Your Scariest Moment on the Water

[wolfe]

Was it weather related? A fall overboard? An encounter with other anglers or some kind of wildlife? A health issue?

Share some of your stories to help entertain me through these late winter days.

I have nothing terribly exciting, but a few minor experiences.

Had a couple of hair raising episodes where I wasn't sure I could avoid the lightning bolts being tossed at the water and not enough horses pushing me along to safety. The Hail Mary's were spilling from my lips.

Likewise, a time or two where the engine went on strike and I was alone. Somehow, the trolling motor or enough persistence with the engine got me home before too long. Still...not a good feeling...

One summer day, I purposely dove overboard for a swim from our old Deep V Sea Nymph and had a heck of a time getting back in. Suddenly, that modest aluminum boat looked like a sky scraper! That was more embarassing than scary, but I was alone and recall feeling a little anxious before finally heaving my sorry arse into the boat, quite a distance from where I had started (no, dummy me did not anchor the boat)!

Another time, several years ago, my Dr. Doolittle talking-to-animals impression was not appreciated by a couple of loons, later observed to have little ones. The male was incredibly agitated and came directly up to the boat, displaying like mad and cranking out ear-piercing tremolos. He would dive under the boat to pop up directly on the other side and I remember how BIG he looked & those bright RED EYES ! Calmly as possible, we started up our little engine and chugged slowly but purposefully away from the family. Seriously, I felt awful and did not mean to upset the loons -- and today have more sense and understanding of just what good parents they are to their young. We put a good buffer between our boat and loon families now.

So, how about you? Any harrowing tales of your "angling angsts"? Thanks for sharing...

W.

[almontefisher]

When I was younger I fell thru the ice and got under the ice...My brother had to grab my hood on my snow suit and pull me back up. Two other times I have fallen thru but every other time I was a bit smarter than before and knew what to do when you break thru. My only other bad memory on water was canoeing in Algonquin Park and having the canoe flip over on a rapids section...My ankle got caught on a rock and twisted it. I was stuck on it for a minute or so before it came loose.

[Wallyboss]

My worse one was Opening weekend for eyes on the Que. side, From the rented cottage we had to go 10 km to the launch where our vehicles were. When it was time to leave we get to the launch and my father In-law says that he forgot his keys back at the cottage, i was freezing but I told the guys to take the stuff out of my boat and I was going to put on my snow pants and a parka to go back to the cottage and get the keys. So no problem getting to the cottage but when I got there (usually 2 guys) the guy in front would get out and take the rope to guide the boat in by hand because of rocks, well I was alone so I tried to get as close as possible with a strong wind from behind, finally got close enough and jumped out pulled the boat in went in the cottage got the keys and back out to the boat, by now there was about 3" of water in the boat so I pushed out and started the boat, so all the water was coming to the back where i was so I took off and when I was going fast enough I pulled the plug and the water will come out. So eeverything was going well, half the water was already out, but something that I forgot was that the night before I never filled up my gas tank because I wanted it to be as empty as possible because we had to put it in the back of an enclosed pickup truck box with bag of clothes and sleeping bags. And the motor took the last gulp of gas and I still had the plug in my hand. So with the back end of the boat heavy from the water that was left in it, plus the sudden stopping of the boat with a tail wind , it did not take long for the boat to fill up with water.
So here I was in the middle of a big lake boat full of water trying to put the plug in very fast cause more water was coming in, at the same time a paddle in one hand trying to turn the boat around so the bow was facing into the wind. And my friends in the rush to unpack my boat also took my lifejacket. good thing they didn't touch my bailing bucket. So I emptied the boat, tilted the gas tank and got enough gas to start the motor again. I almost made it to the launch I just drifted the last 40 feet. My father in-law asks me, Dan why are you as white as a ghost?? I threw him his keys and said i will tell you later. and I sat down on a stump and thanked god That I was still alive. This was 3 weeks after ice out, there was still snow in the bush. If I would've fell out of the boat i would not be here today.

I learned a lesson that day about wearing a PFD.

[GetTheNet!!!]

Good thread Wolfe,

Well I've gotta say that the harriest, scariest moment on the water came in my first year guiding at Kesagami Lodge. For those that don't know kesagami, it's a huge lake with a average depth of 7 feet, which makes it a great pike lake, but also allows it to blow up quickly under a strong wind. Kesagami uses 23 foot freighter canoes with 9.9's so they don't get really serious speed going. One day I was up in one of the north bays with two guests fishing up a storm, and because I was protected in the north bay I didn't notice the strong north wind that was blowing up. When the time came to head back to the lodge and I headed the canoe back out of the bay the waves started pummeling us from behind. The lake was blowing 4-5 1/2 foot rollers and the 9.9 wasn't enough to keep us ahead of the waves so they kept pouring over the back of the canoe, we had 5 mile back to camp and I had to keep us going because if I turned the canoe broadside we would've been swamped for sure. By the time I was halfway back I had almost a foot of water in the canoe and we weren't going to make it so I stopped at an island halfway back, beached the boat and bailed her out, there were moments when I didn't think that we'd make land. I swear I never made that mistake again. It was terrifying thinking of having to swim a mile to shore and then walk 3 miles back to camp soaking wet. Keep an eye on the skies guys, just because you can't feel the wind doesn't mean it's not there.

Best fishes,

Matt

[eye-tracker]

Fishing Lake Erie and trying to get back to the launch into waves. The waves where so large the boat equipped with a 225 Opti had just enough power to climb the wave and get us over the top.

-sheldon

[muskymatt]

Wow ...

I've got two

1) While waiting for my bud to get the trailer I was hovering around the ramp. I suddenly started to smell something burning and a little fizzle popping sound.
I looked behing me to see my wiring was fully engulfed in flames and right over top of my gas can .

I shut the engine down and grabed the gas can quickly and threw it to the front of the boat, grabbed my bail bucket and started to douse the flames.

Luckily I was successful.

A paddle back to the ramp and I was able to trailer the boat.
Upon investigation I found that the harness had been rubbing on the boat frame and had worn thru.

2) 7 foot waves on the Larry. Boat goes up ---boat goes down .....freaky


Matt

[wolfe]

WOW, some scary stuff, guys.

Yeah, big waves / high winds can be really freaky, though I've never had anything to deal with like those mentioned on Erie or the Larry.

Brian made a bad decision to drop our boat in on the Rideau during a huge blow (for Floatfishin's get together). The boat was immediately thrown up on the rocks and it took 3 people to get it pointed back out. The boat shows its scars today and I was pretty uptight 'til Brian pulled in to the dock a while later...humbled and with a big lesson learned, I might add.

W.

[Gord]

It was back in August of '82.......my bro and I were on a canoe trip to the interior of Algonquin Park. It was our last day of the trip and we were paddling on Opeongo Lake when a wind came up. It wasn't to bad at first so we didnt seek shelter. That was a mistake. Next thing ya know we're fightin' 4 to 5 foot waves in a fully loaded canoe. We were takin' on alot of water and just made it to a small island where we emptied the water from the 'noe and waited out the wind. Needless to say, we filled our shorts that day!!

[Badger Shark]

Does fishing with K-pin for 6 hours on the Rideau listening to him talk about his ex-wife count ?:!:

[matcole]

that would be scary....

[Crusty]

I am one to never take my plug out, that way I never forget to put it back in.

Unknown to me, my dealer who had just serviced my boat had pulled the plug and had just tossed it on the back deck. Not knowing this I dropped my boat a Petrie, went and parked my truck, and putted all the way out of pike bay. Once I reached deap water 15 mins later, I gunned it. Well needless to say the holeshot wasn't what I was used to. So I tried again,still nothing. So I turned to see what was going on. Sheeeeeeit I exclaimed to my buddy. We turned to see there was water gushing up the floor faster than any human could bail.So acting out of desperation rather than knowing what to do, I gunned that slug, flipped on the bailer and took a hard turn. After 45 secs I finally planed out. My descision seemed to be the right one. Luckly for me my plug did not blow away the entire drive from hurst to orleans. There it was sitting on the back deck, so we soomed over to the sand a beached her. After the heart rate slowed to human speeds, I cracked a joke with my buddy, he exclaimed he was 1/2 second from jumping ship. For some reason he doesn't fish with me anymore.

[Teufel Hund]

Well, a scary one and two funny ones.

Fishing Centennial with a friend who liked to call himself my native guide, we got a little turned around returning to the launch. Now that it was dark he had me right at the front of the boat keeping an eye out for dead heads. Going considerably faster than we should have been the reflection on the water ahead seemed to vanish. I yelled back to him just as he cut the engine. He managed to turn the boat inches from us slamming into the dam. I'm really glad that I had brown pants on that night!!

Twice in the same 5 minutes at the launch by the airport two seperate scary yet somewhat funny events took place. A guy there by himself refused any help putting his boat in. There was a lineup of boats going in but noone coming out. The guy backs his fairly new Legend into the windy and fast moving water and there it goes. He had undone all the tie downs and didn't have any rope. Now he starts yelling for help so the next guy in line backs his boat in but his wife didn't know how to drive his boat very well. She got it started and then gunned it back up onto the launch. It took 4 of us to push it back into the water. The prop was ruined!! They did manage to get the guy back to his boat before it made it to Blacks Rapids.

Hund

[joco]

I got a cople.

3 years ago i and my guirl friend deside to hit to ottawa river wit my boat at buckam bay......

it was pretty windy...so we are croosig the river then i look back i see there is about 4 inch off water over my flore for 1/2 lenght off the boat.
imagine there is that space under the flore to full off water that an extra 5inch or 6....

i feel my speed going down an i am full speed.........wooo

i stop go look what is wrong...the pipe that goes frome the back to the boat to the livewell in front is broken so its going into the boat the size off the hole...so there is no way to fix it there....so i have to put my fingers in the hole to stop the leak but then no one to drive the boat...guirls dont want to drive...si insted she had to put the fingers in the hole till i arrive to the launtch and get something stuck into the hole...but then at the luntch there is a waiting line to go out..........love that place.. ....but it did finish ok. .



one day was fishing wit my familly(younger time),,we got stuck on a island because off a little tornado and thunder for a god 8 hours..there was hells ,,winds and lightnig stuck there in the island in verendry park...grand lac victoria........man that was scary for me then...was only 9 years old.


not fishing related but boat related....i was doing some water shkiing,,,and my driver off the boat deside to change the directio at the last minute...i skied right into the floathing diving docks.......broke my 2 skies in half on the barrel under it,,and hurt my knees pretty bad.... .





last year trip wit carlco on the ontario lakes..... .
at the end i was pretty happy to see the shore gething closer,,i did not like those 6 feet wave if not more.. hiting us..


joco

[karma]

In 1977 16 of us Venturers decided to canoe from Toronto to PEI for the World Scout Jamboree. It took us a year to raise the $7K to buy the two 25-foot warrior canoes, and just over 30 days of paddling to get there.
Thinking back now, I wouldn’t recommend doing this trip. A good part of the St. Lawrence is pretty much open ocean and the wind, currents and tides can make for some pretty confused seas. One night we spent sleeping in a cave with no food or sleeping bags because the weather just got to rough – our tents and bags were in the van.
Probably the scariest moment was crossing the mouth of the Baie des Chaleurs on the New Brunswick coast. 20 miles across the mouth and half way over a big storm hits us. 3 meter breakers coming from all directions – if it had rained we would have sank for sure and died too I guess as the water temps on the Atlantic in mid June are still in the mid-50s. We made that crossing though, and the next day’s 24-mile crossing over to PEI as well.
I was the youngest guy, 13, most of the rest were 16-17. I could see a bit still then, but once we were five or so miles off shore I couldn’t see land any more. You get kind of a funny feeling when it hits home that paddling is the only way your going to get back to land when your out there in the ocean and all of a sudden no one else can see land either. That was 30-years ago…

[Erie-Eyes]

This thread brings back many flashbacks!! The following is one of them. When I was a young buck growing up on the lower Detroit River/Lake Erie, my best friend Jim modified his dad's 16' Peterborough cedar strip boat as the transom had dry rot. He ended up with a 13/14' boat that he decked in with only one bench seat that could accomodate 3 people. If I remember correctly, his motor at the time was a 35HP, so this rig would really fly. One day, Jim, myself and my cousin Carol (they have since married, and are still River Rats), went out into Lake Erie with his boat to do some "Surffin" - riding 3/4 foot rollers while running at a good clip. In order to get a real "THRILL' we were not sitting on the bench seat like a sane person would do, but were sitting on the rear deck with our feet on the seat. Jim was driving the boat, Carol sitting in the middle and I was on the other side. After powering up one large roller and surffin down the back side of it, the bow of the boat caught the next roller the wrong way and did a quick sharp hook. This caused me to slide off the rear deck, but I hung on fearing the propeller. I managed to get my feet up to the side of the boat and kicked hard to spring clear of boat and prop. Meanwhile, my dragging weight caused the boat to tip severely, and Carol was thrown out over me. When I kicked free Carol was already in the water, and the release of my weight caused the boat to tip severly to the other side, causing Jim to slide off the rear deck also. However his foot caught under the seat, and he is being dragged as the boat is still running wide open but now turning in a tight circle. Carol who is a good swimmer, panicked and screamed at me that she couldn't move her legs. I swam over to her just in time to see the boat dragging Jim bearing down on us. I told her to relax, take a deep breath, and we both went down deep as the boat passed over top of us. We surfaced just in time to see that Jim was finally able to reach into the boat and stop the engine. He came over and picked us up just as a large American crusier that had witnessed the event, came over to see if we were OK. WE assured them all was well and we still laugh about to this day, but learned some valable lessons - use seat properly, wear life jackets, and use your kill switch. An older neighbour once told Jim anI that we had more adventures in one day than he had in a lifetime. IT WAS FUN TO BE A YOUNG RIVER RAT.