Whats your worst fishing accident

[SirCranksalot]

I was going to offer a mundane tale about a hook in my hand that req'd a trip to the hosp but it would be so pale in comparison to the Borgerman's stories that----naah, never mind!

[Gregoire]

The scariest thing that ever happened to me was on LOTW on a musky trip. I was fishing with Cowanjo, and another guy who we met at Sandy's Blackhawk. We had located a big fish that was about 35km from camp, in a place where not a lot of other boats were fishing. We managed to boat her that night, a big fish that won John the biggest fish at the University of Essox musky school that week. When we decided to start up the motor to head back to camp, right as night had started to fall, it would the motor was dead.

 

Those of you who have been to LOTW will know that it is a huge body of water, with 10's of thousands of islands, not to mentions bays and channels. We were well off the beaten path, and had not seen another boat that evening. We had not even seen a cottage that night, and did not know of any camps, or habitable shorelines that were close by. We all had cell phones on us, but none of us had reception. Luckily, just as our motor died, a boat puled close to us. We managed to flag him down, and he came by to check on us. The following is my recollection of our encounter:

 

Guy in a new Ranger with a 250 and a 15hp on the back

"What's up guys?"

Us:

"Can you help us out, our motor won't start"

Ranger Guy

"I just pulled in to this reef and it's primetime, I don't want to mess up my fishing"

Us

"We are kinda stuck and our camp is 30 km's away, is there anything you can do?"

Ranger Guy

"Why don't you keep trying the motor, I'm just going to fish this reef again." He motors over to the reef.

 

We try for what seems like an hour to get the motor started, but It was probably 10 minutes or so. The guy is in sight, and just keeps fishing. Finally he hits his motor, and comes over to see us.

 

Ranger Guy

"Any luck?"

Us

"None, the motor seems dead. Any Chance you can help us out?"

Ranger Guy

Stammers a bit, seems to want to keep fishing and pretend like he never saw us. "My camp is in the opposite direction of you guys."

Us

"Maybe you could give one of us a lift back to camp? We are really sorry, but we are stuck."

Ranger guy

"I was all set up to fish this reef, and it is just getting in to the prime time, are you sure there's nothing else I can do?

Us

"We are sorry to be such a pain, but we are stuck, and really need some help."

 

Anyway, after what seemed like an endless dialogue the guy finally agrees to take John back to the camp. leaving Tim and I in the boat. So we end up in the middle of nowhere, using the trolling motor to slowly motor in the direction of camp.

 

Eventually a boat with Jim Saric, Steve Heiting and Kevin Schmidt came to rescue us, just around the time that a large lightning storm was rolling in. The first thing Heiting says to us is, "I heard you caught a big one, can I see the pic?"

 

We ended up docking our boat at an abandoned summer camp, Friday the 13th styles. I was the first on the dock, and my first step went through a rotted out plank. I fall down, avoid injury, get up and make a joke about it. Saric scolds me and tells me to hurry up, as there is a storm coming. Heiting reminds us to bring the camera, as we'll want the pic of the big girl. We then have a frantic ride in to camp trying to beat the oncoming storm.

 

The tow craziest things were:

1. Ranger guy, who if he wasn't sure that we could identify his boat probably would have left us there, and;

2. Spending an hour and a half in what seemed like total darkness using the trolling motor to make our way back to camp. I was so nervous i just kept rambling, because I was totally terrified.

Edited February 25, 2015 by Roaring Dan Seavey

[Joey]

Jeez Dan, the guy in the Ranger was a jerk for sure. Isn't it illegal to leave a person in a boat stranded if you are able to help them????

[Gregoire]

I'm guessing that is why they helped us out, but they sure were not happy about it. The irony of it all is that on the way back to our camp their engine light turned on. Turned out they were really low on engine oil. John had to scramble to find some at our camp for their boat sop they could make it back to camp.

[Fisherpete]

Yikes Greg

 

Not where you want to be on LOTW after dark...

 

But at least you guys caught the big one LOL

 

Pete

[bare foot wader]

damn...I was going to say we forgot the booze on a fishing camping trip once...but that polar bear story takes the cake!

 

lots of little accidents over the years....biggest near miss was a huge submerged tree getting caught on my anchor rope on the fraser, pretty terrifying, luckily my anchor popped and bounced along until we got the boat off, lost my setup but learned a few lessons...if it was really anchored we would've been swimming

[manitoubass2]

damn...I was going to say we forgot the booze on a fishing camping trip once...but that polar bear story takes the cake!

 

lots of little accidents over the years....biggest near miss was a huge submerged tree getting caught on my anchor rope on the fraser, pretty terrifying, luckily my anchor popped and bounced along until we got the boat off, lost my setup but learned a few lessons...if it was really anchored we would've been swimming

I fish alot of rapids and high current areas. Always always keep a knife on you, one at the back and one on the front

 

5 years ago we rescued a very thankful couple of bass fisherman when there anchor caugjt in the rapids and a 65,000 boat went down in about 10 seconds.

 

Right place right time for the rescue

[Acountdeleted]

Lots more to these stories but here's the highlights:

 

1.Capsized a 12' tinny at 1am fishing in front of the nuke plant on Lake Ontario.

 

2.Paddling solo north of Armstrong I dumped my canoe in heavy rapids on the Misehkow river - lost a lot of gear.

 

3.Travelling across Lake Muskoka in the middle of the night my snow machine went through the ice in over 100' of water.

 

4.In the midst of a 2 month solo canoe trip in Quetico I almost completely severed my thumb using a swede saw to cut firewood.

 

5.Was trapped on the roof of a cabin for 21/2 days on the lower Winisk River by 3 polar bears.

 

6.Fishing a small river for trout I jumped off a rock ledge onto a slab of concrete 6' below and my right foot landed smack dab on a chunk of rusty rebar embedded in the concrete that I didn't see. It went through the sole of my boot right through my foot and out the top of my boot.

 

7.Was swept over a dam in November while wading at the top into some heavy white water. Lost pretty much everything and was banged up pretty good.

 

 

There are many more, but those are the ones that pop to mind.

I hope this does not come across as rude because it's not the intent.

 

How are you still alive?!?!

 

 

I have been very blessed to just have 'near misses' over the years. Kayaked to the Toroto islands, South winds picked up and I had to power paddle back up the Eastern gap to get back to Cherry beach. Made it but my arms were unbelievably sore.

 

Was on a lake 30 km away from Lac Seul when it was hit by a Tornado..... Geez, was that really 7 years ago? We were on a long narrow finger lake about an hours boat ride from camp in a 12ft with a 9.9 and the waves were HUGE. We thought for sure we were going to have to spend the night on an island until the lodge owner came and rescued us.

 

Had to take a 12 foot boat from Frenchmans bay to Duffins creek to install some temp loggers. On the ride back, waves are close to 3 feet. I ask the girl with me 'do you trust me' she says yes. We get back an hour later, safe but she looks like a ghost. All she has to say is 'let's never do that again'.

 

My closest brush with death wasn't even fishing but rather tree planting. Middle of June in Hearst. Wake up to clear sky's and 5 degree temps so I throw on a few layers. Bus drops a small group of us off to finish a job. 30 minutes later, torrential downpour and my layers of cotton are soaked. I had to keep moving to keep warm and planted a ton of trees but by about 4pm I'm thinking if the bus doesn't get there soon, I may come close to hypothermia. Thankfully it wasn't long after that it did. I tried feeling bad for myself that day until I learned a girl on another crew did that same day in a t-shirt. Man, women are tough.

Edited February 26, 2015 by jeremy84

[solopaddler]

I hope this does not come across as rude because it's not the intent.

 

How are you still alive?!?!

 

Not rude at all. The answer is a little bit of skill and a lot of luck. Bear in mind the law of averages played a role in the number of mishaps. For a great many years all I did - literally was travel the north paddling and fishing.

 

When I write a book I'm going to call it "I almost died!"

Edited February 26, 2015 by Mike Borger

[Acountdeleted]

 

Not rude at all. The answer is a little bit of skill and a lot of luck. Bear in mind the law of averages played a role in the number of mishaps. For a great many years all I did - literally was travel the north paddling and fishing.

 

When I write a book I'm going to call it "I almost died!"

You need to meet my buddy Pete (not on the forums) you would get along great. He wants to do the 'meanest link' twice in a row by himself.

[grizzlybri]

Jeez Dan, the guy in the Ranger was a jerk for sure. Isn't it illegal to leave a person in a boat stranded if you are able to help them????

 

That it is Joey, I just took the boat exam last year so its still fresh in my memory.

 

As far as me, I'm have not had any close calls while fishing.

 

That being said I find other ways to have way to many close calls, however they are no fishing related

[Joey]

Well Paul has alot of boat experience and he has always said that, and we have towed several boats in ourselves. Ya, it cut into our fishing, but it was the right and legal thing to do. They were very grateful and we made a few friend along the way

[manitoubass2]

Id be dead if it wasnt for a boat rescuing us.

 

No doubt about it. One more day and that woulda been it.

[BillM]

I can't believe anyone would even question helping someone else out stranded in the middle of a lake, miles away from home.

[lew]

I can't believe anyone would even question helping someone else out stranded in the middle of a lake, miles away from home.

 

Like most folks I've towed a few boats in or offered help in other ways but always wonder exactly what we were obligated to do as far as the law goes.

 

I talked to an OPP Marine unit cop last summer and asked him how far we were required to tow someone and he said there is actually nothing specifically layed out for that. He said basically you have to help someone in distress as long as your not endangering your own life but how far you tow them is more or less up to you.

 

Actually, I think he was sorta stuck for answer.

[SuperDave]

Both of my mishaps came while fishing with PigeonTroller. Hmmmmmm............. anyway, last year while helping release a muskie the fish slashed and somehow caught my knuckle. 2 deep tooth gashes right to the bone. Blood everywhere. Didn't even know it happened till Dax told me I was bleeding. We wrapped it up and caught several more muskie that day . While fishing bass I had a fish hit my rapala popper. I set the hook right at the same time as the fish jumped, and the lure shot out of its mouth like a slingshot. The back treble went right through my shorts into my knee. Pushed it through, cut it and carried on.

[mr blizzard]

Went up to Waubaushene years ago to do some bass fishing with a couple of friends while we were still attending college.

 

The water was fairly choppy, Had my first ever Colts cherry flavoured cigar, Buddy offered me another which I had, half an hour later starting to feel green we b lined it to shore, into the bush I ran, came out a few minutes later and a great deal lighter,,,,,,,,,,, never smoked anything but white fish since lol

[Gregoire]

Yikes Greg

 

Not where you want to be on LOTW after dark...

 

But at least you guys caught the big one LOL

 

Pete

 

The Fact that we made it home safe, and that John broke the 50 barrier made it worthwhile, but not something I'd like to do again.

Here's the fish, some of you might recognize it:

[Old Ironmaker]

HTHM, it was Bruce not Stanley and the water temp was only 58F. I remember asking you when you almost tore the side of my boat off hanging on. And it wasn't only your shirt you took off to dry out. That is a image I can not get out of my head. You did a complete backward 360, at least a 8.9 from the Italian judge. It is lucky as you could have hit your head on the bow of the boat, that would have been many bucks to get the dent repaired, on the boat not your noggin!

 

Karma"s a bioch, eh Beans!

[lunkerbasshunter]

I was fishing the south bay of Lake nipissing about 7 plus years ago. I was on the west side where the mouth of the south river meets the lake. Was trolling for "eyes" when I saw about 10 to 15 large cruisers rushing inland. By the time I got me gear locked up and moved east to see over the treeline it was to late. A major storm blew threw and I rushed with my little 9.9 hp and 16ft tinner rented from fish bay into an empty boat house. I knew the area and the one boat house was only a few years old. Good call cause the other one that I could have hid in actually was blown over. Not sure if it was a twister or not but when you are in a boat house with a tin roof in a major storm it is pretty well the scariest thing possible.

 

When the storm passed and I got out, it was crazy the damage. Boat houses, boats, docks and trees all over the place. Took 5 hours on lk nipissing rd to to get out because of the tree limbs littered on the roads.

[manitoubass2]

I was fishing the south bay of Lake nipissing about 7 plus years ago. I was on the west side where the mouth of the south river meets the lake. Was trolling for "eyes" when I saw about 10 to 15 large cruisers rushing inland. By the time I got me gear locked up and moved east to see over the treeline it was to late. A major storm blew threw and I rushed with my little 9.9 hp and 16ft tinner rented from fish bay into an empty boat house. I knew the area and the one boat house was only a few years old. Good call cause the other one that I could have hid in actually was blown over. Not sure if it was a twister or not but when you are in a boat house with a tin roof in a major storm it is pretty well the scariest thing possible.

 

When the storm passed and I got out, it was crazy the damage. Boat houses, boats, docks and trees all over the place. Took 5 hours on lk nipissing rd to to get out because of the tree limbs littered on the roads.

Man that would be scary!

 

Ive been near three tornados in my life and they are so crazy! Only one on the water though.

 

I was fishing a small inland lake with my mom and dad. A storm popped up quick and we hit shore quickly.

 

That was insane. Within minutes it was completely black. My mom and i held each other down while looking for shelter. It was kinda like what id assume walking on the moon is like lol.

 

Trees crashed all around us for a good 3 minutes or so and in the dark it was very scary.

 

And as quick as it came it was over. As the sun came back out it was a miracle nobody was hit by a tree. Trees over everywhere.

 

But about 100 yards away every tree seemed to be broken at the same angle. I think that was the tornados path.

 

Scary stuff indeed

[Old Ironmaker]

Those are some scary stories boys and girls, very scary.

 

No other body of water can blow up faster than Nipissing. The inlaws had a place between Callander and South Bay. Brother in law Bobby and my self headed out to Gull Rock on table flat water with Bluebird skies. It became jet black over Sturgeon Falls in a matter of minute. We knew enough to head in forthwith. By the time we got about a mile the storm was on us. We also knew well enough to find the closest shoreline as well. The mistake Bobby made, he was at the business end of the 18 foot Powassin with the 20 on back not me, was to turn 90 degrees to the shoreline. I perched myself at the bow to watch for rocks. I will never forget what I saw when we were at the crest of a 6 foot wave and never want to see again. When we hit the top of a wave I could look down and could see wet sand and wet rocks. Just as the nose if that boat was ready to hit bottom the water would fill that abyss. He quickly decided to start riding the waves at an angle and with about 8" of water by the time we beached the barge and kissed the ground. That storm lasted what seemed to be forever because all I could think was we were going to spend a cold wet night in cold wet clothes. No light, matched, dry clothes, the cell phone had not yet been invented and no food. There isn't a day I head out on any water without having the aforementioned items and much more including a VHF radio, never

[Acountdeleted]

Dynamic_bear and I witnessed a tornado in his first year of tree plant. I remember it had been ultra dry weather for about a week and this day was exceptionally hot. We could hear the thunder off in the distance and I was getting excited. I kept thinking 'a dash of rain will be perfect to cool things off'. It was more then a dash of rain, trees were blowing over, logs were getting tossed around. We hid behind a slash pile under tubs to protect ourselves. Thankfully no one was hurt.

 

After the storm, I'm walking along the path and Dynamic_bear is on the bus going the other way. He says 'Jer, are you quitting?'

I respond 'I'm going to get more trees'

[manitoubass2]

Dynamic_bear and I witnessed a tornado in his first year of tree plant. I remember it had been ultra dry weather for about a week and this day was exceptionally hot. We could hear the thunder off in the distance and I was getting excited. I kept thinking 'a dash of rain will be perfect to cool things off'. It was more then a dash of rain, trees were blowing over, logs were getting tossed around. We hid behind a slash pile under tubs to protect ourselves. Thankfully no one was hurt.

 

After the storm, I'm walking along the path and Dynamic_bear is on the bus going the other way. He says 'Jer, are you quitting?'

I respond 'I'm going to get more trees'

Nice!!!

[lew]

No other body of water can blow up faster than Nipissing.

 

Twenty years ago my son and I crossed from Sturgeon Falls to Sandy Island at the mouth of the French. Stayed in the lodge for 3 days then crossed back to the north shore again. We checked the weather for a week before the trip and knew the weather would be good.

 

Long trip in a 14 footer but you could sure see how folks could get into a heap of trouble on that big old lake.