assuming you'll be home at the end a day of fishing
6) there are bats on the River at night and they will LAND on you
7) there are lots of coyete's around Cumberland River who howl at night and they can scare two grown men enough that the two grown men will sit on the boat ramp with a hunting knife and an oar ready to protect themselves from the attacks of forementioned coyete's
8) Helm's Landing at night with all the noises, the fog, the bat, and the coyete's, is a much looked over location for horror movies...that place is creepy at night
9) it's okay to hug your friends wife when she actually finds Helm's Landing in the middle of the night (10:48 pm) and rescue's you from near starvation and certain animal attacks
10) The most important thing I learned...Even loosing the keys to the truck and waiting in a creepy place with coyete's and a bat will not ruin a great day of fishing...we'll be going again next week!

Secure your keys!!!

[DJD]

Is helms landing right next to a few campsites?

[snavel]

That's great! Cracking me up!

[AJM]

Glad things worked out, and now you can look back on it, learn from it and remeber the positives out of the trip.

Was at Cave Run fishing for Muskie one day with a buddy, We drove in the morning before the sun was up to get there. Just about the time we were launching the boat the sun starts coming up. With the sun up you couldn't tell that the lighs to the truck were still on, and his truck had no warning horn. His truck also has the touch pad entry, to where he would normally leave his keys in the truck and use the pad for entry.

After a very long, tiring, extremely unproductive day on the lake, we realized we had left the lights on and drained the battery dead. We were the only ones left at a somewhat secluded ramp at about 10pm on a Sunday, with very sketchy cell phone reception.

It took the AAA tow truck guy almost an hour to get there, took him 5 minutes to get the doors open and get us going. He was a man of very few words, but he was definitly a life saver and much appreciated.

File that under lessons learned; I always double check mine or my partners lights now.

[LarryG]

The lesson you forgot to mention, is that man is still your friend, cherish him, they are hard to come by.Only a true friend can forgive an.

[LarryG]

Oh yeah found a great ramp once on lake muskegon, got there a couple of hours before sunrise, reclined the seat, and took a snooze, my buddy came back a few minutes later and told me, the ramp is almost in an old cemetary.He was seeing a man about a dawg, and had a flash light.

[raincheck]

I once drove 5hrs too go fishing only too fine out the keys too the boat was still at home,so i found a place too leave the boat that week and went back home.Returned the next week too have a great weekend of samon fishing.I'm from Mi and the geart lakes have some big fish in them.Been gone now for all most 10yrs but sure they still do.

[troutcrazy]

Is helms landing right next to a few campsites?

No. It's 4.7 miles by way of the river down from the dam. There was only us and the coyete's.

[birdstrike]

I'll be waiting for your post in two weeks where you find your keys in your tackle box, right where you put them to keep them *safe*. Been there, done that. :0 That is a creepy place at night. The blue herons and beavers can scare the crap out of you and the eyeballs watching you and following you on the bank can be a little creepy too.

[LarryG]

Rain check, wonder sometimes why you moved? I do. Sure miss those romping stomping runs a big steel head makes, and hoping that you have enough line to stop a chinook before he spools you.

[RoadToad]

What a night! Glad everything turned out okay. I've been on the water at night and had bats flying around my head, and it never really bothered me, but I never had one land on me. I don't think I'd like that too much.

[elnutsmalljaws]

I have a dry floating storage box in my boat that my wallet, cell phone and keys ALWAYS go in the SECOND my buddy gets in my boat or I get back in my boat from parking the truck. If my boat sinks, this storage box will float and I keep it under my seat. My buddy Hens keeps our keys, wallets and cell phones in the EXACT same dry storage spot in the boat and they ALWAYS go in this spot the very second we are both in the boat. Both of these are done pretty much before I untie from the courtesy dock or just a few feet from idleing away from picking either of us up. I keep my keys, wallet, cell phone, work id in the EXACT same place at home and they go there the SECOND I walk in the door and have NEVER lost any of them EVER. Sorry for your trouble, fishing at night adds a bunch of different obsticles than in the daylight that people really don't understand until they do it. Hope the tip by putting these valuable in the same place the same time everytime will help someone in the future avoid part of the troubles you encountered.