How many times have you made a simple but often embarrassing mistake whilst out fishing with your mates? Best case scenario is that no one notices and you get away with it. Worst case is that it finds its way on to the Codmac site, into the almost fishing legends thread. Here, it will be shared amongst other fishos who no doubt have similar stories of woe.
A local bloke and very keen angler who will be known only as Huleo had recently got into lure fishing. While he had managed to land a few nice cod he had also managed to snag and lose several lures in the process. After some timely advice, he went out and purchased a tackle back and was delighted with its ingenuity when it came to saving lures. How good was this just drop it down, knock the lure off then wind it in? Bloody marvellous.
One thing did puzzle Huleo though, and that was the significance of the small half moon loop on the top of the lure retriever at the opposite end to the chains, surely it had a purpose. Not to worry… five snags, five saves, it was obviously of little importance. Next trip out, first snag of the day and the tackle back was sent on its way down the line. Clunk…. the lure stayed firm. It’s amazing how quickly the penny drops as in that instant the significance of the small half moon loop fell into place. Yep, that’s where the string goes to pull the retriever back if the lure cannot be de-snagged.
Well done on the almost fishing legends play of the day Huleo. You are now in the running for the legends pack that will include a $200 selection of Codmac signature fishing tackle.
Huleo, the half ring on the top is to attach the retrieval string mate. Great effort.
Feel free to send in your almost fishing legend yarn and photos if you have them and be in the running for the prize drawn on the 29th Aug 2009.
Gday All,
I have a few quick stories to add.
Two friends from work and myself, fishing all day in heat of summer, two FRIENDS constantly reminding me of how cold the cans were compared to my water ( designated driver ), pull boat into the bank right on dark, bright stick number one decides to jump in and pull boat up when 3 ft short of bank, problem was depth 16ft, phone, wallet confidence gone instantly, friend number two laughing so much tripped on bow mount shaft, did perfect backflip into 21ft of water. Only person left dry and laughing was the poor old water drinking me.
Another workmate bought some jackals and yet was too concerned about using them in snaggy areas due to the replacement cost. Fished local river and he selected a spot that he had fished previously and was confident he could use his jackal with no chance of a snag up. FIRST CAST straight up in the air snagged in redgum tree 20ft above his head…one less precious jackal.
More workmates fishing, 3 in a 12ft ” V ” hull tinny, one decided needed a call of nature but wanted to go behind a tree, he was advised to sit still whilst they motored into shore to grant his wishes. when 10 ft short of the bank he just stood up and quickly strode from back of boat to the tip of the bow, yep you guessed it, he stood off centre and tinny rolled like a beach ball emptying all 3 Danglers, rods, tackle and extras into the drink.
Workmates once again, called into tackle store on way to river and purchased a set of lip grips that had been on his wish list for months, arrived at river and not long after hooked a small cod, great excuse to use lip grips, well he soon learnt what the wrist strap is for and lost his new grips.
Personal oops days,
Smokes in loose top pocket of shirt, leant forward, plonk smokes and lighter in the drink, never mind have another pkt in tackle box, take out of tackle box, put back in top pocket, lean over edge of boat to retrieve lighter..plonk new pkt smokes into the drink…its not that bad have another pkt back at car, motor back to ramp, run up to car and grab smokes, bolt back down to boat cursing myself for such stupidity. Throw smokes into bottom of boat along with statement to friends ” Lets see those smokes get ruined “. Well pushed boat off from ramp, lept over the bow of boat and landed fair on top of my last reserve pkt of smokes..Racken Fracken.
Purchased two new custom made braid buster rods and had them stored in my shed, loving wife comes into shed and bumps the rods which fall over ( Dangnammit woman there not toys …please be more careful..came out like @#$%% #$%^& &* @#%& Woman ). Wife stormed out of shed, I picked rods up told her now storing them safe and sound inside the house, took two strides along shed, both rod tips went into gap between shed rafter and roof…SNAP… Two new rods now minus tips and 20cm of their length….bugger
Plenty more but thats enough for now.
Steve
Very funny Steve, I’d prefer not to catch you or your mates any where near my boat or fishing tackle. Have you considered fishing in a straight jacket?
Straight jacket or not, I reckon my catch rate would be about the same. Just a lot less entertaining.
LOL
Oh no .. SMH your sounding like Bill Dance 
(search for the name on youtube for some really funny videos 
I had one not long ago, cast out and the lure kept going, braid and leader just parted, I was busted by a mate doing it too, how embarrassing!
note to self: always check your knots.
Some Good storys fella’s.
The old tackle back can bring you undone petty quick, I’ve ended up on me ass a couple times when the split rings let go after the lure has been snaged in a cray net, and been a man over board one time in total, this time it was the kids fault, Well sort of.
Fishing the fast water I got a Lure snagged in Cray net, with electric motor keeping me in position I was standing on the gunnel of the boat (why I don’t know), Putting heaps back into trying to pull the trebles out of the net, The kids were sitting on the opposite gunnle feet dangling in the water, The youngest thought it would be a good idea to push the oldest in the drink, her weight leaving the boat combind with my weight pulling down on the tackle back tipped me over the side, So I’ve got a kid floating down stream screaming, the boat has been turned side on to the current so the other kid (still in boat) is heading towards the opposite bank under eletric power screaming, Me In the drink trying to work out what just happend ??
After a couple seconds I realised I couldn’t swim with a fishing rod in hand and let it go, assessed the situation, kid in boat was safely stuck in the mud on the bank (Still Screaming), I’m yelling instructions to kid in water to swim towards the bank (she couldn’t hear me over the screaming) As luck would have it a wake boat came around the corner, picked her up and brought her back to us, Me, No way I’m getting in a wake boat so quick swim to the side of river the boat was on and short walk uptsream to the still screaming kid.
How fast can things can go wrong, lucky the Kids had life jackets on, Maybe I should have too ? We all learned a lesson that day.
Cheers.
PS Got fishing Rod back in three casts using a deep bibed 90mm AC invader, pretty happy about that.
Funny afterwards mate but a liitle scary at the time. Good to see the kids in jackets or you could have had an almost fishing tradgety. Who would have thought you would be glad to see a wake boat.
That Right Rod, It’s good to be able to look back and laugh.
I learn’t another lesson a couple days after that one, New boat screeming up the river like a yobbo (doing about 55kmh) and me hat which was laying on the floor of the boat trys to escape, quick reflex I let got of the tiller arm to catch the hat mid flight, silly mistake, boat turns full lock to the right at full speed, lucky the g-force slid me off the seat and my ass hit the kill button, snapped the key off, had bruised ass cheek and dented pride, I wouldn’t have been so bad but it all unfolded in front of a mate and his missus.
Cheers.
A couple years back at a fishing a Comp, we found ourselves sharing the same trolling run with many others over the course of the day, slight direction adjustments had to be made so as not to have a slow moving head on collision with on comming trollers, a short time after pasting one boat heading in the opposite direction I had my first fish of the day, I said to the fishing partner this feels a little funny, thier was no hit but the weight was becoming greater by the second, then the head shakes started, as i was trying to wind in this monster I hear the young fella in the other boat yell out “I’m On” Hmm,Bugger!, what we both though was a fish, was in fact each other in a tug of war because our Lure had become one somewhere in the middle.
That was the only thing that come close to a fish all day.
Cheers.
Not to be out done, I would like to share one of my own embarrassing little moments. Having just received a few packets of soft plastic yabbies in the mail, a quick trip to the local redfin dam seemed in order. As I tied one on, they certainly looked the goods and on the very first cast it was hit hard by what seemed a sizable redfin. As I wound the line, the fish let go, then another grabbed it and it too let go. This went on for several more casts, sure the fish were keen on these plastic yabbies but they had a very poor hook-up rate. On closer inspection the answer was revealed, the tip of the hook was covered by a small red plastic hook guard. Of course, once removed, it made hooking the fish a lot easier. Funny how we all seem to get caught out, needless to say after that I always check the hooks on new soft plastics before they hit the water.
Hi guys a little trip i had that went wrong decided to take a monday off work for a fish left home at 530am so as to get on the water nice and early. Got to the river and proceeded to back boat in through a cutting in the bank got the boat in then realised it was a bit to steep to get the ute back up after countless attempts i decided it would be better to reverse the ute back further to get a run up in doing this i left the drivers door open so i could look to make sure i didnt hit the side of the bank which wasnt a good idea because the corner of the door got wedged into the bank and i couldnt go forwards or back. digging in the hard clayfor an hour with a screwdriver and a pair of pliers didnt help to get the door out so i started walking to find a farmer (which i found after 2 Km of walking) who towed us out. after all this and still wanting to fish we decided to take the 45min drive to a ramp which i knew i could put in easily. we managed to get the boat in without any troubles and were heading of down the river when i realised i left something in the ute. Back to the boat ramp and we could not find the ute keys anywhere. we searched the boat and tipped all our gear upside down for no reward and made sure they were not locked in the ute. i figured they must of fell out of my pocket when i got into the boat so in to the water i went up to my waste in water sifting through the mud with my hands and feet after half an hour or so i found the keys in the mud on the bottom of the river got them out and the central locking still worked so we decided it would probly be in our best interest to head for home FISHLESS
Wooey, ya should have went fishing after all that. After all you can only have so much bad luck in one day.
I thought I could share a story that I thought was “GOLD”. This was passed on to me by the mother of 3 boys from Narrandera, she was rather embarresed but also quiet proud of their thoughtfulness.
It all started when the 3 boys (ultra mad fisho’s) aged 16, 15 & 13 decided they wanted to go fishing over the school holidays. The problem was mum was at work, dad was out of town and they had no one to take them. They come up with the briliant idea “Why not call the local taxi?”. Lucky for them it had a tow bar so they were set. The amusing part of the story was after hooking up the boat they had to direct the taxi driver to go via mum’s work to get some money to pay the fair! To top it off, the taxi driver was a lady who had never backed a race horse let alone a boat. It was left up to the oldest boy Jack to back the boat in. The trailer was left at the ramp and the taxi booked for later in the day for the trip home.
Now days it’s a common site around Narrandera to see the local taxi with a boat hitched up behind with a car load of kids. For around $7.00 I recon this is great value!! Well done to the Simpson boys!!
Cheers TB
Tony you are right, that story is “GOLD”.
I thought I’d quickly relate this “almost” story from the 60s.
It was a Sunday arvo at a place up the ‘Bidgee from Hay where I was shearing. The boys were in town on the piss. In sheds on the river, I usually stayed at the huts and fished and shot pigs.
I’d been casting a tandem #6 Celta – used to gang them up – at a midstream snag that was wedged into a section of scoured bottom. The water had a run and had a nice greenish tint.
Just about to give it away and there was a hit that nearly yanked the rod from my hands. It didn’t connect, the spreading swirl was the size of a pool table. It didn’t come back for seconds,
and I stayed awake a bit that night thinking….
Before sunup next morning I was back there casting. It was chilly, I can remember the frost penetrating through the soles of my “bags”. After a few casts I tried another angle, lure coming
from upstream and had to crank a bit faster to maintain the blades spinning.
There was no mistake…dead stop…a coupla shakes than a charge. That’s the way it was back in mono days…Jarvis Walker Black Queen 2pc seven foot spin and Mitchell 300 spinning reel.
After a see-sawing stoush I’ve got it near the top but not quite beaten. I noticed the sheerish bank was a bit skatey as i crabbed down to get a handhold. It turned out to be worse, Arse over head I goes. When I emerged you couldn’t have swiped a credit card between the cheeks of my arse but I had the fish. The rod was Christ knows where, the line had broken.
In the distance I heard to engine start up. .By the time I got back to the shed everyone had a couple of sheep in their count out pens. The contractor was doing the grinding when i came in.
He was a prick. “Get your gear, I’ll have your check made out” Fair enough.
My pen mate was the union rep and when I told him I’s been tramped and started packing up my combs and cutters his response was “Pig’s arse” and called a swarm.
I’d not had a lot of time for the AWU but the boys brokered a deal with the contractor that saw me re-instated on the proviso there’d be no fishing during the working week.
It went a neat half a hundredweight on the wool room platform scales. the cook cut it into cutlers that were friend in big black frypans filled with mutton fat. Ugggg….back then everyone gutsed it down……the best eating fish are yellowbelly from the channel country. It was about the last greenfish I killed.
PS Pls don’t consider my amateur account for any competition.
It’s an experience I’ve recorded for a book I’m working on.
Great site, Rod.
Great yarn Harro, takes me back to a time where the smell of lanolin and the buzz of the handpiece bore sweat to the brow, tough life but good if you could hack it. Swarm…. now there’s a term I haven’t heard in a while, the course of a day could be dictated by such a gathering and most often was. Would love to have seen that spill mate, theres something very ungraceful about a grown man head to toeing it down a river bank, never mind you came up with the goods. I would gladly have swapped a runs wages to see the look on the contractors face when you swaggered in toting a 50lb cod. Plenty of opportunity back then to both fish and shoot in some fairly rugged back block country. A chance to revisit some of those early days with new found knowledge would see the rod loaded more often I think. Thank you for your comment about the site Harro, hopefully we are going in the right direction.
On a trip a few months back (some will remember it) I was fishing with a mate when I got a spinnerbait that I’d be trolling snagged, so out with the pole extended it and proceeded to throw it down the line in a bid to desnag it, only problem was I forgot to get a good grip on the pole so consequently watched it disappear in to the 14 foot water BUGGER
I’ve then looked up to see some mates in another boat roaring with laughter and pointing at us when I’ve turned around my mate was found to have his lure snagged as well problem was his was 15 feet above us in a tree Hmmm no pole so out with the tackle back with instructions to toss it over the branch and pull the branch down towards us while i continued to try and de snag my SB and hopefully drag the pole back up with it.
More laughter from the peanut gallery and swearing from the front of the boat UH OH now what! The cord and the tackle back had parted company and my 2nd lure retriever was now sailing half way out into the river BUGGER BUGGER BUGGER. I give my snagged lure 1 more try and it also parted company leaving me with 1 more option to regain some dignity you guessed it I stripped off to my jocks and went for a swim, thinking back later I should of tried this approach before I snapped the line as I had not a hope of finding the pole in the murky depths. LOL
Anyway that ended my days fishing so back to camp to drown my sorrows Cold wet and $80 bucks lighter in the back pocket all because of a $10 SB.
P.S I don’t recommend swimming in snaggy areas.