Crazy experiences

[CarsonNash]

I recently saw a thread similar to this on THT, and thought it would be entertaining to start one here. Kayak fishing season is about to kick into high gear and that means so is power boating. I figure just about everyone here has spent enough time on the water to have experienced some crazy/stupid/dangerous moments. I fish from a powerboat as well, so I know just as well as anybody the importance of situational awareness and common sense. But as we all know, many lack those skills. I would like to hear the one thing that sticks out in your memory the most, no matter what it is. I'll start.

Last summer, a massive thunderstorm was brewing and I made my way home before the rain began. Sitting at my dining room table, looking out over the Severn river, I saw a gradywhite 29 WA heading upriver. Near marker red #7 (I believe) they cut off the channel by about 100 feet and slammed into a sandbar doing 30kts. The trim on the OB gave way and the engine flew out of the water, still in gear. After shutting down the engine, multiple guys and girls got out of the boat and tried to push it off the sandbar... When that didn't work they resorted to shooting flares. Keep in mind they were doing all thing in a steadily increasing rain w/ lighting and thunder. When the storm passed I went out to make sure they were not in need of help, but they had already call a towboat. I have plenty of stories, but that ones sticks out the most.

[YakMan1731]

This is a fun idea. I have one from when I was little, fishing with my dad on a pond in Vermont. I grew up near Quechee, Vermont, where there is a massive hot-air balloon festival every summer. It's unreal to see them floating all together. The same Saturday of the festival, my dad and I were fishing a local pond from our canoe. The sun was setting and the balloons had been floating over the top of us all evening. It was quite a sight.

A low, thick fog rolled in as it got darker. As my dad and I were enjoying the pre-dark largemouth bite, we started to hear a commotion...in the sky. And then on the shore. There was some shouting back and forth, and it sounded strained and scared, so my dad and I stopped fishing and listened. This particular pond is separated from a nearby river by a thin strip of tree-less grass, and as we listened we realized that the sound above us was a hot air balloon pilot, and the fog was preventing him from spotting and landing on the strip of grass between the pond and the river.

No one knew we were on the pond, but we could tell these guys were getting nervous since darkness was coming. We paddled to shore and shouted out to the landing crew, asking if they needed help. They happily accepted. So we paddled into the pond near the balloon, using their voice to make sure we were underneath them. When we were, they tossed down a long rope, and we grabbed it. We basically used the rope as a leash, they maneuvered the balloon in the direction we pulled the rope, and we guided them to shore. Once we passed the rope off to the folks on shore, the crew held it vertically, and the balloon essentially followed the straight line of the rope down to the grass. The pilot was really grateful and really stressed. He gave us a bottle of champagne to say thank you. I was only probably 14 at the time so we didn't open it. My dad stored the champagne in our basement refrigerator until I was 22, when my dad, a high school football coach, and my younger brother, a senior at the time, won the D1 state championship in overtime on 4th and inches. It sounds like a movie plot or something. That night my dad busted open that champagne bottle and we finally got to taste it. Easily my most memorable fishing experience.

[Mark]

Matt,

Great story.

It's a rare fishing experience indeed when your biggest catch of the day occurred above the pond.