What are the dumbest things you did fishing as a kid?

[KI Jim]

Allright, Gone Fishing (Larry) got me to thinking when he said his 7 year old threw his mudder over the side and it is now part of the bottom structure of Lake Erie. I though it would be kind of fun to see what dumb stuff the rest of us did during our formative years.

One time when my dad and I were fishing in the Florida Keys (I was 11), he told me to "throw out the anchor", so I did. Unfortunately, it wasn't tied to the anchor line when I did it:p ! To make it even better, I didn't just drop it over the side, but I really threw it! That was 35 years ago and he still ribs me about it.

Jim

[Rondevous]

Spearing Pike in back of a Federal Building.

All of a sudden an armed Employee asked us what we were doing.
We didn't dare run, so we told him (confessed) He said wow really are you getting any, to which we offered him to try his luck.
He declined and we never did that again ever!

[walleyedreaming]

When I was 5 my dad bought me a zebco 404 rod and reel. The third day I had it I was fishing off the dock at my folks house. Mom called me in for lunch so I casted out and laid the pole on the dock after lunch I went back out and the pole was gone :yikes: Dad wasn't too happy :lol:

Jimmy

[Jacob Huffman]

I grew up on Mecosta lake and fished it for everything I had.Well I was about 5 or 6 and kept catching little small one's.I finally got tired it and the next little one cought it spun it around in the air and smacked it one the lake.It flew off the hook and swam around in circles for about 10 minutes.Man was I sick I could'nt believe I did that to the poor thing.

[sfw1960]

One of my childhood buddies (Jeff ) caught about a 27" northern on a LoCo spoon , I was holding it ...
Admiring it & showing it off..... then I shoved it towards Jeff & said RRRARRHH!
It startled him , and he put his hand out to push it away.
Of course his index finger went RIGHT into the pikes mouth & KEEE-RUNCH!!!!
That mean ole NortherEEn bit down on his finger -- and he pulled his hand back FAST...Sunnuva.....
OUCH.
His finger was sliced lengthwise seven ways from Sunday & bleedin' like he had 75 gallons of blood to give....and I think he made a d@mn good donation too!

OOOOOOOooooooooooooooooops...
I felt kinda like a dumb bass....

Now that Wally-eYe is prolly going to read this - I bet he quits letting me net fish for him .......

:lol:

:D R :D

[JJ Mac]

When I was young our family took a trip to Mar MAc Lodge on Esnagi Lake in Canada. My brother and I were so rearing to go fishing the first morning that we were out on the dock fishing before everyone else was out of the cabin. I put on a spoon and started "trolling" by walking up and down the dock. I had several small northerns give chase and hit the spoon. I was so fascinated and amazed I walked right off the end of the dock and into the drink. Five minutes later as I'm changing clothes my brother walks up to the cabin dripping wet from head to toe! He did it too. :lol:

Here's another good story:

A buddy and I had just turned 16 and were going on our first fishing trip without parents. So we hook up the 12 footer to my buddy's old Ford Maverick and we head for Au Gres for perch. Slayed em! Then on the way home the old Maverick starts smoking, and man the stink. I tell him "this crappy Maverick can't even pull a little boat." We pull over and pop the hood. Someone had put about a 20 lb carp on the engine block. :rant: Another good reason today's cars have hood releases on the inside of the vehicle.

[wally-eye]

Robert your too funny. Now that I think about it the netting job that I observed you do on my pike was suspect at best..........:lol:


One funny thing we used to do when we were kids were tie big ol heavy bolts or nuts to M80's and fish for pike in the grand river that was near where we lived in Jackson. Yup, sure did work. Usually 2 good heavy nuts taped to an M80 tossed off a bridge did short work of what ever was swimming in the area.

The second funniest thing happened about 20 years ago.....when I wasn't a kid. I used to have a 17 foot boat rigged for salmon fishing and lived in Holland MI. Well a friend of mine wanted to go fishing with me. We get to the launch and I undo the tie downs and the front winch rope. My friend said what can I do so I told him just grab the rope to the boat and when I back up the boat will float off the trailer and you just stand on the dock and hold the boat from banging into it. Soooo I get in the truck and see my buddy standing next to the front of my boat holding "a" rope......Sooooo I get in the truck and start backing up, when the trailer and boat get in the water I hit the brakes and the boat comes off the trailer. I move ahead about 10 feet and stop and get out. I see my buddy holding a rope. I get out and see my boat NOW 50 foot out in the water floating away and my FRIEND holding the WINCH rope hooked to the trailer in his hand watching my new boat float away. It was just tooooo funny........Luckily another person was coming in and seen what happened and brought the boat with him........................

I gave my friend big time grief for this and never let him live it down. It was a funny thing and luckily nothing was harmed.......

[icefishermanmark]

Being 16, I would think that this would be fresh in my mind, but I can't think of anything REALLY stupid. I fell through the ice one time, but it was only up to my waist. I left my little pond prowler in St. Clair overnight (the roughest night I've ever seen). Woke up the next morning, to find the whole front end sinking. I looked, and didn't see my electric motor:yikes: So I ran inside and threw my bathing suit on and jumped in. I thought the motor was gone, but the wing nuts on the battery held it in place. But the motor was toast. Then, on my way back into the canal, I realized that the battery got thrown around so much that it cracked the fiberglass. Nothin that a little BONDO couldn't fix:) So not toally fishing related, but stupid. Cost me $100.

[deputy865]

WOW! I have done so dumb things that i dont want to mention them all...

Well fish cruelty (let me mind you, they CANT feel pain) was a big part of growing up and fishing...

I would have to say "fish olympics" as we would call it was the funniest...that and ..coughcough blowing fish up coughcough...la la la lala you dint here it :lol:

Well let me explain fish olypics.. We would catch littler fish (baitstealers we would call them) and whip them in the air i mean whip them and the watch them fall and hit the water ( or docks ect..whoops...that was an auto. 10 pts..) and well they way they flew or hit the water like belly smakers or perfect dives, we would rate them out of 10....
thats about it..

Shane

[LittleMan]

Well fish cruelty (let me mind you, they CANT feel pain) was a big part of growing up and fishing...



OOOOOOOOH yes they do... :(

[deputy865]

"OOOOOOOOH yes they do... "

you mean they can feel pain.....i'm not for one to argue, like to stay freinds with everyone but..i can dig up an article i have to were scients say they dont..
Why do you think they do???

If you want to we dont ruin the thread PM me....

Shane

[LittleMan]

I can be convinced that they might not feel it as much as other animals, but I do believe the can feel pain. That would be why the fish can be lying still, looking dead, then as soon as you start to cut into it it starts flopping around. Basically I'm saying that If you react to something physical, it means you can feel. If you can feel, you can feel pain, otherwise what would take its place? Fish definatly react, so I believe they feel the pain.

Im not trying to start an argument either, thats just my position.

Besides, blowing things up isnt nice:sad: ;)

[deputy865]

yea well thats true....You know i'll look for the article anyway..have a couple 1000 anti-fisherman that needed to be proven wrong in my school :evil: ...and will make for a good thread

Well as the Thread name implys..
"What are the dumbest things you did fishing as a kid"

i was a kid...well i still am but i'm not really that way to much anymore.... :chillin:

Shane

[LittleMan]

haha, yup. My dumbest thing was thinking I knew what I was doing for the first 5 years, even though I come from a non-outoorsy family. Luckily, I'm learning.

And don't get me wrong, I am in NO WAY an anti-fisherman

[Arin]

Uh, maybe beheading a few gills(that i was keeping) with a spud when I was younger.... :dizzy: I was putting them out of their misery of suffucating!

[NorthChain]

There were probably lots of dumb things but the one I remember is dropping a wire fish basket full of fish over the side of the boat. Tried to hook it and get it out but could not find it in on the bottom.

[GONE FISHIN(LARRY)]

My parents are coming to my house for dinner tonight, I'll ask my dad he probaly has many stories of dumb things I've done while fishing . I can think of a few.
I once was told to make sandwiches for my grandpa dad and myself for trip out on LK. Michigan Fishing . I had to around 9,10 , my dad said there was salami , turkey, sardines ,ham and if I wanted peanutbutter and jelly . so I proceded to make sandwiches while dad and grandpa got the boat ready ,just like dad said I made salami , turkey, sardine,ham peanutbutter and jelly sandwiches ,with mayo mustard and ketchup . Put the sandwiches in the cooler ,while fishing grandpa was the first to ask for a sanwich,as I gave him one his eyes bulged , he looked at me and said now thats what I call a sanwich (the sandwich had be 4 inches thick) after a couple of bites he looked at my dad and said you have to try one of this sandiches , as my bit in he bluted out what the he## IS IN THIS , I REPLIED BACK JUST LIKE YOU ASKED FOR SALAMI,TURKEY.SARDINES,HAM PEANUTBUTTER AND JELLY .To both of their credit they ate the sandwiches .

LARRY

[RyGuy525]

When i was about 5 we were fishing on a lake up north and had the stringer hanging over the side of our 16 foot flat bottom. I was little and liked to play with the fish like most kids do. Well long story short i was petting the fish and must have leaned over a bit to far because before i knew it i was mid way through a summer sault and hitting the water...cold fall water and a long day of fishing dont match!

[Houghton laker]

I was about 15 and with 3 other friends the same age...we were up at a buddies cottage south of Lexington....he had purchased a 5 man inflatable from Epps sporting goods on gratiot earlier in the week....we inflatted it....it said it would hold up to a 3 hp engine....all we had was a 5hp....so we rigged ropes to help support the back end from drooping into the water....loaded all 4 of us in....and proceeded to take off for the lexington pier....about a five mile trip....a mile out from shore....in a cheap inflatable....with a oversized engine wanting to bring the rear down....and not a single life preserver!! How I ever made it to this age now I often wonder??? LOL....that was about 1974

[puttputt]

at 10 years old, didn't everyone drag a sucker (still attached to fishing rod) behind thier 10-speed for 2 miles and then run it up the flagpole at school? The poor sucker was pretty much inside-out after the trip. Made for a nice conversation with the flag-raising guys at a class reunion 20 years later... :bash:

[waterfoul]

I guess I was just a good kid. We never did anything stupid while fishing.





And if you believe that I have some cheap land in Floriduh for sale. On the water, with a beach.


:D

[icefishermanmark]

I guess I was just a good kid. We never did anything stupid while fishing.





And if you believe that I have some cheap land in Floriduh for sale. On the water, with a beach.


:D

So why don't you endulge us?:lol:

[falcon captain]

My buddy and I when we were 16 went up north to my parents cabin by ourselves to fish. "dont take the boat out on the lake" my dad said. It is just a little 12 ft row boat and the lake is fairly small, but they still didn't want us out there. Well, when mom and dad aren't there, you know! So we hook up this boat and rusty old trailer to my dodge shadow to pull it down to the lake. Mind you that the trails up there are all loose sand and the shadow is not the best ATV in the world. So, we try to bypass some of the deeper sand by driving thru the field, that was working untill we hit a rather large hole that dropped my front tire into it :bash: . After an hour, we finally got the car unstuck and tried backing it down the "boat launch" into the lake. Well, one of the oars fell off the side, wedged itself into the ground and the boat while I was backing up, this shot the whole trailer about 3 feet into the air and when the oar snapped it sounded like a shotgun going off. Problem 1, how do we fish with one oar and 1/2 an oar?? Well we made it work, didn't catch any fish and still had to buy a new oar. Over all it was a fun time.

[The Whale]

Okay, I've got a couple.
When I was about eight years old or so I remember fishing a small trout lake of my dad's buddy with my brother and my dad and we were catching a bunch of fish. We had six or eight fish in a colapsible (sp?) basket over the side and the rope came undone and that basket sank like a rock. :sad: My bro thought it was funny and started telling me it was my fault all of our fish were going to die a horrible death. I was bumming, my fish were gone, the thought of them dying in that basket was horrifying to me at this time. Now at this time, my dad had heard enough. I was embarrassed as heck when my dad stripped off his clothes to his skivvies and dove in trying to get that basket of fish back. Thank God we were the only people on the lake at the time. He went down four or five times but finally gave up, said the weeds would block him out before he could get to the bottom. God rest his soul. My dad was 6'3" and 340 lbs. !!! :yikes: I got over it when my dad told me the fish would live until the basket rusted away and they could free themselves. :confused: :gaga:

For one vacation I took my wife to Rice Lake in Canada and we had a great time. Nice cabin right on the water, boat, motor etc. anyway, we caught all the panfish we could ever want, fishing was terrific. One time out we had got on quite an area holding fish so I told the wife to put out the anchor. Now I have taught her to "slip" the anchor into the water so as to not spook the fish and all that and she did a great job of doing just that. Just a couple minutes go by and we're not catching any fish. Looking up, I realized we had drifted off our spot. Sure enough, she had put the anchor in very quietly, however the anchor was not tied to the boat ! :bash: Go figure. :lol:

[fishonbb]

MY NEIGHBOR WAS FISHING (DONT WANT TO TAKE THE CREDIT FOR THIS ONE LOL) ON A BOAT WITH HIS BROTHER AND HIS YOUNG DAUGHTER. SHE HAD A BIG FISH ON AND HE YELLS" GET THE NET!" SO SHE DROPPED THE POLE AND GOT THE NET!:lol:

[Brownsdown]

Me and a buddy hit thunder lake up in the U.P when i was 16, i was in the front of the boat casting a rapla with 3 treble hooks on it, well i wen to make a cast and when i came with my forward motion to send the bait flying somthing held it back and rather than turning around to see what the hell the deal was i jerked on it again and i hear my buddy say @#$$#@#$$#@#$ yep hooked him in the head, sent 2 out of the 3 trebbles into his scalp deep to i tried getting them out but it kinda made me sick to my stomach so him being a tough dude i unhooked the trebbles from the circle ring and we kept fishing into the night,,, when we got back in we had to make a 30 min trip to the hospital............did catch some nice walleye and a few northerns.......:bash:

[MI_STEELHEAD]

Dumbest day of my life:

I was fishing in a canoe w/ my Dad and I had a new wrist rocket sling shot. We look across the lake and see tons of ducks so I have the bright idea I am going to shoot one with the sling shot. We ducked down low in the boat and crept up on them. We made comments that these ducks were dumb as crap because they weren't taking off. I got almost right on top of one and pulled back as far as my little arm would strech. I looked into the water below the duck and there was a weight and a string. I looked in to the brush and there was a guy in camo standing up holding his gun just staring at us in disbelief. Truth be told......those were the dumbest decoys I have ever hunted.

We felt so stupid. The funny part is the hunter didn't say a thing. He must of been cracking up watch us sneek up on his decoys. That Christmas my Dad gave me a little brass duck for a book shelf that I still have today. Everytime I think I have it together I look at the duck and crack up.

[waterfoul]

Now THAT'S funny!!!!

[icefishermanmark]

:lol::lol::lol::lol: you must have felt dumb:lol::lol::lol:

[Fishbomb]

About a 1/2 mile from the house I grew up in was a private lake that was loaded with big bluegills. It was surrounded by woods and had about 20 ft of reeds and cattails that grew in the shallow mud that ringed the lake. My buddy and I had built a floating dock out of fallen logs so we could cast out to the deeper water but the owner kept tearing it up. One winter I spent a consierable amount of time thinking how we could get to that deeper water without building another log dock. So I got the bright idea to make a pair of MUD shoes. MUD shoes being like snowshoes but would enable me to walk over the reeds and cattails and wade in the mud out to the edge of the lake. That spring (March) I went back into the woods behind my house to find some suitable saplings to make the frame out of. I found the perfect ones and cut them and brought them back to the house and got busy making my MUD shoes. A couple of days later I had what I thought was the worse case of poison ivy I had ever had, and I'd had it BAD many times. My mom took me to the doc for the shot that helped to clear it up and he said I had poison oak and asked had I been out in the woods. I told him about the saplings(left out the shoes part). He said stay away from those as poison oak is a shrub, etc. So I gave up the MUD shoe idea and chopped up the shoes with my hatchet and threw the leftovers over in the weeds at the side of our garden. About a week later my dad has the worse case of poison oak any human has ever had (besides me). Come to find out, our :) beagle was in heat and a had got out of her pen and was being about to be serviced by another dog. The old man ran out to scare him off, saw the poles tossed in the weeds, picked one up to beat the dog with and got the poison oak. Man, I caught hell for that!!

[walleye express]

Got a couple stories I'm not to proud of.

We used to spend many weekend days both fishing/diving and swimming off the old railroad bridge that crossed the Kawkawlin River. My school chum Bill Holmes (who was new to our swim/fish club) was fishing off the nearby shore, because he was afriad to walk on the RR ties crossing the bridge. We were all in our bathing suits wearing no shirts. I caught a small catfish and knew Bill was also afraid to touch or take them off his hooks. I took the cat I caught and threw it towards Bill on shore. Being afraid of cats, his first instinct of course was to turn away. When he did the cat struck him on the bare back, and the barble of the cats right pectoral fin struck him straight in the back. Bill went down like somebody shot him, and in great pain. The cat stayed stuck there until we went to Bill's aide and pulled it out. His back swelled up like a baloon and he ended up in the ER ward at the hospital.


Story 2:
My Dad dropped me and 4 of my friends off one day to fish O'niels Bayou. It was originally called Whites Bayou, and was basically the flooded backwaters of the Kawkawlin River. Many Pike would get trapped in there during the spring spawning season, when the waters would recede before they could get back to the main river. Many other species like Bulllheads, Carp and Panfish would also get trapped, making it also a haven for Snapping Turtles. We were wading in the water up to our chests, while casting red and white daredevils for pike. I seen a large snapper poke his head up near us, so I casted over his back and hooked him.

I hauled him in and grabbed him by the tail. My buddy Harvey had brought along a machette, so I gave the turtle a haircut right then and there on shore and hung him up with some fishing cat-gut line to bleed out. Dad would make him into some fine soup.

One of my friends (Bill Konegs) was not that informed about turtles. He started playing around with the decapitated head of the turtle and I encouraged him to stick his finger in the turtle mouth. Wulp, you know what happened. It took 11 stiches to put the end of Bills finger back together after my dad got back and took bill to the ER at Bay Cities Mercy Hospital. I have other stories but they are even worse than these. I was a mischeviouos young man. :tdo12: :tdo12:

[MI_STEELHEAD]

You could have still pulled the turtle one on me. I didn't know a bodyless turtle's head could still snap shut.

How is that possible?

[walleye express]

You could have still pulled the turtle one on me. I didn't know a bodyless turtle's head could still snap shut.

How is that possible?


Steelhead.

I won't claim to know all the physical explanations as to how or why, but a turtles head will snap closed (fast and hard) on anything for days after it has been removed. And if you don't cut the turtles head off behind these particular neck bones, they will keep his airway open, and he will stay alive and even crawl around for days after as well. Turtles are very tough hombres. :confused: :tdo12:

[icefishermanmark]

I think it has to do with a trigger like mechanism in their mouths. You touch it and the mouth snaps closed.

[walleyedreaming]

Dan,
Your story has jogged my memory of days gone by. :lol: When I was a kid we used to fish off my neighbors dock which was also called the ( turtle dock) It was a huge t-shaped dock and when the lake was high the end would be submerged in the water. It wasn't uncommon to see 40 turtles at the end of it sunning themselves. I saw some huge snappers at the end of that dock and caught some huge bluegills too.Well a new kid moved in and after a day or two I was showing him around and thought it would be a good idea to show him the turtle dock. The dock was surrounded by very heavy weeds, I mean thick. As we walked out he exclaimed ewwww look at those weeds! After we chased the turtles off we were standing there and he made his comment about the weeds again. So what did Jimmy do? Pushed him right off the dock into those weeds :lol: To my dismay he started screaming and mean screaming bloody murder. Fearing my mother would hear all this commotion I jumped in the water and (saved him). We used to swim through weeds all the time when I was a kid so I guess I didn't understand his fear but I remember feeling kinda bad a half hour later while he was still crying his eyeballs out and I was pleading with him not to tell his mom. :D

Jimmy

[KI Jim]

Reading about the turtle bite reminded me..........


Me, my older brother David and our friend Buddy were at a pond in northeast Ohio (where I grew up) fishing for 'gills and in general dinkin around ( I was about 13). Anyway, 4 other kids about our age came to the pond and started throwin rocks in the pond-messin with our fishin and mouthin off. Well, they had us outnumbered and we didn't really do much until...
Buddy found this huge crawfish, one of the biggest I ever saw. He gave it to me and told me to go up behind one of the other kids and let it clamp on him and then we would run :evilsmile . Well, I thought this was one heck of an idea! So, me bein' the smallest (and most innocent looking), I walk up behind the kid and noticed his ears stuck out quite a bit, I took the crawfish (who was in full defensive position with the claws spread) held him up to the kids ear. Well, that crawdad pinched down on the kid's ear :yikes: , he let's out one he!! of a scream and me, David and Buddy took off running like the devil was after us. We got a real good head start and the kids never caught us.

I always felt bad about that (or maybe not!:lol: )

Jim

[icefishermanmark]

Well, I live on a private lake, and can't stand when people come out here. When I was 10, I was ice fishing with a friend, but two guys had their tip up in my favorite spot. I complained to my friend, and we formulated a GREAT idea. We would keep setting the flag off, so that eventually they would move the tip-up. Brilliant plan.... The guys ended up leaving their tip-up there all day, and we didn't catch anything.:lol::lol: I gotta think, I have alot of good stories.

[Rex]

Mucking through the swamps trout fishing (crawling through brush at times), and then taking a whiz. Darn, that poison ivy sure curtails the love life for a while! :coco:

[Fishbomb]

I guess I should clarify that the lake we fished was owned by 3 different landowners and we had permisssion from one of them. We had to hike back to it. There were no houses on the lake and we built our dock off the shore of the guys land we had permission from but one of the three acted like it was his alone and would try to run us off. It got to be a kind of a game for us. ;)

[jd_7655]

I put a hot n tot in my back pocket then tried to climb a muddie hill then slid down the hill on my but. I ended up with 2 trebbles in my but cheek. Wasnt fun. I was about 13.

[waterfoul]

Man, I keep reading all these stories and I STILL can't come up with anything dumb that I did as a kid while fishing. We took our fishing very serious as kids.... never hooked myself, never fell out of the boat, never lost the anchor,


.... well, there was that ONE time.... but what happens at the lake, stays at the lake!! LOL!!!! :D

[waterfoul]

That's not to say I (we) didn't do dumb things as a kid though.... man the stories I could tell... but that's a different forum.

[Molson]

Got a couple stories I'm not to proud of.

We used to spend many weekend days both fishing/diving and swimming off the old railroad bridge that crossed the Kawkawlin River.


Ahhh so that was you and your wild bunch that did that in the 60's. I used to get the look from my dad that said "don't even think about it" when we would visit my grandpa, two houses from the tracks on the SE side. (If you are talking about the railroad bridge by the mouth).