The lighter side of fishing, tell your most embarrassing boat fiasco

We all learned about boating and fishing sometime. Along the way we made some embarrassing boating mistakes, share them please.

I thought of this when I heard an acquaintance of mine got a brand new boat but the trolling motor wouldn't work. He came from a tillar handle and didn't know the foot control had a switch on it. That happened to him today and I heard about it a short time ago.

Me? Whew, so many to pick from...:Rofl

Putting the boat in and the rope broke and I had to wade out to retrieve my boat before it got to deep water. I once loaded the boat and it was sitting crooked. The water was down and the ramp had a drop off that wouldn't allow me to get the trailer deeper. I had to drive five miles to another rampwith the boat sitting all wampy-jawed to fix that one. Last fall I took my hat off to wipe my brow and had my new expensive sunglasses up on the bill of the cap until they dove into the lake. I'm sure I provided some entertainment at the ramp to spectators a time or two.:juggle

Old, metal bladed, trolling motor clamped onto side of my flat-bottom at Lake Conway Ar. Had to make a mad dash to the bank one morning so had the trolling motor on high. Turned motor off with push button on end of handle and tipped trolling motor over into boat when I hit shallow water. Had to roll up my pants legs to try to jump to the bank. Last leg to leave the boat hung my rolled up britches on the clamp holding trolling motor on boat. When this happened the button slammed the bottom of the boat and came on on high with me doing the splits inches above the whirling metal blade!! I was screaming at my buddy that was laughing so hard he couldn't move. He started walking up the boat and that made things worse as the motor seemed like it had a mind of it's own as it lunged up at me with every step he took!! Finally, he thought to just pull one of the clamps off the battery.
I can still hear his laughter echoing across the cypress filled back water as I scampered up behind the first big tree I could find.

Years ago I tried to use those rubber grommets to mount my trolling motor. I hit the lake chasing white bass in the trolling motor comes out of it's mount and deemed useless. I then run out of gas on the big motor 2 miles from the ramp. I had to grip the trolling motor by hand while hanging over the bow and steer the boat all the way back to the ramp. The trolling motor was a 80lb thrust unit and it had too much torque for me to hand hold it in high gear. It took me nearly 2 hours to get that darn boat boat to ramp. From that day forward I keep extra gas in the boat and bolted the trolling motor to the bow of the boat.

Wow! that sounds like a tough day!!

One of my friends is an Arkansas Razorback fan like no other. One year back in the late 80's he and I took about a 6-mile boat ride on the Arkansas River in my brand new Tracker PF-16 Stick Steering. We were planning on watching the Razorbacks play in the 1989 Cotton Bowl later that afternoon. He watched the time all day and said we better go so we could cook some food before the game. Well, we stowed all our gear and I hit the starter and nothing, I pulled the cowling, checked fuel and everything. He was about to have a fit. He started trolling as I was checking out the engine.
As I was standing there scratching my head I felt something hit my leg. I looked down and saw my kill cord hanging off my lifevest. Well, I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't mess with him a little. I said, "If all the batteries will hold out we might catch the very end of the game." He was sick. I said well I guess I might as well put the cowling back on. I walked up as he was running the trolling motor and flipped the kill switch and it fired right up. We laid the ears back as we hauled tail back to the ramp. By the time he got the trailer in the water, I was already on it. We walked into his house just in time to see the football leave his foot on the kick off!!

First boat I bought was an old 24' pontoon about 20 years ago. Took all 6 kids and the wife out for a day of fishing and fun. When we went to leave the first spot and the motor wouldn't even turn over, I thought the battery must be dead.
I waived down a nice couple passing by to ask for a jump start, lucky for me the people I bought the boat from left me with some cables. We hooked up the cables and it still wouldn't turn over, what the heck! That's when the guy in the helper boat asked if it was in neutral. I jiggled the throttle back and forth and low and behold she fired right up. Boy was I embarrassed. Lesson learned!

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in the dark way early one morning , launched the boat , eased it up to the bank to go move the truck off the ramp , bank was a really steep red clay , feet wet from the launch , stepped out and went right in fast up to me jewels in 60 degree water , one of the brighter moments in self launching for sure and WAY better than black coffee to wake you up right FAST .....:Rofl

Bought one of those used plastic 2 people little bass boats. Had the trolling motor up front, cruising along, hit a stump and ripped the trolling motor off the front. Had to use my feet to hold the lower end of the shaft and my hands on the upper part. Made to a long 2 miles back to the ramp

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Originally Posted by Ketchn

in the dark way early one morning , launched the boat , eased it up to the bank to go move the truck off the ramp , bank was a really steep red clay , feet wet from the launch , stepped out and went right in fast up to me jewels in 60 degree water , one of the brighter moments in self launching for sure and WAY better than black coffee to wake you up right FAST .....:Rofl

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Years ago, my buddy and I fished a lot in the winter, we used his dads jon boat. There was a long rope tied the winch eye on the bow. He'd back it in the water and I'd step up on the tongue, unhook the winch, then he'd back in to float the boat. Then I'd push it off the trailer while letting the rope slip through my hand. When he was far enough out of the water, I'd step off the trailer and pull the boat to the bank.

Unknown to us his dad taken the long rope off and put a shorter one on. We went through our normal routine and all was going well until I stepped off the trailer. The end of the rope went through my hands in slow motion and was floating on the waters surface. I started wading out on the ramp trying to catch the rope. There was a little wind and the rope stayed just out of my grasp. I'm over my knees in 50° water chasing the rope when suddenly I step off the side of the ramp and up to my arm pits in cold water. Yes it's better than coffee to wake you up. I couldn't take it and had to wade back to the bank. After dumping the water out of my boots, taking off my socks and as many wet clothes as I could and stay decent. We sat in the truck with it running and the heater on for over 30 minutes until the breeze slowly blew the boat into the bank at the back of the small bay where the ramp was. Then my buddy made the hike to retrieve it, after loading it back up we made our way home. We were very lucky that the wind was blowing into the bay, if it had been blowing out of the bay the boat would've been out in KY Lake in just a couple minutes. Always pay attention to how long the rope is! LOL

I don't know that this is necessarily the worst or most embarrassing, but it just occurred, so I'll post. I was launching by myself the other day. I backed down to the water's edge, took my tie rope and attached it to the dock at the launch and backed in. Usually I'm really good about watching to insure that the rope has cleared my trailer bunks before I pull the truck/trailer out of the water, but this time I wasn't paying attention, the rope hooked the bunk and snapped when I pulled forward. This allowed the boat to start floating freely, so I slammed on the brakes when I saw it, jumped out of the truck and ran to water's edge to see if I could reach the boat. Nope....ran to the dock where I could ALMOST reach the prop on the outboard, but just missed and didn't want to fall in, so I let it drift. Ran back over to the shoreline and thought that the boat would drift towards shore, but it didn't and I became quite concerned that it would drift into the lake instead of into the shore because it was a rainy morning and there appeared to be nobody on the lake (turns out that I was right because I fished for a couple of hours and only saw one or two other boats during that entire time). I finally just put my big boy pants on and waded into the lake to grab the boat before it could completely drift off. Thankfully I only get wet to the knees or just above and did end up fishing (and had a pretty good morning for Crappie). No harm, no foul. I was wet to the knees, but as I said, it was a rainy day and I just accepted being wet for a couple of hours.

I'm sure there's been more embarrassing but this one made me taste my boots. I was loading the boat at a busy ramp two weeks ago and there was a Subaru backing a jet ski down the ramp, or attempting to. I nodded to another fellow walking to his boat on the dock, and said "this ought to be good...". He turned to see the Subaru chasing that short little jet ski trailer back and forth as it backed down the ramp. I loaded my boat cockily, and hopped out, got in the truck and up the ramp I went......with about 2-3 people hollering at me and waving their arms. Low and behold I had left the motor trimmed all the way down and the skeg was dragging as I came up the ramp. :dono :biggrin

Ouch!

Ok. I am human. My most embarrassing moments came in my later years of fishing. I had already owned two jon boats as well as a bass tracker 17 foot boat. When I moved to Alabama I decided to get a fiberglass boat with the steering wheel mounted on the side.

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It was a Crosby sled boat. I was so very proud of the restoration I had done on it and finally it was time to launch the boat.

You would have thought that I had never driven a boat in my life. Getting the boat in the water was the easy part. Trying to get the boat to go where I wanted was so embarrassing. It took me about two hours to get used to looking straight ahead and coordinating turning the side steer to go where I wanted. It was even worse trying to put the boat back on the trailer.

After about three trips I finally got the hand of it.

Mike

I wish we had video of that. I can only imagine that was a steep learning curve.

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Originally Posted by shipahoy41

Ok. I am human. My most embarrassing moments came in my later years of fishing. I had already owned two jon boats as well as a bass tracker 17 foot boat. When I moved to Alabama I decided to get a fiberglass boat with the steering wheel mounted on the side.

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It was a Crosby sled boat. I was so very proud of the restoration I had done on it and finally it was time to launch the boat.

You would have thought that I had never driven a boat in my life. Getting the boat in the water was the easy part. Trying to get the boat to go where I wanted was so embarrassing. It took me about two hours to get used to looking straight ahead and coordinating turning the side steer to go where I wanted. It was even worse trying to put the boat back on the trailer.

After about three trips I finally got the hand of it.

Mike

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ok, my turn. Several years ago the wife and I found a little two person boat. Don't really know how to describe this little thing but it had a small outboard motor and a steering wheel. Our daughter was a small thing so we could squeeze her in between us. Well when we put it in the water the motor would start just fine and idles great. We started out across the lake and a few hundred feet from the ramp the motor quits. I start it and it goes a feet feet and quits again. After several attempts at this I am quite frustrated and getting a bit vocal in my frustration. I decided I will just have to paddle my way back to the ramp. To do so I sit on the gunnel to paddle. Long story short in my rage at the motor and situation the good Lord decides I need cooling off and I find myself in the lake! My daughter still thinks it is the funniest thing ever and tells everyone about it. We decide to sell the little monster and just as I sell it I find the problem. A cracked fuel line. :Rofl Shame on me is all I can say!

Okay, I'll play

Have been around boats and water most of my life, enough that I figured it was high time I purchased my own. Came across a screaming deal on a 2001 22' sun tracker pontoon boat, jumped at the opportunity to get my new fishing platform out onto the lake, there were four of us. Upon reaching the launch everything went smoothly and we piled on and headed out onto the lake, the fish finder registered fish so I shut it down and we fished.

After a little while fishing I figured to try another area, boat wouldn't start, tried everything, poured gas in the carburetor even, still nothing, stroke of luck had another pontoon boat out on the water and he towed us back to the ramp, got the boat loaded and headed home. Once back at the house I parked the boat, put the clam-shell on the out-drive and proceeded to try and start the boat, still nothing, finally I broke out the manual, previous owners kept all literature pertaining to the boat.

In reading the manual I found a small section that referenced a button on the shifter that allows you to apply throttle without engaging the transmission........ Yup you guessed it, push the button in, raise the shifter and apply throttle only and she fired right up.

I'll play.
I waited until my sons had grown up before buying my first boat. I coached little league, Scout Master etc with my sons. So it was my time to play. I bought a 14' 1957 Alumacraft. It was about 50 years old when I bought it. Bought a 1959 Johnson 10hp motor for it. Motor was finicky at times. I started a Crappie Club and we started having tournaments. One night tournament my oldest son fished it with me. We made it a camping/fishing weekend. He brought his Black Lab. We boated from camp to the ramp and registered. Fished the tournament, dog and all. Went back to the ramp for the weigh-in. Finished the weigh-in about 12:20am and loaded all 3 of us (son, dog, nd me) in the boat and headed back to the campsite. The lake is 315 acres and 10hp limit. About a 20 minute boat ride from the ramp to the campsite. 5 minutes into the trip back to camp the skies opened and dumped buckets of rain. It was raining so hard we lost sight of shore. Sonar units didn't have map chips back then so we navigated by sight. The rain made it impossible to see shore. Then the lightening started. It was a blessing nd a curse. Here we are in the middle of the lake in an old aluminum boat, in a heavy downpour, navigating between lightening strikes. Every time the sky lite up we could see shore, at least the tree line.
I think we are getting close to the campsite and see a light off in teh distance. That can't be right, we shouldn't be that close to the light. We must have passed our campsite. I turn around and the terrain didn't make sense in relationship to the light. Somethings not right. Where the heck are we?
I thought to myself, trust your instincts. Tim, you humped all over the world at night in the Marine Corp.
You're on a lake. Find camp.
So, I went to where I thought camp should be, despite the light being in the wrong place. Screw that light.
Found camp, beached the boat and the lab made a bee line for the tent. He hide under the cot and didn't move the rest of the night. The next morning, I look down shore to figure out that light. It was a light from a campsite further down shore. They showed up while we were fishing the tournament.
To this day my son tells everyone that story. He calls it "The night we almost died on Evergreen Lake!"
Photos from that campout. By the way- everything in camp fit in the boat and we boated to camp.
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I invited a friend to make a 75 mile drive to fish with me. First stop close to boat ramp, no fish, motor had a hard time starting. Took a long ride to other end of lake, caught some fish. Motor would not start. Well, I’ll troll to nearest boat ramp and have wife pick me up to get truck, no problem except trolling motor quit working. Wind blew up to bank. Ended up calling Lake Patrol and of course they had no boat on the lake so about a 4 hour wait for an officer to get there and tow us back to a ramp.


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I use the rope method for launching, take straps off, put plug in, drop winch, coil the dock rope loosely on the deck and hook the other end to the stake pocket on the truck. Back in and grab the rope once the boat floats off, tie it off to the dock and away you go.

The key here is making sure the rope is tied fast to the bow cleat, something I overlooked one day, holding my rope watching the boat float away slowly. Attempts to lasso the trolling motor were unsuccessful.

Thankfully this was in the summer and there were kids swimming nearby that offered to help me out, all is well that ends well.

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Originally Posted by Atimm693

I use the rope method for launching, take straps off, put plug in, drop winch, coil the dock rope loosely on the deck and hook the other end to the stake pocket on the truck. Back in and grab the rope once the boat floats off, tie it off to the dock and away you go.

The key here is making sure the rope is tied fast to the bow cleat, something I overlooked one day, holding my rope watching the boat float away slowly. Attempts to lasso the trolling motor were unsuccessful.

Thankfully this was in the summer and there were kids swimming nearby that offered to help me out, all is well that ends well.

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the lasso it thing looks pretty easy when the real cowboys do it , found out myself in person one time , you must pull back on it quickly when it goes over the head of the 4 legger , if not , it can ride back to their groin area as they try to elude said capture method and when it comes tight down there and they get that REALLY WILD look in them beady eyes ....
THEN you discover the real meaning on a let's rodeo ..... just saying .....:Rofl

Last week I was at the launch by myself. I usually have a friend with me to help me launch the boat. I had glad slicks on the trailer bunks. I was about 8 foot from the water and disconnected the bow strap. I got back into the truck. I looked back and the boat was already sliding off the trailer. Show my 24 foot CR boat landed on the ramp with the front end up in the air. A hook on the winch strap and strapped it as tight as I could get it backed up and did it again. I managed to get the boat launched without any damage to anything but I sure felt stupid with the 35 or so people watching me. The bad thing is nowadays no one will help you..

was fishing with a buddy Saturday, trolling for crappie on Lake Wateree

boat is an older pontoon

buddy accidentally put the trolling motor on 10 and hit the switch..it ripped the bolts out of the deck and sent the whole trolling motor into the water, held on only by the power cord

we retrieved it, went to a dock and screwed it back onto the boat deck, and fished the rest of the day

Yea, a buddy of mine dumped his brand new aluminum rig onto the launch ramp over glide strips on the trailer!

Not sure this is exactly embarrassing but it's darned funny.

When I was a freshman in college me and some friends (6 of us, 3 guys and 3 girls) decided we would take my family's boat and go tubing for the day. So we get to the lake, put the boat in the water and it won't start. Dead battery. So I have the bright idea that we'll use the car to jump start it. Well it's a 20 foot boat and the battery is in the back. So the only way to get the Blazer close enough to the battery is to drive down the shallow gravel bank into the water. So I pull the truck down, hook up the cables and start the boat. Hooray! All is good, let's get on the water! That is until we get ready to pull the truck back out of the water. I have one of the ladies get in the truck as I'm in the boat. I tell her just put the truck in reverse and take your foot off the brake and it should back itself out. Well she does the first part but instead of just letting it ease back she decides its too slow and stomps (literally) on the accelerator. The truck was in 4 wheel drive so it promptly spun the front tires and sunk to the frame in the soft lake bottom. I'll tell you, i've been stuck before, but this was the worst i'd ever seen. It ended up taking my parents' jeep, my grandparents' Isuzu Trooper and my grandad's tractor all linked together to pull this Blazer out of the lake. Took most of the day and we never did get to go tubing. Real shame cause 18-19 year old girls look real fine in their bikinis!

Ice just cleared the boat ramp nobody else around first time on the water that year temp was around 28f. Pulled the cover put in drain plug removed motortoter. Backed into the water boat won`t come off the trailer, pulled out walked around the trailer could not see anything. Backed in again boat won`t come off, started big motor still won`t unload. Pulled out again looked under the trailer it`s a roller trailer for God`s sake no way it could be froze down. Backed in again far enough that the boat and trailer were floating.........Ligh bulb went on forgot to pull transom straps.

Tried to launch with transom straps still attached :check
Drove to lake w/o tacklebox, boat key in tacklebox (drove back home, retrieved tacklebox, drove back to lake) :check
Launched boat w/o drain plug in (more than once) :check
Tried to start motor while kill switch not connected :check
Ran boat in circles trying to get back to launch ramp during heavy fog at night (eventually got back to ramp on one occasion, ended up back where we started & spent the night until fog lifted on another occasion) :check

I'm sure there were other faux pas' in my boating adventures, they just don't come to mind at the moment. :biggrin

Watched a fella at the ramp having some steering troubles. He would look left, turn the wheel to the left and the boat turned right. Sure had a funny look on his face

Launched the boat, ran up the river, dropped the trolling motor and I could hear it run but nothing was happening? This is when I realized I left my trolling motor prop on the kitchen counter!

During crappie camp I loaned it to Mark (sevenfiftynine). I was leaving and he needed one but no one had one he could buy. He brought it back and I laid it on the counter to remember it. :Doh:

Oh well Dave (gotcrappie) and I had a good laugh from it! My daughter was nice enough to meet me back at the ramp with it and we still fished!

What a great thread! Man, where do I begin lol. I’ve had a few fiascos but will have to type it up when I have more time. Y’all keep sharing, love the stories!


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Once after beaching my boat, I got back in and it wouldn't crank. Swapped to trolling battery still nothing.
Even made sure the kill switch hadn't popped out.
Went back and forth and almost used the rope to pull it back on the trailer and realized it was still in gear.

Snakebit - I get ya!

Very similar experience for me but Mower related - I ordered and replaced a starter on my commercial mower which I had been doing the screwdriver jump starter thing for a while. When I replaced the starter it still wouldn't start so took it to the dealer and when he sat on the seat and it started I almost passed out! I had been standing beside it for so long starting it I forgot. He was nice and it was no charge but I bet he still tells that story!

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

Watched a fella at the ramp having some steering troubles. He would look left, turn the wheel to the left and the boat turned right. Sure had a funny look on his face

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It's possible to run the steering cable backwards through a rotary steering box, I did it once. Tricky driving a boat that steers opposite. rotfl

Added the retractable tie-downs to my boat, but left my old ones on until I felt comfortable with them. Attempted to launch boat, but would not slide off the trailer, even when half the truck was in the water. After getting soaked, I remembered I never unlatched the retractable tie-downs, just the break over type.

Drove an hour to the lake in the winter to find a line at the ramp (great sign). Keep in mind, I worked on a catfish farm through high school and am pretty proud of my ability to back-up trailers and am fairly efficient at launching a boat by myself. Boat slides off the trailer like a dream, I go to retrieve the rope and learned of the lake drawdown at the same time. I slid right into the lake and was soaked. Knowing the 10,000 trucks at the ramp meant I need to save crappie from starvation, I fished anyways. Extra clothes go on most fishing expeditions now.

Since I have a 25’ rope to launch, I’m waiting to sling the boat off one day and either forget to connect the carabiner or have it break.


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Originally Posted by keeferfish

Snakebit - I get ya!

Very similar experience for me but Mower related - I ordered and replaced a starter on my commercial mower which I had been doing the screwdriver jump starter thing for a while. When I replaced the starter it still wouldn't start so took it to the dealer and when he sat on the seat and it started I almost passed out! I had been standing beside it for so long starting it I forgot. He was nice and it was no charge but I bet he still tells that story!

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Had a guy give me a mower one time because it wouldn't start and he didn't want to work on it so he just bought a new one. Pushed it up on the trailer and brought it home figuring it was a safety switch somewhere that went bad. Started going over it when I got home and realized the pto switch was engaged. Pushed the pto switch down and it fired right up. Called the guy and offered to bring his mower back but he said to keep it, he had already bought another one. We still have a good laugh about that pretty often.

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I’ve told this before but it’s always good for a laugh. Mid week, no one at the ramp, wind at my back, early morning, causeway road about 1/4 mile away. Launch rope stays connected to a cleat in front of the console, and not thinking and in a hurry, I connect the other end to the bow eye. Brilliant. Back the boat in and as it floats free I realize that I just launched an unconnected boat with the wind at my back and no one to help. Strip to my tighty whiteys and go get the boat, stand on the front deck dripping wet and run the trolling motor back to the ramp. If anyone saw me from the road they were decent about it. Off with the wet clothes, on with the dry and go fish. I have a better pre launch checklist now.

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Originally Posted by LA CrappieMaster

Since I have a 25’ rope to launch, I’m waiting to sling the boat off one day and either forget to connect the carabiner or have it break.


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When I back the boat down, the last thing I do is stop at the edge of the water, secure the rope to the trailer winch and release the strap from the eye. It's an ingrained habit now.

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Originally Posted by Gone Fishin'

When I back the boat down, the last thing I do is stop at the edge of the water, secure the rope to the trailer winch and release the strap from the eye. It's an ingrained habit now.

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Me too. Seen too many slide off the trailer before they made it to the water

My fiasco starts at the end of the driveway and doesn't stop until I'm back in the driveway. Hey I'm 80 yrs old and if it can go wrong, for me anyway, it will! :Rofl

It was cold winter time fishing. Backed the boat down the launch. It will not float from the trailer. Pulled it back out of the water and checked the straps. Nope that wasn't it. Backed down the launch. Still won't float. It had frozen to the bunks. Not something that happens much where I live. First time it had happened to me. Let it soak a few minutes and it popped off the bunks

Twice I’ve been with someone that unlocked the winch before backing down into the water. Twice I’ve seen the boat slide back off the trailer still attached… once it hit the skeg, the other time it was close but we winched it back up. Y’all fish safe


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