Failing. We’ve all done it at some point or another. When we go fishing, there are plenty of things that can go wrong, and much of the risk lies before you even put your boat in the water.
Trailering mishaps happen all the time, from blown tires to flaming hub bearings to the occasional boat leaving the trailer when water isn’t nearby.
We put a call out on the B.A.S.S. Facebook page for subscribers to share with us their most memorable fails. Here are a few of the ones they sent:
“After a heavy rain and wind storm, a 20-foot pine tree fell right on the bow of my 1984 ranger. Not wanting to put too much into it to get it fixed, I was able to put it back together.” – Charles Ross
“I was on Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Arkansas, between highway 64 and the railroad, running 73 mph. In between these two bridges is a straight lane, probably 100 yards wide. There is a ditch on the highway 64 side of the lane that has about 8 to 10 feet of water on. I was roughly four car lanes away from the road when my boat, out of nowhere, wanted to go to the left!
Because of the adrenaline rush, the rest of the event was very similar to a dream, but I can tell you what I remember: when the boat turned left, I slammed into the throttle and, in what seemed like the very same motion, I jerked it into neutral. All I remember is seeing rock, guard rail, and cars. We were lucky: just before hitting the dike, the boat slowed down enough for the nose of the boat to rise, causing the bulk of the impact to be on the bottom of the hull, slamming us down into the seats instead of out into highway 64.
When we finally stopped, we both looked at each other and made sure there was no blood coming from anywhere, then we climbed out of the boat. A few cars on the highway saw the entire accident and were stopping to check on us (and to take pictures, of course; it’s not everyday you see a boat hung up 20 feet out of the water on a guard rail next to a major highway!)
I knew I was stuck for a while because the “U” bolt at the nose of the boat was hung up on the other side of the guard rail. I mean, how are you supposed to get that off of there? As fishermen, we are self-proclaimed MacGyvers but sheesh!
I called a friend of mine and he came over, hooked on to the back while my awesome co-boater took a log and pried me off the guardrail, dragging my $60k rig back down the extremely jagged rocks. Let me tell you, that hurt!
After jumping in the boat, I started checking the steering. I was sure something had broken but nope, all was fine! It fired right up; I had no water to pump out, no leaks, nothing at all was wrong. (And that’s why you buy a Ranger!)
At this point, I was extremely confused as to what happened, but we went right back to fishing and I never had to turn on the bilge the rest of the day. Zero leaks after smashing into a rock dike at an estimated 40 mph!
I never found out what actually happened, but the total damage was roughly $10,000!” – Cody Kemp
“Traveling back to Indiana from Arkansas, I lost control while swerving to miss a semi that was crossing the center lane. We turned sideways and the trailer rims folded, launching the boat 15 feet into the air. It flipped multiple times, taking out a highway sign before landing in middle of the road just southwest of St. Louis, Missouri.” – Todd Schmitz
“My husband and I drove for 6 hours through the night from South Carolina to Lake Toho in Florida just to get there right before sunrise, only to have someone hit our engine going down the interstate less than 20 minutes from the lake! We spent the rest of our vacation bank fishing!” – Karen Matthews
Stay tuned for more “Fails from the Trail!”
Do you have a fail worth sharing? Send a photo or two along with a story about what happened to tallen@bassmaster.com with the subject line Epic Fail.