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Share some of your hard earned lessons.  You know, forgetting to plug the boat in and the batteries were day on tourney/fishing morning.  Forgetting the drain plug, ouch!  Maybe not hitting the recirc button until it's too late. 

 

I'll start.

 

You may know where Eau Claire,  Chippewa Falls, or Wissota, WI is, just think KVD winning a tournament on Wissots with 12 lbs, in '05.  Well, I had a big tournament at the same venue in '06.  I arrived 3 days before the start of a 2-day tournament and it was 80F and we were rockin' 14-15 lb bags of smallies, in practice.  I was sure that this was my year to win a big tournament with 75 boats (not sure how many, it was a long time ago) because we had a better weight average than KVD did.  It was a lock to win, but here comes the Lesson!  It was early Fall and it was still very nice warm temps. 

 

Well, each day it dropped a few degrees and by Saturday morning, it was sleeting and plain miserable  It felt so cold outside, and it was, but it was worse because it was the first cold snap of the year.  Well, the first tournament day was a bust!!  We caught just 3 keepers and were devastated, fully deflated.  We went from cloud 9 with what we thought were big bags, to having 3 smallies that may have weighed 8 lbs, or so.  As we motored back to weigh-in, we decided we had wasted all this time and decided to toss the fish in the water and leave. lol.  I laugh now but was crying later that day.  We released the fish, loaded the boat, and left for home, in full disgust. 

 

On the way home, we get a phone call from buddies still at the tournament asking what happened to us.  We told them our story and one by one, each buddy told us that our 3 fish weighing 8 lbs would have put us in the top ten.  The leading bag was big, yes, but we could have easily been in it still.  This is about the time I looked at my partner and he at me, and what lesson do you think we just learned?  

 

Never toss your fish back when in a tournament!!!

 

FL   

My son purchased an older fiberglass boat. We got the motor running. He purchased the boat so he could take me fishing. He's a good son. We launch the boat in the springtime after the winter. The motor won't start. All of a sudden there's water inside the boat. He tells me there's a crack in the center beam of the boat in the glass. "Great" while still at the launch I got out of the boat. I repaired the crack at home.

 

The missing plug is another trip.

 

I realize my tackle boxes filled with hundreds of dollars worth of lures needs insurance and life preservers.

 

Lessons learned?  Fish from shore it's safer.

Treble hooks hurt going in. They hurt more coming out. They hurt the most when being surgically removed in an ER from the side of your neck. 

 

Lesson learned? Hit the deck when a squarebill is flying at you instead of trying to Matrix dodge the 100 mph bait flying at you. . . 

 

On a less painful note, I now check the drain plug every time I launch.

 

On a humiliating note, never try to pull an anchor from a snag by motoring forward when the anchor is tied to the rear cleat, nearly sunk the boat on that one. . . 

Never leave biting fish!!!

BigBill    Funny story, but sad a the same time.  And yes, a good son!

 

 

 

Fadetoblack   Ouch, the neck has such delicate skin!  And love the Rush quite, long time fan.  Saw them this Summer again.

 

Thanks for sharing your lessons, gents!

 

FL

Never leave biting fish!!!

How true, how true. 

The plug, well once, and I do check it every time -- NOW!

never leave biting fish - learned that one too!

Always take off your boat / trailer straps- That's my opps! Pulled that one last summer, couldn't figure out why the boat was floating off to one side then the other? The trailer was to! Man was I glad nobody was around then.

Actually just discussed this at the office today!

 

I made the mistake of not buying a bass boat before I got married.  Now, I've got a wife and baby at home, and another on the way.  I can't justify spending $$$ on a bass boat, even though it's the one THING I want more than anything else.  Instead, I fish (sometimes, competitively) out of the world's most modded-out, okie-rigged, goofy looking pontoon boat. 

 

Lesson learned (for all you young whipper-snappers): Get everything you want while your single, because if you're blessed like me, you'll end up being the least important person in the house.

Always leave the house with a fresh pair of underwear

Never trust the brown fish! If there are good numbers of both in the lake go and catch your limit of LM and try to catch the smallies after. I've fished in two tournaments that I had found really good numbers of quality smallmouth prefishing and went in thinking I was going to catch them only to have them pull a disappearing act that they are so well known for. If that's all that's in the lake or if there's a lot fewer LM then that's different, but if they're roughly equal I suggest you gun for the LM first.

If your partner says "yeah, I packed that" or "already done", check anyway. Chances are that they never did! In the same day I made it to the lake without locking my coupler and made my trailer float in the water (still attached to the boat)!

I know NOT to tell my girlfriend about the new rod and reel.  She's never as excited as I am!

Oh and I now always check the brakes and spool tension before lobbing anything into the air!

As soon as you lay your entry fee on the table all your honey holes will dry up!

Travis, you have a valid point. I was allowed to buy 1 new rod this year. For all intensive purposes 1=8. So glad we don't have a joint bank account!

I've fished have a life time and caught some nice fish, always hoped to do better.

 

I started going to places with bigger fish.

 

Did better.

 

 I now agree with Woody Allen.

 

"Eighty percent of success is showing up."

 

A-Jay

No matter how much you know, you will still make mistakes. I fished a tourney with a guy who had 10+ years of tournament experience under his belt. And he forgot the plug when we launched! Which leads me to the next point, never give up. We were about an hour late to launch all told, and went on to win. I ended up catching my pb smallmouth at 8lbs.

good topic, lots of great responses.

 

I have a couple... Pull your prop to check for fishing line as often as you can. Lower units are expensive, and if you have an older outboard like mine may take the entire spawn a prespawn to find one that fits.

 

When connecting your batteries, triple check that your hots are on hots and your grounds are on grounds. Made this mistake after owning a boat for three years, very stupid but easier mistake to make when you have many wires and three+ batteries. Boat caught on fire while in the garage, entire electrical system burnt up, took me a month to take apart the boat, rewire and put back together. Very lucky I came out into the garage while it was burning up. A tip on this, if all your wires are black, like mine were, go ahead an put some red shrink tubing on the hots.

Always use protection

Always use protection

 

Yeah you don't want to have 2 baby mommas!! Trust me!!

Don't forget to raise your motor after lowering it to drain. Plays heck on your skeg when backing.

Don't forget the coffee can to keep your toilet paper dry. Oh brother!!!

Always use protection

Absolutely.

 

Having a young child at home and sick pregnant wife currently... Lets just say I had 110 days on the water in 2012 (no kids), only 44 days on the water last year (1 kid). This year I will be grateful to get 40 days.

double check your knots when lobbing 1/2 ounce rattletraps i had one come loose and smack the back of my head i actually had to sit down to stop the lake from spinning and then had my buddy take the hooks out of my scalp while he busting a gut laughing

check the weather for major storm fronts with tornados likely.