NatalieWTruby
Freshly Spawned
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Dumbest Thing On The River
- Thread starter NatalieWTruby
- Start date
Over trusted my anchor.
You first.
When I was a kid, having recently seen A River Runs Through It in the theater, I made the conscious decision to fight a steelhead down the Sol Duc like a human drift boat.
Rob Allen
Life of the Party
On the river is the only place I don't do dumb stuff. I have waded places I shouldn't have but never done anything I would have categorized as dumb at the time, maybe I'd feel differently if I were watching videos of me doing it now?
However, there was one time on the Hoh I had fished down from my car a good bit and decided to Bushwack back to the road. I left the river, crossed a couple empty channels , through an elk herd that ignored me, then came accross another dry river channel, kept going and then saw another river, my first thought was " no way I walked all the way to the Bogie" I took a few more steps and recognized the spot that I had just left 20 minutes before. Somehow I walked in a perfect circle..
However, there was one time on the Hoh I had fished down from my car a good bit and decided to Bushwack back to the road. I left the river, crossed a couple empty channels , through an elk herd that ignored me, then came accross another dry river channel, kept going and then saw another river, my first thought was " no way I walked all the way to the Bogie" I took a few more steps and recognized the spot that I had just left 20 minutes before. Somehow I walked in a perfect circle..
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ok ok, I'll go!
I broke my bamboo rod (Thramer, I don't recall the taper). I was going to sell but decided to take it out for one last spin. I get my fly stuck in a tree (reachable as well) and did that stupid thing where the jerk holding the handle jerked on the other end. SNAP! clean break right below the female ferrule on butt section.
Now, the lemonade made out of that lemon of a bonehead move, my rod builder friend was easily able to repair this. So now I have a fun 7'10" ~6wt to play around with (it's been one of my smallie rods this year). That said, it still took me nearly 5 years to pull the broken piece out of that rod sock because of how sick to my stomach it made me.
That was the last rod I broke out of frustration.
edit: it should be noted that it actually still casts and fishes quite nicely....just isn't worth anything.
I broke my bamboo rod (Thramer, I don't recall the taper). I was going to sell but decided to take it out for one last spin. I get my fly stuck in a tree (reachable as well) and did that stupid thing where the jerk holding the handle jerked on the other end. SNAP! clean break right below the female ferrule on butt section.
Now, the lemonade made out of that lemon of a bonehead move, my rod builder friend was easily able to repair this. So now I have a fun 7'10" ~6wt to play around with (it's been one of my smallie rods this year). That said, it still took me nearly 5 years to pull the broken piece out of that rod sock because of how sick to my stomach it made me.
That was the last rod I broke out of frustration.
edit: it should be noted that it actually still casts and fishes quite nicely....just isn't worth anything.
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Hillbilly Redneck
wishin I was fishin
Long ago I swam across the Queets one not so warm February morning. I was attemping to cross a tailout with about a foot of visability and reached the point of no return. While contemplating my next move, a drift boat came down and rescued my ass. They were like "how did you get over there?"
I'd like to think I am much smarter now.
I'd like to think I am much smarter now.
I floated the White Salmon in my 10' pontoon after getting my confidence up by doing a couple Klickitat floats. Didn't go too well.
I'm like Rob in that I don't take risks around water. I have lots of fun but there is always respect. I did almost drown 2 winters ago but I still can't figure out what happened in that spot. I came real close to running my sons tunder jet onto a basalt reef while watching the depth finder instead of the water in front of me in the snake while bass fishing, but managed to save it somehow.
JS
Mankie Old Chum
Four big dudes, two water masters, high Sandy R. flows…..amazingly no Spey rods died, and even more amazingly, none of us drown.
Having fished the Sandy for most of my life, I felt confident we could do a short float doubled on our WMs. Both of us rowing broke oars going down into a pretty turbulent class 3ish rapid. The other boat flipped and the boys rode it down stream like a fucking soggy log. I kept ours upright but high sided on a gigantic boulder. As I’m trying to figure how to self rescue with one oar, the other boat and several dry bags come bobbing downstream into the eddy at the bottom of the rapid. We all managed to limp to the beach and had a good old chuckle.
All this and we had a collective 30 plus years whitewater experience. We did a dumb that day, and got away with it. Good times.
Having fished the Sandy for most of my life, I felt confident we could do a short float doubled on our WMs. Both of us rowing broke oars going down into a pretty turbulent class 3ish rapid. The other boat flipped and the boys rode it down stream like a fucking soggy log. I kept ours upright but high sided on a gigantic boulder. As I’m trying to figure how to self rescue with one oar, the other boat and several dry bags come bobbing downstream into the eddy at the bottom of the rapid. We all managed to limp to the beach and had a good old chuckle.
All this and we had a collective 30 plus years whitewater experience. We did a dumb that day, and got away with it. Good times.
First time I took my now wife for an overnight float I did some cooler management at the put in. It wasn't until we got to camp that I realized I had taken the big bag of food out while doing so and left it sitting in the back of my truck. Nothing says romance like canned corn beef sandwiches...
JS
Mankie Old Chum
You know she’s a keeper when you pull a move like that and she’s still around
Most of the dumb stuff I've done on the river was back East and involved alcohol. I want to think I'm a little smarter now.
kerrys
Ignored Member
Got my sled stuck on a submerged sand bar in the lower Skagit. Looking back the water said it was getting shallow. I wasn’t reading it worth a damn. I’m sure some folks on shore were wondering what the hell was going on. Two guys standing in a couple inches of water in the middle of the river trying to drag a boat off a submerged sand bar. Aluminum grabs sand like a giant suction cup and holds on.
Lake flyer
Smolt
Cracked my ankle as I got to the bottom of the Niagara gorge. Long walk up out of there, but I did fish all day before limping out. Laced up my boot tighter and stood in the freezing water to hold down the swelling while fishing. Packed snow into my sock on the 3 hour drive home.
Mu buddy was just glad he didn’t have to help me get out or call rescue. I didn’t catch anything either.
Mu buddy was just glad he didn’t have to help me get out or call rescue. I didn’t catch anything either.
Making a cast into an impossible to land a steelhead spot and getting bit. It gets worse. Then performing rock climbing maneuvers in waders above a rapid with the rod in my mouth. It got away. So did I.
Almost as bad is casting a spinner out of a solo canoe in a rapid with a log jam in the botto and hooking a spring king. You can't paddle a canoe while playing a fish in a rapid. It's that hard. Again, I lived. The fish got landed miraculously. I released it based purely on the stupidity of the whole thing.
Almost as bad is casting a spinner out of a solo canoe in a rapid with a log jam in the botto and hooking a spring king. You can't paddle a canoe while playing a fish in a rapid. It's that hard. Again, I lived. The fish got landed miraculously. I released it based purely on the stupidity of the whole thing.
Let's see... been lost... check! Almost drowned... check! Broke rod tip trying to get fly out of tree... check! Broke rod by slipping and falling on river bank at the end of 3-mile hike... check! (The walk of shame back to the rig was brutal on that one.)
Hard to decide which mistake was the dumbest, but here's one that certainly qualifies.
The first time I floated my pontoon boat down a river, in one of those obtuse corners where the current pushes you toward the rocks on the opposite bank, I learned one of the many reasons why you should never try to use an oar to push off an obstacle or hazard. Instead of trusting that back-rowing would eventually slow me enough to catch the downstream current, I turned the boat and tried to push off the rock wall with my aluminum oar, which promptly bent in half. The boat flipped, and the next thing I knew, I was popping up next to the boat in the tailout, trying to process how things could go so wrong so quickly. I struggled to shore, took a bunch of big breaths, emptied my waders (I think it was all just water LOL), and set to work bending back my oar, which almost straightened completely (almost). I still use it today, and it works fine, but it's a constant reminder to point the boat at trouble and back-row like hell until you're safe or an exit presents itself.
Hard to decide which mistake was the dumbest, but here's one that certainly qualifies.
The first time I floated my pontoon boat down a river, in one of those obtuse corners where the current pushes you toward the rocks on the opposite bank, I learned one of the many reasons why you should never try to use an oar to push off an obstacle or hazard. Instead of trusting that back-rowing would eventually slow me enough to catch the downstream current, I turned the boat and tried to push off the rock wall with my aluminum oar, which promptly bent in half. The boat flipped, and the next thing I knew, I was popping up next to the boat in the tailout, trying to process how things could go so wrong so quickly. I struggled to shore, took a bunch of big breaths, emptied my waders (I think it was all just water LOL), and set to work bending back my oar, which almost straightened completely (almost). I still use it today, and it works fine, but it's a constant reminder to point the boat at trouble and back-row like hell until you're safe or an exit presents itself.
