Best Laid Plans?

I remember a few months ago someone put up an interesting thread about having fishing days where hardly anything went as expected; or worse. I had one of those Wednesday.
Jerry was going to take 'FLy and I out to buoy 10 in his V-sled but took a 'rain check' due to strong windy weather forecasts. So Joe invited me up to search a south Sound zipper river tidewater which usually gets early Kings. We got up to the best few holes in upper tidewater by mid-morning's high tide in lower Puget Sound. In very clear water we only saw one big fish roll - lots of good sized cutts though. After a good try and not seeing any more fish we headed back to the launch. On the way down we took pics of an abandoned rotting gillnet and of new gillnets strung across the entire river by local tribal fishers while we were up river; and getting ready to set up another one. We stopped to talk and they told us they had been netting most every day, but had caught only a few fish yet. One thing is for sure; very few got by the netting going on. I experienced the frustration WA anglers put up with all the time, as I had done on Oly Pen's Hoh River last year when Marty and I found it devoid of fish for the sportsmen due to gillnets being in the lower river. After we pulled out Joe's driftboat with my Bronco we listened to his trailer bearings start complaining; so we had to launch his boat in the lake his house is on and leave the trailer at Les Schwabs. Then it was back in the boat to fish for bass and bluegill [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] , near lilly pads and all. Yup. And it was really fun for a change! We had a bunch of action on 'trophy' little bassies and gillies [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] . Joe likes to see if he can set a hook and land those fish all in one arm swing when his bobber goes under. Flying spikes! Yikes. That was the highlight of the day though. I didn't get out of the Oly area before my troublesome spark system acted up again and the truck began sputtering. I stopped and put a couple new plugs in, but that didn't help this time - only burned my hands. Town mechanics were gone home by then, so I took the chance that I could sputter all the way to P-town. Then I hit a several mile long 'parking lot' on I-5 near Centralia because of a jack-knifed semi truck/trailer rig that took a couple hours to remove. I hung in town instead of in the freeway parking lot. Once it got moving I sputtered my way south again. It was getting worse, and finally the engine konked out south of Woodland. I parked it on the shoulder and tried checking plugs and wires and anything I could think of, but to no avail - it wouldn't start. And I had forgot to bring my cell phone. I then tied a white plastic bag to the Bronco antenna and left the hood up while I held a sign up to a seemingly infinite number of cars for about an hour and a half before someone finally pulled over to give me a ride. Nice bunch of I-5ers, eh? [img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img] ... The nice Vanc. couple that picked me up made up for a lot by taking me all the way home. I wish I had kept some bluegills to give them [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] , but gas was to be it. ...

Moral of the story: When you expect silver ... ah, hmmm ... when you expect a limit of cohos, you might just wind up with a hot hand and a cold thumb instead. ??? Naah, I can't think of one. ........ Any other new fishing gone awry stories?

[sinker]

Nothing like that. Wow, hope I don't.
BTW, what in the world do you do for a living? I'm a machinist and just getting home about 2:30. Seen you're always on late and was wondering what you do for work.

[First Bite]

Was Murphy with you today? Wow Steve I've heard of bad days on the river but that tops it. How are you going to get your truck home? Call if you need help bud.
Mark

[willierower]

RT,
Sorry about your luck. You must have broke down after I went through. I would have picked you up.

Here is one of my worst days....
A friend and I planned on going to Newport and fish for feeder chinook a couple years ago. The bay was full of them. First off, I didnt wake up to my alarm. I woke up to my buddy beating on my door. I get up and stumble around trying get ready. We get everything ready and hit the road. We get bout 2 miles from my house and the motor in Toyota decides its had enough. The pston breaks around the wrist pin. I limp the truck home slowly knocking and rattling on 3 cylinders. Not to be discouraged we decide to hook the boat up to My frinds Blazer. Well that didnt go as planned. My trock had the ball on the bumper and he has an easy lift with no stinger. We drive from Albany to Lebanon to get the stinger from is garage. We discover there is on ball on it. We head back to my house and tried to take my ball off my bumper. That wasnt working because the threads were all thrashed from hit rocks while out 4 wheeling. We bag the salmon trip and decide to hit the South Santiam and see if we cant find a willing steelhead. Put my rod on the back seat and set my vest on the seat too. Well, When I set my vest on the seat it pushed the rod off. When I got in and shut the dor the tip of the rod got crushed in the door. Thats when I decided to call it a day and go back to bed. It was not a good morning. I was out 945 bucks and didnt even see the water.

Have you tried replacing your ignition module? That could be your spark problem.

[NEUTRON]

RT, about your Ford... what kind of shape is
the catalytic convertor in? We had a ford van at work that acted up in a similar fashion.

[Rauly]

I can't believe your complaining about not getting a ride on the highway. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] Have you looked in the mirror lately [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] or better yet how bout the picture with the knee pads on. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] You know a lot of people read that magazine around here. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Glad you made it back.

Moral of the story - Don't try to hitch a ride with knee pads on. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Rauly

Paul, notice my distinct and discrete silence. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[FEAR NO FISH!]

Last weekend I had one of those nightmare trips. I had my girlfriend make reservations at the Dechutes State Park. I wanted a spot on the river where I could camp right where my boat was moored. When we arrived they told me we were in the B loop and you could not moor the boat unless you had a spot in the A loop. Darn! 5 minutes later we are setting up camp when some tall drink of water comes over to complain that our kids are cutting thru his camp to get to the river. Of course he is camping right where the river access is. After getting camp set we go to the Heritage landing. I back down to the water and remove the tiedown and put my plug in. As I was slowly backing the boat into the water I suddenly hear a loud screeeetch. I jump out expecting to see a dog underneath my truck tire. None there. My daughter yells to me that I had hit somebody. "I WHAT!" Some doughboy had let his boat drift behind me after picking up a passenger from shore. Rather than go downstream he had let his boat idle while he and his new passenger got situated. No damage to my boat because the right corner of my boats stern had done the impacting on the side of their boat. I calmly proceeded to tell them "TO GET THE H### OUT OF THE WAY!" They did. After beaching the boat I asked everyone if they had everything. They did, so off we go. As we pass under the bridge, my girlfriend says "STOP" she had forgotten her purse with all the kids punchcards and her license. Since I had parked the truck out on the highway, I thought I could get the boat a little closer so she would not have to walk so far. As I approached the bank my pump sucked up every weed in the lower section of the Dechutes. What a mess! We finally made it out to the mouth and watched everyone else catch fish. The next morning we go to have breakfast at Biggs and the parking lot of the restaurant was full. I proceeded to park on the shoulder in front of the place. While we were eating, a OSP officer pulls up behind my boat and starts writing. I send girlfriend out to sweet talk cop. He asks her to send me out. After the lesson he gave me my paperwork and charged me $30.00 for parking in a no parking zone. Needless to say the weekend was pretty chitty!
[img]images/icons/mad.gif[/img]

[FishinMission]

RT..replaced your fuel filter lately?? Could maybe be your problem along with dozens of other scenarios. I think one of my worst days was last Saturday. Started out by hitting the gas station to dump about 10 gallons of gas into the boat, and headed for the Columbia. Got to the ramp to find gas almost up to the floorboards of the boat. Turns out the filler hose became "unconnected" from the tank. Glad I didn't wait for the nozzle to click off. After properly disposing of it, launched the boat, only to find someone I know sitting just "not quite" in my spot, and almost close enough to screw it up for me. I figured we were fishing a couple of rods about 20 feet from his anchor. He wouldn't move, and neither did I. Well... the first rod dropped about a half hour later, and one of my buddies lost the fish. About an hour later, my other buddy's rod dropped, and he lost that one too. Then about an hour later, MY rod dropped, and it was "Fish On" time. I handed the rod off to one of the buddies for him to brawl...and up to the boat comes a really nice 11-12 lb. WILD summer steelie. I grab the pliers to unhook the fish while it's still in the water, but am having difficulty getting the hooks out, so I grab the flatfish, and steelie, and bring them into the boat to get the steelie unhooked. While holding the fish behind the head with my left hand, pliers in the right, the fish does a "floppy" move, and one of the trebles on the flatfish embeds itself into my left ring finger, clear past the barb. Of course my first thought is that the steelie is gonna start flippin' around with me on the other end of the flatfish...but I got lucky, got the hooks out of the steelie(but not me yet) and my buddy got the fish back in the water. In the meantime..I got a K-10 dangling from my ring finger. Regardless....being a "Pain Woosie", I wrestled with, but could not get the hook out. We straightened it out, cut it off leaving anbout a half inch hanging out of my finger, and fished the rest of the tide. When I got home, the wife and I headed for "Emergency", and got the hook out with a little help from Mr. Novacaine, and Mr. Cheap Pliers. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[Thumper]

FNF --- You shoulda come down to the Lewis after all!

[FEAR NO FISH!]

Hi Thumper,
I will be heading down to Chinook tonight to help make the Salmon species extinct. I am leaving the girlfriend home! What are you up to? [img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]

FEAR, at least you got a girlfriend? [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Had NO intention of having you "fess" up to anything. The flash light did go frequently back over the guardrail into the woods seeking the Cougar or Bigfoot that might have been watching. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] No Cops from 3 to 7:30 a.m. State bull that did stop, did not ask if I was OK or needed help, but did immediately ask how come we did not get the boat and trailer further off the road? [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] Good thing no transient criminal with a weapon was interested though. Had a happy ending though and Paul got new trailer tires and a spare!



[ 08-09-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]

Thanks for the truck suggestions guys. I have tried most of those things to no avail. I have towing insurance but it is limited to 10 miles, so I am having them tow it to Vancouver Ford. Dang, a ******** dealership service call. That means throwing a whole lot of "extra dealer markup" $$$ down the toilet to get the thing running again. ...

Hey Rauly, my knee pads were covered up by my pants [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] . But there was nothing I could do about my mug [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] . Was that the deal - I look like an escaped convict or what? [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] Over an hour with an obvious broken down rig and holding a sign. There are easier ways to murder people if that was their concern. Oh well, alls well that ends swell, eh? Let me see the service bill before I answer that. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

RT

[Wyndknot]

November several years ago, stop by my partners house @ 4 a.m. to pick him up, no lights on, no rig in the drive, no boat, no barkin lab, no answer at the door. Head on over 26, snow on the pass, going down the long hill by Saddle Mtn. get passed by some
yuppie in a Volvo who immediatedly slows. I
tap my brakes and do a full 360 in the middle
of the hwy. You could not have gotten me off the seat with a crane. Pointed the right way
to the N Fork of the Nehalem. Fish the hatchery, go back to the truck, flat tire.
Pull the spare,its got about 15 lbs of air.
Found out later my former partner lit out for
parts unknown with my depth finder and kicker
motor.

Sounds like one of my former fishing partners from long ago - Keith Ableson. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Sounds like former is the key word. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Yea, right FEAR. I am sure you let her read that too! LOL!

[FEAR NO FISH!]

******,
A fella can sound pretty tough when the little woman isn't around. She got to see it though. She wants to know when we can go with you. She said she wants to fish with somebody other than Ahab! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

For several days after leaving Nantucket, nothing above hatches was seen of Captain Ahab. The mates regularly relieved each other at the watches, and for aught that could be seen to the contrary, they seemed to be the only commanders of the ship; only they sometimes issued from the cabin with orders so sudden and peremptory, that after all it was plain they but commanded vicariously. Yes, their supreme lord and dictator was there, though hitherto unseen by any eyes not permitted to penetrate into the now sacred retreat of the cabin.

It was one of those less lowering, but still grey and gloomy enough mornings of the transition, when with a fair wind the ship was rushing through the water with a vindictive sort of leaping and melancholy rapidity, that as I mounted to the deck at the call of the forenoon watch, so soon as I levelled my glance towards the taffrail, foreboding shivers ran over me. Reality outran apprehension; Captain Ahab stood upon his quarter-deck.



"Ahab" and the "Albino Rhino" ONLY on the Columbia! [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[ 08-09-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]

[FEAR NO FISH!]

******,
I can loan her to ya if you need some companionship! I can guarantee you she will keep things interesting! [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img]

[hoochie]

Sure sounds like the Father's Day story I posted in June when we had a new Scotty electric go bad, kicker motor quit, lost cannon ball on the good downrigger and seagull crapping on me! All in about two hours time.

Whew, that makes the Pick's Cove mess almost tolerable. Then again, maybe NOT!

[ol tuna skipper]

******, appreciated silence. I will give it up though.

Last month ****** and I get an early start, 2:30 am to get our spot on the river. Head out on time. ****** was even early to my house. We were trading trips, so it was my boats turn. We get on 84 and just before the rooster rock turnoff I get a blowout that shreads my trailer tire. [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Mind you this is my first ever blowout and no spare. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] I unhitch the boat full of gear and leave it with ****** on the roadside up against the gaurd rail. Now it's dark and there are no lights an the trailer when I go looking for a tire. I leave ****** with a flashlight to mark the back of the boat for the traffic. An hour later and no success on a tire [img]images/icons/confused.gif[/img] I head back to the boat. We sleep till 7 in the truck at which time I head back to Les Schwab in Gresham. By eight I am back at the boat, get the tire on and head to our spot.

Fortunatly we get our spot as most people are working evidently. I didn't get a bite that day but ****** brought four chinook to the boat including a beautiful 22 lb. fin clipped nookie. Dang, we had to let it go as the river wasn't open to nooks yet. Never boated any steelies that day. Believe we had one on but it got its freedom too.


Hey Rick, I now have a spare.
It was still a beautiful day on the Columbia. and as they say, the worst day fishin is still better than the best day workin. There I fessed up. Care to add anything Rick.

[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Pssst....Fear Ahab. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]