DOH!! Things that make you feel stupid

[pcray1231]

Well:

1. I've done the hook broke off thing.

2. Even more common, especially for evening spinner falls at the witching hour, is fishing without any fly at all and getting frustrated that the water is boiling and you can't buy a strike.

3. Last year I forgot my Richardson, and thus all my flies, for a week long jam trip!

4. Left my cell phone on the tonneau (sp?) cover of my truck, and drove off. Poor thing presumably hung on till the first bend...

5. Fished a large stream while raining. Crossed. Stream rose. Realized I could not get back across, anywhere. Water temp in 30's, not gonna swim. The car was in sight, but the hike to it (via the nearest bridge) was nearly 4 miles.

6. Hunting, doe season. Missed 7, count em, 7 easy shots in the morning. Then realized I had fallen earlier, and it was a new scope. I looked close, and umm, must not have tightened the rings down enough because the scope had slid forward quite a bit! Re-sighted the rifle in (it was nearly 4 ft off at about 100 yards). Shot a doe in the afternoon. 1 shot. lol.

7. Hunting again. I suck at estimating distances. Big woods in northern PA, snow on the ground. Big buck way out there feeding, doesn't see us, I'm scoping it in the prone position. I estimated 250 yards. Shot. Saw snow fly up WAY low, deer ran away. My dad, who was behind me, was apparently expecting me to ask for the ballistics instead of shoot. He asked how high I aimed. I said top of body (the gun was sighted in at 200 yards, and you'd only drop about 6 inches, which I knew by heart). He laughed and got out his rangefinder. 500 yards. Oops. He then pulled out the ballistics chart and I shoulda been aiming around 45 inches high.

Rangefinder is now required equipment for me.

My brother once shot a tree about 2 feet in front of him. Running deer at close distance, swinging rifle with it...

 

[pcray1231]

Stuck my feet in my sandles before sunrise, hooked the boat up and headed for the lake. Stopped at a gas station and wondered why the gent was looking at me funny, topped of the gas can and tank. got to the lake and realized I was still in my undies.

That's a classic!

My only boating one was when I was a teen, my dad had a boat, and I had started taking it out on my own once in a while. Well, I launched it, then as I slowly sank I realized I had forgotten to put the plug in! I started the bilge, which couldn't keep up of course, and dove in and tried to do it in the water. Umm, don't do that. I managed to drop the plug, not to mention that I hadn't fixed the ladder so I couldn't get back into the boat, and my buddy was parking the truck. So, being near the launch with a rope still attached to the bow, I grabbed the rope, swam to shore, got my buddy to bring the truck back, put it back on the trailer and drove home. Had to order a new plug....

 

[pete41]

got to watch that range thing-in Montana up on a big rock---fattest,tastiest looking doe I have ever seen comes ambling along the trail,blissfully unaware I was there- let fly the arrow when she was about 15 ft. away-aimed right for the heart,arrow went about a foot over her back.
never once practiced that shot-
The only chance I ever got at a very large bull elk came when one went by about 20 yards away-he caught me with my pants down- I didn't say "oh crap"though.

 

[just_jon]

Slight variation on the broken hook theme. I was fishing the sulfur hatch and could not set the hook on a actively rising brown rising trout. Checked the hook after three missed connections and hook was fine. After three more misses, I lightly slapped my rod on the waist high water and broke the tip in half.

 

[kbobb]

Drove all the way to spring creek and left my wading boots at home.

Strung up my steelhead rod with the line twisted around the rod blank between 2 guides and didn't realize it til i broke off about 6 fish - thank goodness the rod didn't break!

Brought a reel with the wrong line size for the rod I brought. great fun fishing a 6 wt rod with 3 wt line

 

[Chaz]

You've got to clean the reel a couple of times a year, especially if it gets wet. I've had broken hooks a couple of times, when you start getting strikes and no hook-ups it's time to check the terminal end.

 

[jeremymcon]

Forgot wading boots, losing two flies to the same tree in 2 minutes'' time (didn't want to spoil the pool!), brought waders but forgot boots, ran over a rod left leaning on the car (cheap spinning rod luckily), trying to cast with line wrapped around my leg and every single item hanging off my tackle bag, just to name a few!

 

[SBecker]

Forgot my waders on a trip to a stream up north. Stream is known for its raw sewage. I wet waded......I still have my legs.

 

[vcregular]

Drove all the way to indian river inlet in the early 90s from se pa to hit the pm bite. Got there and parked. Went to gear up - grabbed the rod tube out of the back of the truck and it was the tube for my 5 wt. Got back in truck and drove home.

 

[pete41]

crawled under barbed wire fence in the dark,put hand on cactus-rose up, punctured waders and hand same time.That was bad but not as expensive as deciding to take my bronco for spin in a field along the Madison after a days fishing.4 flat tires[cactus]at once.Thats what they don't tell you in those off roading vids.. stay on the path.

 

[Gone4Day]

Casting the tip section of my fly rod into the middle of the river. Swearing that will never happen again, breaking the tip of my new rod trying to take it apart.

 

[Coughlin]

Stuck a fly in my ear during a float. The guide was very kind not to laugh!

 

[pete41]

Let my canoe slide down the 100 foot slope knowing it would stop on the beach-
shooting out of a side channel into a very fast river just 15 feet above a sweeper[fallen tree.]
Man that was really dumb-wife wanted to know what else is new.

 

[pete41]

Accidently snagging a Texas dude lure fisherman's waders when not knowing I was actually wanting to work my way downstream he came in an easy cast below.
Boy was he mad,no matter how profusely I apologized he wouldn't believe me.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

With some of the posts I now have a better understanding of why we need guides.

I seam to recall an old Christmas Song that sings about "making a list and checking it twice". Somehow we should incorporate that note into our daily fishing lifes.

 

[pcray1231]

The only chance I ever got at a very large bull elk came when one went by about 20 yards away-he caught me with my pants down- I didn't say "oh crap"though.

3 years back my uncle shot a buck from the "seated" position. Ever since I make a mental note to keep the gun in reach when I do my business.

 

[pcray1231]

deciding to take my bronco for spin in a field along the Madison after a days fishing.4 flat tires[cactus]at once.Thats what they don't tell you in those off roading vids.. stay on the path.

That's why they make A/T tires.

 

[Luke]

Went on our annual camping/fishing trip at Poe Paddy with an empty Sage Z-Axis tube; the rod was still assembled in my garage from some casting practice. Thank goodness I had my Cabelas back-up rod with me or I would have been round tripping it back!

Had sunglasses fall off my hat into the drink.

Yes, I have cut the line while trimming tag ends.

Yes, I have burned through my leader with my cigar.

Yes, I have lost multiple flys in a row on the same obstruction (both overhead and under water).

I used to use fly boxes that had one lid and many open compartments. After a couple of mishandlings I have learned that boxes with multiple lids or better yet foam keepers suit my clumsiness much better. Dumping it over water is an absolute tragedy and dumping it over dry land leads to about 30 minutes of searching with about a 70% recovery rate.

Murphy often joins me for my fishing expeditions...