Tell your scarest moment on the water.....

[phoenix]

Those London boys are "Good Ole Boys". Used to work with a few of em. Good guys !

[sam8772]

Well I wasn't that long ago when the bad wind storm blew threw Louisville thanks to hurricain IKE. My buddy and me took the canoe down to the hydro dam at McAlpine to due some hog fishing there. We put in just before sunrise, and yes I said canoe(we are a bit crazy). Fished all day on the left side of the let out and didn't catch anything. As lunch time moved in we slipped back to the sandy bank where the canoe rested. We ate some lunch and noticed to wind was picking up. As I backed away from the dam I could see the dark clouds moving in. We hopped to it and launched the canoe as far upstream as we could carry it. The first half was not to bad but as we were moving to the middle the wind was blowing so hard that it turned the swift current into whitecaps. With every approching wave water was splashing over the gunnals. If that wasn't bad enough the eddy created by the lauching ramp was so strong it spun the canoe in TWO 360s about 20 yards off shore. I was never so scared in my life. I thought for sure we were going over. Finally we beached the canoe about 100 yrds up stream of the ramp and walked it gear and all over the slimmy stinky nasty rocks all the way up. Once on the ramp the wind was blowing so hard I had to sit on the canoe because it was being picked up and blown over. WOW I cannot believe we made it back in one piece. I think it was our prior white water expierence that saved us. We have not been back since and I hope that my boat is ready so we don;t have to take the canoe anymore.

[raincheck]

For me it used too be the 1st time out on the ice(im from MI)I havn't been ice fishing now for 10yrs and all my stuff is on the wall too stay now.I was about the only one from my family too keep fishing after we lost a uncle back in the 70s.Being around water you learn too respect it and i try not too put my self and others in harms way.Don't fish by myself when the water is too cold or frozen.Terry Adolph

[troutcrazy]

2 times...

!st time...
I was wading a river in Tn. and thought I could hop off a ledge over a channel and onto another ledge. I didn't make it and fell in rushing water that immediately filled up my waders. I sunk to the bottom and was pushed down river. I tried to keep my feet down river hoping to hit a rock and launch myself up...thankfully it worked, but the stupid part was I threw my rod when I went in...so back down I went to look for it...found it! Some rigs are worth risking your life for!!

2nd time...
I launched my 14 ft. flatbottom in the White River with the river flowing strong. There were 3 of us in the boat 2 of us go 240+lbs. and one rings in a 180lbs. So with the current to weight ratio my boat is sucked down like a like a chocolate shake at a wieght watchers convention. We motor up river through two bridges all the while dodging tree tops when the motor cuts out. We're sideways being pushed down river at a high rate of speed running smack into trees and I thought "We're gonna flip this boat, then we're gonna die and our wives are gonna be really mad at us!" Thankfully I started the motor turned us around and headed back to the ramp...but here's the really scarey part. As we went thru one of the bridges there was a vortex on the other side of one of the bridge supports. It was easily as big as the boat. It pulled the boat sideways but my little 25 horse and God's hand pushed us out. I ran the boat completely out of the water and onto the ramp...I never thought about slowing down. It took several hours for me to calm down. There were people on the shore (there was a park nearby) that cheered when we got back...they said they've never seen 3 big boys in a small boat try to get out on fast water like that...and one said he came over so he could tell the water rescue folks where we went down. Good people in Arkansas.

[wishniwasfishn]

I was 14 years old, back in the late 70's with my Dad and Uncle on the Cheaspeake Bay, back then they were no laws about life jackets, drinking, and no such thing as bilge pumps at least not in their boat, We had been chumming all day for bluefish, and had a great day, and my dad and uncle were talking about the old days as they drank and drank and drank, well I noticed a large front coming our way from the north which is always the worst, and told them about it more than a few times, of course they told me to shut up boy, keep dumping the chum, and get me another beer, well when it hit, it hit with a fury, 6-8' rollers, rain, wind, just down right nasty and quick, they tried to pull anchor, which you know is not easy with 8' rollers, it just about killed my uncle, slammed his head into the boat, knocking him out completely for about 3 minutes, waves rolling over into the boat, uncle passed out, dad screaming at me like I did something wrong, he finally cuts the anchor rope before we are totally sunk, and I am freezing cold, scared out of my mind, he throws me an old bleach bottle cut in half, screams start bailing before we sink, uncle wakes up, pukes everywhere, my dad is trying to pump the bulb so he can start the boat, cracks his head, doesnt knock him out, but puts a nice gash in his head, I'm watching all of this frozen in my tracks, cause i am about to sh&% myself, finally we get the boat started, 16' deep v hull with a 125 on it, these two idiots, loved them both dearly, but at this point, I know i am at least 50 points higher on an iq scale, since they are both plastered, want to try and make it back to Lewisetta where we started, about 7 miles, instead of just trying to make it to point lookout, maybe 2 miles, so they start back, waves crushing us from the front, couple from the sides that I thought was going to tip us over, this trip usually takes maybe an 1/2 hour at the most, took us 3 hours, and it was the scariest time I have ever had in my life, boat was almost full of water when we made it back, I was beat to death, had bruises all over my body, both of them was scared sober, but I know if there wasnt a god we would of died that day, plus both of them had been on the water for over 40 years each, so I am sure that helped. Got back to the house, mom and aunt frantically been looking for us, sure enough dad tells them, ahhh the fish were biting we didnt want to leave, and it wasnt that bad out there. Mom knew how bad it was by looking at the expressions on my face, and all the lacerations to them. I never went with them again unless they agreed to take me a life jacket. Scared all of us to death, but as we got older when we got together, that story was always brought up, and everyone got a great laugh out of it.

[HiDefFisherman]

Troutcrazy...

""""then we're gonna die and our wives are gonna be really mad at us!" """


LMAO... clearly one of us married guys.... funny how that is our first concern... how iwll our wife react... LOL

[troutcrazy]

Troutcrazy...

""""then we're gonna die and our wives are gonna be really mad at us!" """


LMAO... clearly one of us married guys.... funny how that is our first concern... how iwll our wife react... LOL

It's the truth...She told me later the insurance money would have been nice, but she's put way to many hours in training me so she didn't want to start over again on someone else! I told I would be okay with it...she didn't laugh.

[HawgHunter75]

St. Jude’s Classic Kentucky Lake in Western KY.
Team Tournament
96 Boats – Missed weigh-in. Disqualified.
Kentucky Lake was extremely rough on this day due to high winds.

On the way back to the weigh-in, my partner noticed a young girl frantically waving her arms for help. We immediately headed towards her when we noticed two other people in the water.

The boat, a small paddle boat, had been swamped by the high waves. The girl was sitting on the back of the paddle boat, which was the only part that was not submerged, with out a life jacket. Her brother was in the water with out a life jacket treading water. Her Grandmother was in the water holding two youth life jackets to help keep her afloat.

My partner and I were able to rescue all three, thank God, with out injury to any of them. We tossed them our throw cushion and our life jackets to keep them afloat until we were able to pull them out of the water. Now I know why a throw cushion is required by the coast guard and water patrol.

It turned out that the Grandmother took her two grandkids for a paddle boat ride at the mouth of a bay where they were camping. The high winds and the current pushed them out into the main lake where the high waves swamped their boat. They were actually in the channel when we got to them.

Unfortunately, they only took two youth life jackets for three people. That could have been a very life threatening mistake. The current and waves separated two of them where they could not hold on to the swamped boat to help them stay afloat.

The sad part about this story - - - at least five boats went by them with out even slowing down. I guess getting to the weigh-in was more important to those fisherman than helping people in distress. Not one bass boat even stopped to help after we started our rescue, they would veer around us and just look.

Anyway, to finish a long story, we took all three of them safely back to a dock close to their camp. We stayed with them for a few minutes to make sure they were absolutely ok. After that, we took our time getting back to the ramp, released our fish, took our boat out and reflected on the day. In our eyes this was our best finish ever at a tournament – dead last!

Amen to that, Well Done Gentlemen.

[AJM]

My first two happened this past year. The first I was running up a river with my buddy and the water was up so we decided to shoot up the rapids. We made it up no problem, but as soon as we got up he ran out of gas, Me not knowing what was going on and still in wow over what he just didn't, sat there speechless as he jumped to the back switched tanks and fired us back up in just the nick of time. It took him seconds and it was pretty good because we didn't have much longer. The boat going backwards down that rapid could have been a disaster.

The other I was wading bymyself in late april. It was the first time I had been wading this certain creek so early and it was one of the few times i have ever been by myself. The water was up, naturally, and still very cool so I was in Waders. I was following my normal wading path at this spot and had to cross the creek in a higher flow area. In the middle of this i realize the water is a lot more powerful than i realized at this spot with the higher water, before long i realize my legs are loosing grip and my right leg comes up and i catch it by a rock. but now im spread out and water is almost up to my waders. I can't turn back and have 2 steps to get to a safe spot. As i look at the water that i will be rolling in if i fall, i somehow get enough strength in my back leg that is spread out to push me forward and manage my way to safety. This really opened my eyes. I have no idea how i made it.

The other scary moment is a buddy and I when we were 16-17 were wading way down a stretch of the South fork of Elkhorn and we were having a decent day, but nothing to write home about. We started getting into some different, more ideal water and about that time, Bang, Bang, BAng right at the creek bank. with no one to be seen ANYWHERE. Needless to say as young men we began to make our way back up the creek and to the truck quickly.

[buzzking]

Anybody that's been on KY lake when the wind is blowing 20-30 out of the north knows the pucker factor of being in the ocean. Got caught 3 times in the nasty stuff last year, taking water over the bow in a 21 foot boat is a scary **** feeling. Will never get used to that.

[GeoFisher]

My worse had to be up north, in Canada.........in a Canoe.

The weather was COLD, about 45 - 50 degrees, and the water was in the 40's. Late May, Early June....GadgetMan and I had been having a BAD day. Got turned around on a lake, paddled 5 miles out of the way..........

So, we're mad, cold WET, and it is getting dark. We paddle up to Silver Falls. THe second LARGEST waterfall in the park..........Not Niagra or anything, but pretty scary.

NO WAY around it, you have to paddle upstream, and then "cross" where the water spills into the lake. THIS is normally a trickle, but this time, the the water is really RUNNING. AND the other side, is a shear cliff, no WAY to get out, NO WAY to go around.......NOTHING but going through it.........UGLY.

We put the nose of the canoe into the TORRENT, at a 45 degree.......and PADDLED like HELL. As soon as we hit the SERIOUS water, it hit is broadside, and started to fill the canoe.............fortunately, the canoe was a Kevlar tripping canoe and was riding on top of the wave.... On the backside of the wave, we took on some more water. By the time we finished "riding it out".....we were close to crashing into the ROCK wall. THAT would have been horrible.

Gadget and I were both on our knees paddling like hell, in 8 inches of water INSIDE the canoe. How we didn't flip the canoe was a miracle. We managed to make it to the other side of the torrent, where we sat and rested a few minutes before tackling the 160 rod Silver Falls Portage........

Thinking back on this........It was REALLY SCARY.

We were already cold, the water was cold, and it was running down stream. Had we flipped our canoe, and dumped our gear, we would have had a HARD time collecting it.

And if we would have had to get out and build a fire to warm up, we would have had to float 1/4 mile before we would have found somewhere to get out and actually build a fire.

Not only that, but all of our gear would have been floating DOWNRIVER. All of our camping gear, all of our food gear, all of our spare clothes, all of our sleeping bags.....

THIS would have been a disaster, and we seriously could have died.

Here are some links to some pics of silver falls:

http://www.geofisher.com/BWCA_2001_Picpage3.html
http://www.geofisher.com/BWCA_2001_Picpage4.html

Later,

Geo

[the_donger]

Try getting caught on Ky Lake in these conditions on a pontoon boat.

BuzzKing- Anybody that's been on KY lake when the wind is blowing 20-30 out of the north knows the pucker factor of being in the ocean. Got caught 3 times in the nasty stuff last year, taking water over the bow in a 21 foot boat is a scary **** feeling. Will never get used to that.