badwater day

[grumpymoe]

i'm sure all of us have had some nerve-wracking trips on the softwater, what with sudden storms, getting lost, breaking down, or finding ourselves in some treacherous situations. what was your scariest experience?? grump

[suskymusky]

A few years back I was wading for smallmouths. The water was a little higher than normal.I fished a section I am familiar with and was about 1/4 mile down from where I usually cross.I decided I would try to cross here instead of walking back upriver.I started across and was doing good until I got halfway.I was swept in the current and couldn't touch bottom. I was trying to swim to the other side but I couldn't go anywhere. I started panicking and had cramps in my legs and arms.I put my head back and floated for what seemed like an eternity until I got to where I could touch bottom.I was totally exhausted and still on the wrong side of the river.I rested, then walked 1/2 mile upstream to where I usually cross.I said a prayer, then crossed with no problems.

[baginwal]

A few years back, I was fishing with a buddy about 12 miles out on Lake Ontario.  We were in about a 3 foot chop and killing the lakers.  Anyway, my 18 ft starcraft mariner has been in lots of bad weather, but once I take a wave over the bow.........it's time to go.  My friend (who has fished these waters for over 30 years) insists we are fine and should stay.  As much as I respect his experience, it was my boat and my life!!!!  so, I suggested he watch the rods as I began to secure the downriggers in order to head in.  In all the years I have fished Lake O, usually the weather gets significantly worse (wave wise) about every half-hour.  Therefore, I figured I would get back to the hoist (I have a hoist off my cottage and was not looking forward to trying to park the boat and get it lifted up with these now 4 foot white caps!).  As we putted in, all I could think about was if we capsize, how am I going to help my friend (did I mention he weighs about 310lb).  It felt like an eternity as we motored home.  Just then, I realized that with the direction of the wind, there was a better than average chance that the bay where my hoist is, would be fairly calm relative to the main lake.  I hoped and as soon as we got past the point, all calmed down and I easily got it on the hoist, lifted the boat and proceeded to unload the fish off the boat and take pics.  Just then my wife came out of our cottage and said "It's so nice out, why did you guys come in so early??."  Boy, did I have a story for her.  The next year, I installed a VHF base station at the cottage.  This way i could contact her and have her man the wheel on the hoist if the conditions coming in ever warranted it.

I promised myself a long time ago that no fish is worth drowning for and almost forgot that on this trip.

[Bartman44]

Baginwal, good story

Ontario can be nasty. I recall one day many moons ago when  I was out quite a ways off of Oswego (my boat is about the same size of yours) and it was dead calm and there was weird fog over the lake. There  was a big storm a few days earlier and it turned all the cold water over, creating the fog. I probably should not have been out there at all.   

Well, we are trolling along and I hear this horn. I look up and there's the superstructure of a Navy ship coming right at me. I knew then how JFK felt on PT 109. It didn't miss us by much but that's the last time I ventured out on Ontario in the fog.

Bart

[Fat Boy]

I posted this story on this thread earlier today, probably my scariest and funniest story:

http://www.myfishfinder.com/fishing_forum/index.php?topic=865.0

[Rotney72]

Went out on lake michigan one day last summer ..took the wife and kids out dropped them off at the beach and went back to the breakwall to find some jumbo perch.. about 2 hrs had passed and i noticed the wind had changed from south to west..i decided i should go pick them up since it looked like a storm was coming in..I proceed to haul butt back..got everyone in the boat and the rain hits...now were a good 7 miles from the slip going into a 25 mph wind..I got the motor hammered..were hardly in the water because the waves are about 4 ft. The kids loved it ..i was nervous.. my wife was havin a  freakin heart attack! we passed a few diehards on the way back..a couple guys were hangin over the side hackin chunks..we made it in ok..but i will never go out without checking the weather again..(well i might go,but i wont take the family)

[seaweed01]

Years ago I bought a new 5hp motor and of course had to try it out. My dad and I put my 12' very small and tippy jonboat in the truck bed and went to
a launch in the river to try out the motor and fish. Where we put in, the bow of the boat was up a little on the shore. Usually I would put the motor on first but my dad had thrown the cushions in the boat, so when I got in the boat carying the motor I stepped over/around the cushion and the boat
rocked and with the weight of the motor in my hand, you guessed it, over the side I went with the motor.  The water was only about 4' and I am over
6' so the depth didn't hurt. But here I am, a new motor, that  had been "to the bottom", all I could say was "my new motor". My dad did not know what to say or do, whether to laugh or cry with me. Anyway I put the motor on the boat, it finally started and I had it for seven years before I sold it and  never had a problem with it the whole time I had it. (Another happy ending.)

[thedude]

7 or 8 years ago when i was in high school (probably about 15 yrs old) I went w/ my buddy and his fam bass fishing in florida on the St. Johns river. They have a nice big pontoon and we shiner fish. So one day we decide we'll travel down to lake Toho and rent boats.......
so the 6 of us rent 3 fiberglass flat bottoms w/ 9.9hps. Me driving one w/ my buddy, his dad and another kid, and then his mom and sister in the 3rd. SO we fish and have a good ol' time in a proctected bay for a few hours. well in the meantime, a 30mph wind kicked up and was blowin 3-4'rs accross the main lake. Big swells too, something i'll never forget is actually loosing site of his dad in between swells. Luckily we were going w/ the wind, but the 9.9 werent enough to keep up w/ the waves. It was pretty scary.

I've since gotten a 18.5' bass boat. I had that on lake erie/sandusky bay. We went out of the bay one morning to some 4-6' rollers. I promptly turned around and head back towards safer waters. I'm sure we could've gotten out, but i wasn't taking any chances. The next day, sandusky bay was in 3-4 footers, not as bad as the big rollers. It was a rough ride, but the boat handled it well. After being in stuff like that for a couple days. I kinda laugh when i see whitecaps on the lakes around Northern IN since very few are more than 1200 acres. In fact i was out 2 weekends ago during a wind advisory (35mp gusting to 50!). I had the whole lake to myself  

[eyedoktr]

Not my scariest but a good one none the less. Last July, I was fishing  as an amateur in the PWT out of Dunkirk, NY on Lake Erie. It was the final day and I was in the final spot as far as prizes go. They had forecast thunder,lightning and high winds. The committee decided to send us out anyhow. When we left port, the waves were only 3-4 footers, no problem. My pro and I picked up 2 nice walleye on our first pass and had turned around to go back and start a second. That's when we realized the waves were now 6-7 footers. As we were just starting to rig for our second pass a call came on the radio from the tournament committee, they cancelled day 3 of the tournament and to get back to port. By the time we got back to Dunkirk, the waves were close to 10'. An hour after we got to shore, the waves were now crashing shore and were more than half way up on 25' tall trees. The waves were estimated to be 15 foot plus. That's not a 15'swell, that's a 15'wave. I saw the pro I was with lsat Nov. for the first time since this happened. I gave him a big hug and bought him a beer.

[Bobman]

My scariest story was about 20 years ago on Lake Erie a couple miles of Hamburg, NY.  Myself, my father and my uncle were in my uncle's 16' boat and we started out in the morning with a bit of a chop on the water.  While we were fishing the wind started to pick up but it wasn't too bad.  Unfortunately, in the eastern basin of Lake Erie storms come across the lake faster than I've ever seen (I'm sure eyedoktr can attest to that).  Well, we decided we should pack it in when the last smallmouth I hooked broke water from the side of a wave towards our boat at eye level.  The waves were so high that when we got into a trough all you could see around us was water, and when we road the peak of the wave the prop was out of the water.    Thanks to my uncle's driving we finally made it back to the launch, but a normal trip of 15 minutes took us 4 hours!!