Let's hear your "Oh Crap" stories

[SteamboatAl]

So, this is my first post about my first trip about my first "Oh crap" moment. After waiting weeks to get my new yak on the water, there was a an opportunity last week at Surfside that looked promising, as far as waves are concerned. Got there at sunrise and went about getting things in order. The conditions were perfect, flat mirror water, no wind, no waves. Started paddling around to get the feel of the new toy, not going out too far. No noise on the water, with the exception of some occasional birds. Was paddling along, just minding my own business when two dolphins came up from behind me, bout 2 feet to my rear on the right side, and "took a breath"! Needless to say, it scared the holy he-- out of me. After i got my self settled down, about 6 dolphins started swimming alongside, doing their thing. Turned out to be an awesome experience, just started off with a bang.

[kickingback]

Had a storm almost swamp me. Not in my yak but my 16' jon boat.
I was fishing late at night under the 1375 bridge on Lake Conroe. I was using lights to fish at night.
I had checked the weather before I left and saw that there was a 30% chance of rain but I had been on the lake before with rain. The problem came when the winds also picked up from the usual 5-10 mph to about 15-20 mph in the course of about 10 minutes. Since I was tied up to a piling and under the bridge I failed to notice the skies and they swallowed the stars completely when I finally cut my ropes loose after taking all of my rods and lights down to get ready to head back to the public ramp at FM 830. Since the ten minutes passed and the winds picked up that quick I had to actually "cut" my tie off ropes to get the heck out of dodge quickly.
Well the rain started just as fast as the wind and the wind was now gusting to 25-30 mph. The swells on the lake became pronounced as I bounced across them heading back to the ramp. I have never been in a situation of this magnitude in such a small craft that I was starting to worry about getting swamped by a rouge wave. I swear some waves were at least 3 feet high. I had 3" of water from the rain and splash by the time I reached the dock but again I was in more trouble as the ramp was facing south and the winds coming hard from the south. I had no choice but to bring her in the ramp area and jump out to hold her steady until the rain and wind stopped. I stood in the rain for nearly 30 minutes holding on to the rope tied to a cleat on my bow and the waves were rocking the boat left and right banging all the while against the dock tot he side and almost turning sideways to get swamped. I could not tie it off as there were no cleats on the dock except further back from the ramp and I would have swamped there for sure if I was able to even tie off.
30 minutes of hell until the winds finally died down enough for me to tie off and get the boat loaded for home. I had 5" of water in the boat when I drained it on the ramp. Scared the living daylights having to putz back in with a 30 hp motor on a small jon boat. All the while I am standing there soaked thinking my boat is going to sink at the ramp on this lake tonight. Bummer.
I always check the weather even now BUT I have learned more about storm fronts and how not to misjudge them.

[akwidrush]

Well this is oh crap happend early May I had just bought my first yak and couldn't wait to put it in the water. Early morning my brother and I are getting ready to get in the water as soon as I got on the yak I felt something was wrong. But I was excited I just kept paddling I was trolling one line and throwing a lure on the another. The whole time I'm on the water I'm fighting to keep my balance I'm just swaying left to right and by this time I'm a good 250 ft from shore. I get my brothers attention to let him know my situatuon he tells just to stay as balanced as I can so I stay another 10 minutes in the water till it get near impossible for to keep my balance. I decide to paddle to shore and by the 3 paddle stroke I'm upside down unfortunately I lost 1 set up and a tackle box with hooks and weights. My brother noticed I had flipped and went to help I flipped the kayak over and couldn't get back on luckily I was in neck high water I'm about 6' tall. I was able to walk to island nearby trying to figure what was going on I open the center hatch to see if I do had taken any water and if so how much. I open the hatch and there is a ton of water so we decide to flip the kayak to let the water out and I notice a good 4 inch crack next to the scupper hole. At that moment it made sense why I was having a terrible time on the water. Was able to take most of tge water out padlle as fast as i could back to shore and drove stright to where I had gotten the kayak to get it replaced.

[richg99]

Lots of scary stories here.

As long as we aren't held to yak stories, I'll share one.

Some years ago I owned a 16ft El "Pescador. A true flats boat.

I was down South Texas on the coast someplace. Crossing the Intracoastal one day, I felt the steering cable give way. No steering... so I shut the motor down.

I dropped the trolling motor into place, and started a slow slog to the ramp.

Then, I noticed the barge string heading down the channel, right at me. He had come around a channel corner and was only a hundred yards or so away, moving at a pretty fast clip.

He couldn't steer out of the channel and my trolling motor wasn't moving me fast enough to avoid a deathly collision.

If it wasn't for a passing boat throwing me a line, I wouldn't be writing this post now.

I have more Oh Crap stories but I'll save them for later.

richg99

[jopa]

1) I was wade fishing near the bridge on Todville Rd. that covers the entrance into the lagoon. I was trying to get close the bridge as the current was ripping (ingoing) and the fish were biting right at the bridge. As I was trying to inch closer to the bridge, I stepped into a hole and was in water over my head. I had on waders, wading belt, bait bucket and stringer with a couple of trout. As I tried to get back to where I could touch bottom, I realized I was caught in the current and was heading toward going under the bridge. At first I freaked out (wrong move), but in a split second, I calmed myself and grabbed hold of my DO-Net..I was able to float and the eddy from the current turned me back to shallower water. Once I was able to get my footing, it took a couple of minutes for my adrenaline to go down.

2) I was wade fishing in a spot close the area mentioned above. I had caught 2 keeper trout and 2 keeper reds. They were all secure on my stringer. I was in the process of setting the hook in another keeper trout, and I felt something tugging at my waist. I looked back and noticed a small shark going to town on my stringer. Luckily I had it secured to my belt with a carboner ring...I jst grab it and released the whole stringer...and saw it dissapear, losing the fish on my line in the process.

3) I was fishing the kemah flats fishing live shrimp on the bottom. I got a hit and set the hook. Line started screaming and I thought I had hooked a decent red. After several runs, the catch started heading towards me. I was reeling in as fast as I could and still trying to keep tension on the line. As my catch got close, I realised what I thought was a red, was actually a decent sized sting ray. it was coming right at me. I reach for my pliers to cut the line, and NO PLIERS!!! Luckily I had the pliers on a small rope tied to my belt...they had just fell out of the pocket I normally had them in. By the time I roped in my pliers, the sting ray had come around behing me and was swimming in circle wrapping my lower body mummy style with my fishing line. RIght when I was thinking I was about to get the barb, I was abloe to locate my pliers and I snappend the line.

All 3 of the incidents happened within weeks of each other and that is what let me to buy my first kayak.

[Tombo]

1) I was wade fishing near the bridge on Todville Rd. that covers the entrance into the lagoon. I was trying to get close the bridge as the current was ripping (ingoing) and the fish were biting right at the bridge. As I was trying to inch closer to the bridge, I stepped into a hole and was in water over my head. I had on waders, wading belt, bait bucket and stringer with a couple of trout. As I tried to get back to where I could touch bottom, I realized I was caught in the current and was heading toward going under the bridge. At first I freaked out (wrong move), but in a split second, I calmed myself and grabbed hold of my DO-Net..I was able to float and the eddy from the current turned me back to shallower water. Once I was able to get my footing, it took a couple of minutes for my adrenaline to go down.

2) I was wade fishing in a spot close the area mentioned above. I had caught 2 keeper trout and 2 keeper reds. They were all secure on my stringer. I was in the process of setting the hook in another keeper trout, and I felt something tugging at my waist. I looked back and noticed a small shark going to town on my stringer. Luckily I had it secured to my belt with a carboner ring...I jst grab it and released the whole stringer...and saw it dissapear, losing the fish on my line in the process.

3) I was fishing the kemah flats fishing live shrimp on the bottom. I got a hit and set the hook. Line started screaming and I thought I had hooked a decent red. After several runs, the catch started heading towards me. I was reeling in as fast as I could and still trying to keep tension on the line. As my catch got close, I realised what I thought was a red, was actually a decent sized sting ray. it was coming right at me. I reach for my pliers to cut the line, and NO PLIERS!!! Luckily I had the pliers on a small rope tied to my belt...they had just fell out of the pocket I normally had them in. By the time I roped in my pliers, the sting ray had come around behing me and was swimming in circle wrapping my lower body mummy style with my fishing line. RIght when I was thinking I was about to get the barb, I was abloe to locate my pliers and I snappend the line.

All 3 of the incidents happened within weeks of each other and that is what let me to buy my first kayak.

Three reasons why I bought a kayak. Glad you are ok.

[Josh]

More embarrassing than anything but for years I have fished the Lighthouse Lakes area up until I was laid off from my job and had to move for a little while. During that time I sold my kayak and barely fished at all.

Fast forward to last year when I re-entered the kayak scene with the purchased of an OK Prowler and headed back to revisit my old stomping ground. I pulled up among half a dozen other yaks to the area where I would normally dismount, anchor and then wade and stuck my paddle in the mud. About 3'. I secured my paddle to the kayak and proceeded to dismount. Unbeknownst to me, I had drifted towards the channel a bit and when I slid off the side, I went straight over my head. lol

I realized that I looked like a complete noob and came up calmly and swam my kayak back to shallower water trying to play it off the whole time like it was intentional. I'm sure I'm not the only one to do that but it is awfully embarrassing when you know damn well everyone is watching you pull up and go through your routine.

[CaptJack]

forgot my paddles, twice
now i store them in the yak

[MobyYack]

forgot my paddles, twice
now i store them in the yak

i had one of m,ine stolen while buying bait at 61st st.

[CaptJack]

forgot my paddles, twice
now i store them in the yak

i had one of mine stolen while buying bait at 61st st.

mine are in their case,
and my yak has it's cover on it when it's on the car
they wouldn't know

when i say i forgot them
i left them in the garage

[cartooncatfish]

Taking a hardhead off the hook as I'd done thousands of times before I gave a sort of death squeeze to this particular specimen as he was quite lively and I had been catching nothing but them for hours while fishing with my wife and father in law...(stories regarding him insisting upon staying out while its lightning would disturb you.) When I went to throw this vermin upon the shore near the boat he had one last kick in him that drove his pectoral fin about an inch into the skin between my thumb and index finger on my left hand. Immediately the pain was so intense that I just froze...I sat back down in my seat saying nothing...sulking as you will...behind me I hear my father in law say..."thought you were throwing him on the bank?" I turned to reveal the fish hanging from my tender flesh. He and my wife suddenly became experts on the matter and gave what seemed like 100 ways to resolve my issue. I calmly asked for the pliers that luckily had cutters on them. I skillfully placed the cutter upon the base of the fin closest to the fish and squeezed. The fish fell free. Problem 1 solved...now to remove the barbed death pulsating in my throbbing hand. I asked now for a rag to bite down on and was granted my request. As I bit down, I saw their faces turn white with squeamishness as they realized what I was about to do...I grabbed the fin with all the surface area I could and yanked with the might of 10 grown men. The blood gushed profusely as the fin was ripped from my flesh. I placed the rag in my teeth upon the wound and held down pressure to stop the bleeding. By this time my father in law had hurled over the side of the boat and my wife was still shaken. They began pulling the anchor as I said "No...I'm not done fishing yet..." I picked up my rod and continued fishing while the pain was exponentially increasing. Despite their pleading to quit and seek medical attention I fished on...Wound up with 2 slot reds and a flounder shortly after. Finally the father in law stated that he couldn't watch me suffer any longer as it was ruining his fishing and we pulled anchor and headed for the dock. Being the fat boy I am, I suggested that we eat at Bubba's in Seadrift on our way home. I'm thankful I did because it was Bubba himself that shared the best wisdom I've heard regarding hardhead or stingray wounds. Vicks VapoRub...he had some on hand and I applied it to the wound that by this time was nearing the level of pain of being kicked in the testicles repeatedly. To my surprise, the pain subsided almost immediately, the strength came back in my hand and I was able to move it pain free within an hour or so. I continued to put the vicks on it when I got home and was able to thoroughly clean the wound. The next day...like it had never happened...no swelling...no pain...just a small hole where the fin had once resided...


There are many other stories of "Oh Crap!" but lets just say I come by username honestly...so those are completely avoidable yet sometimes hair raising instances...

nice call on the vics vapor rub...that needs to be a thread of it own....my dad will love that info

i have hear actually the slime from the catfish helps because when they fight they often poke each other and their slime helps it heal.

i have only heard about this working on hardheads though but it might work with gafftops,bullheads,channel cats,etc.

[FlyJack]

I've got one. Literally!

I lived in Southern California for many years (I am a native Texan!) We use to go fly fishing to this little tailwater creek called Piru Creek that fed out of Lake Pyramid, North of Los Angeles. To get there we would ride our bikes up this old abandoned highway along the creek bed, then a short hike to this large pool near the spillway, right off the dam. It was posted "No Trespassing" and "Caution, Bears". Who would of thought BEARS in the area. It was SOCAL (as the locals call it) for crying out loud! None the less we fished the area hard, mainly in the Winter & Spring for Native Southern Steelhead, basically Rainbow Trout. So there we were, wading the riffles & pools for Trout. No not Specs! Just plain Trout. We here this roar, very loud & very close & it makes the hair on the back of my neck stand UP. I glance over to my buddy & he is high tailing it up the boulders out of harms way (apparently you are supposed to run "up hill" if you encounter a nasty bear. These are are your standard Black Bears, still dangerous when provoked.) I now see the bear & its pissed, apparently we are depleating the Trout population. I then put it in high gear, did "an about face" and started to run, expensive flyrod in hand but before I knew it I had slipped on something nasty & steamy, flat on my back, cracked my flyrod in half! "Oh Crap" WTF! It was Bear CRAP I stepped on. Got up, composed myself, over my buddies laughter and continued to run away, never looking back.

That's my "Oh Crap" story.

Tight Lines

[Shellback89]

My buddy Andy and I decided to go for a little btb trip one Saturday. We drove down from College Station on Friday and camped on the beach. We both did our homework and kept an eye on the weather all week leading up to the trip. We woke up early Saturday morning and got our yaks packed and hit the water. The surf was building but nothing too concerning. Once we were beyond the breakers it was full steam ahead for about 30 minutes. This being our first "real" btb trip, we were amazed at the fish and sharks we were seeing on our way out. We finally made it to the rig that we intended to fish. At that point the wind had picked up more than predicted and the waves were building accordingly. Seeing those waves breaking against that rig gave me chills. I looked at Andy and asked, "what do you think?" He replied with, "to be honest, I don't feel too safe right now." We decided to head back to the beach. It was then that we realized we were in some trouble. The waves were cresting about 5 to 7 feet. Going into the waves, they would pick our boats up and then we would quickly slide down the back side. Andy and I got separated by about 50 yards. I looked back to make sure he was still there and saw his boat floating upside down. I paddled my ass off to get to him and luckily found him in the water holding onto his boat. He had managed to get it upright, but every time he attempted to pull himself up a wave would crash on him and toss him off. I helped him back up and we continued paddling. It took three hours to reach the beach and we were 5 miles from where we put in. Lessons learned; trust your instincts more than the weather forecast. If the weather looks like it could turn, don't go btb.

[JaimeInTexas]

An oldie but a goodie.

http://www.texaskayakfisherman.com/foru ... 1&t=186487" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[This_Side_Up]

As I read all the other "Oh Craps", I realized I had survived almost all of them at one time or another.

I will share two, not previously listed, because they are easy to duplicate and potentially dangerous.

1. I was fishing in a lagoon that had the remains of a barbed wire fence across it....well, naturally, with my laser like cast, I tried to see if there might be a flounder lurking close by. My lure had overshot the fence and I couldn't reel it back in. No biggee, I will just glide over and retrieve it. the lure had become a birdsnest with all my thrashing trying to retrieve it. I got it out from under the fence, threw it in the bottom of the yak, put the rod butt in the holder on my crate behind my seat. I leaned over to get my paddle. Then I feel the birdsnest dragging across my calf. The wind had decided to gust, blowing my yak away from the fence with my rod fixed and unreachable, the line was over the fence wire, so the yak was trying hard to set the hook in my leg. I grabbed the lure and managed to keep the barb from setting, so I thought I was good but then I felt the trailing hook dig into my palm...... It was touch and go for a moment it looked like I might have my hand cuffed to calf by a Spook with treble hooks. That would have been interesting since I was by myself, three miles from the truck, no body else around.....I don't know that I could paddle that far one handed with a breeze coming up. I got lucky and managed to reach around and find a line cutter in the bottom of my milk crate ( I must have looked like I was playing Twister all by myself...but didn't tip. If I had a knife handy, just cutting the line would have been an instant remedy....and that boy's and girl's is why I now carry a sheath knife fastened to the front of my vest. I look like a pirate when I go into the bait store, but I don't take that vest off until I am back in the truck headed home.

2. Fishing near the Ship Channel should be done with more caution than I originally gave it. I had decided that all the flounder had to hiding on the Bolivar side just North of the ferry, in all that jumble of rotten barges that are almost rusted to the waterline. Structure, that's the ticket. Well, I had almost been turtled by the bow wave from a light ship inbound on my blind quarter...but recovered, so I to avoid that nasty surprise, I decided to keep my bow facing the channel...so far so good....as I was easing into position for another of my laser accurate cast, I noticed I must have gotten a lot stronger since the yak was moving much faster than it should have........and then .... I saw the ship coming outbound down the channel, with the wave suction pulling me into the ragged steel of the rusted barge bulkhead. And to make it worse, enough water was being sucked into the channel that what I had paddled over before was now out of the water.....oh, crap, back paddle HARD......still couldn't stop her, so here I go in my nice shiny new yak being forced over the equivalent of a tetnus factory/industrial cheese grater. I really wondered if it might cut all the way through, and if I would be better taking to the water and fending off with my bootie clad feet. Luckily I didn't snap a spare rod or flip going through the bulkhead and was then able to go into Full Emergency Paddle Mode to the clear the barge before the stern wave put all that water back where it came from. The bow/stern wave could have easily dumped me in that jumble of rusted steel...be careful out there. I got away with some nasty gouges and one long peel of Tupperware scraped off the bottom.

[WolfpackRed]

Not a kayak story, but a fishing story involving my $600 power boat. Certain circumstances led to me purchase a Craigslist special and immediately put in on the water cause, if anything's going to happen, it's going to happen out there.

My son (14 at the time) and I decided to do some flounder gigging so we went out at night, found a convenient reef and parked the boat in about 6 inches of water. This was a small aluminum V-bottom, so I didn't worry too much about it scrapping the bottom as long as it didn't float off. We hopped out and begin walking around with a lantern and gigs. As we're walking, I slowly became aware that the tide was going out, but didn't really put things together real fast. A little later, I commented to the son that "boy, that tide's really going out fast" and still didn't think too much about it. Finally, I snapped and said "THE TIDE'S GOING OUT". We ran back to the boat and found it high and dry, with about 20 foot of sand and shell before getting to the water's edge. And that 20 foot was increasing by the minute. We sure didn't want to spend all night out there, so we grabbed the rear end of the boat and pulled for all we were worth. Each time we got near the water's edge, the tide would go out some more. My arms were burning, my legs felt like wet noodles, and still we kept pulling. Finally got the boat in enough water to float and powered out of the flats back to the channel. We were both too pooped to pop by this time, so gave up fishing and went back home. My arms and back hurt for days after. We still joke about it, but damned if I don't pay close attention to tide every time I beach a boat now.

New to TKF and was reading through these stories and can relate to most. Some are/could have been pretty serious but was reading this one and literally laughed out loud at the first part. I hope everyone enjoyed the Captain Ron reference as much as I did. I highly recommend that movie to anyone, young or old.

[richg99]

It would be nice if some of the funnier stories, and a few of the dangerous ones, weren't in my life story already.

You guys been reading my diary ?? ( which I do not have )
Ha Ha....richg99