Most embarrassing fishing related blunders

[Chris Shelton]

I thought I would rather start a new thread, as this is not exactly the kind of thing that belongs in a 'hunting trout' thread.

I arrived at Neil's place at 9am yesterday to begin our rod building together. Neil had already prepped his rod and was about half way through meticulously attaching the snake-eyes when I arrived. I set about marking out the spacings on my blanks and joined him at the work bench. I watched him attach an eye on his rod and then set about doing my own. My first attempt was a success and I was very chuffed with myself, and proceeded with the next eye, taking my time and double checking every now and again to see that my line ups were still true, meticulously winding the thread with even tension, one next to the other, one turn at a time. This took some time, but I was making good progress.

The process is easy enough but can be painstaking if a better than factory finish is desired,and this is exactly what we were both trying to achieve, so we were really taking our time about things.

There came a point where Neil had epoxied his cork handle and matching reel seat in place and was ready to colour seal his thread windings, so he moved to another work station, where his rotisserie device was rigged and ready to go. At that point, a mate (Gary) arrived and joined us to see how things were going. The arrival was a good enough reason for a welcome coffee break.

I first finished the windings on the eye I was busy with before grabbing my cup. A few minutes later, Neil set to work again. His rod was rotating nice and slowly in the rotisserie device and he was busy coating the third eye when I aproached for a close inspection. Both Neil and Gary were in a crouched position over the rod and obscuring my view, so, not wanting to be left out of the action, I decided to move around the work station for a closer look myself.

Whilst negotiating my way around the business end, where the rotisserie motor was, my eyes all the while on the process at hand, I tripped over the short plug lead of the motor. The next thing, the whole damn thing came down off the table, followed by the rod, which came up and over, in a 180 degree arc over my head. My coffee that I had only half finished, went up in the air, and all over the floor at the same time.

Now Neil is not a guy who swears much, but the rod was still at about the 90 degree straight up position in it's mid flight path when an expletive of note erupted, but it was drowned out by an even greater expletive from me.

What a blunder! I am not a clumsy sort of person, but I just didn't see the damn cord. I was too busy trying to see around them.

Neil was pretty calm though, after the initial shock that is, but I couldn't stop apologizing. Damn, I felt like such an @rse.

Worse was still to come, after the initial inspection, all seemed fine, and whilst I mopped the floor, Neil re-attached the rod in the rotisserie's device, and recommenced coating the thread. At the point, Gary noticed something on the reel seat.......my worse fear confirmed, a crack in the seat where it had been ripped out of the device! I just stood in shocked silence for a while. I could have just dived under the table and died a thousand deaths at that point.

Neil was extremely calm, I must say. Maybe he was also in shock, but he handled the situation in a very good natured fashion, true to his character, and immediately set about finding a solution to the problem. Basically the crack was around the foot of the real seat, around the edge of the bottom cap. He didnt seem too perturbed by this and managed to re-seat it with a fresh lot of epoxy in the crack and more in the base of the cap, where it touches the blank. The end result looks perfect, and if you didnt know this had happened, you would not be able to tell the difference.

I still feel like such a idiot though. Once again, SORRY Boet!! :o :o :o

[Mayfly]

ROFL!! Sorry but as I read the story, all I could picture was Neils Aviatar with a few choice words coming from his mouth. :D

The two of you must be really good mates!!! :) Otherwise I'm sure the cops would have been involved with a crime scene! :p

My condolences Neil! Chris shouldn't you offer your rod to Neil??? :D

[KevinE]

Hell Chris, you are going through some tough times, I know you say you are not clumsy, but one weekend you pierce your son's ear with a hook and the next you break a buddy's new rod.

Who wants to go fishing with Chris next weekend ;)

[Chris Shelton]

hehehe....Neil has already backed out.....says he has some business committments. Any other takers? :D

[MaXiMuM]

My condolences Neil! Chris shouldn't you offer your rod to Neil??? :D

Now that would be a true gentlemanly gesture…

[Chris Shelton]

ROFL!! Sorry but as I read the story, all I could picture was Neils Aviatar with a few choice words coming from his mouth. :D

The two of you must be really good mates!!! :) Otherwise I'm sure the cops would have been involved with a crime scene! :p

My condolences Neil! Chris shouldn't you offer your rod to Neil??? :D

Truth be told, I did offer Mayfly. It was the very first thought that entered my mind, and my insistance came immediately thereafter. I would have done anything or given anything for the whole thing to just go away. Neil would hear none of it though.

Anyway, I am pleased to announce that the outcome was a good one. Our rods are finished, the first two 000's in South Africa. We have both had a few casts to the snails on Neil's lawn, and they cast like a dream, albeit a bit quicker than I thought they would be. You quick rod fanatics will really enjoy this little rod.

[Fario]

I thought I would rather start a new thread, as this is not exactly the kind of thing that belongs in a 'hunting trout' thread.

I arrived at Neil's place at 9am yesterday to begin our rod building together. Neil had already prepped his rod and was about half way through meticulously attaching the snake-eyes when I arrived. I set about marking out the spacings on my blanks and joined him at the work bench. I watched him attach an eye on his rod and then set about doing my own. My first attempt was a success and I was very chuffed with myself, and proceeded with the next eye, taking my time and double checking every now and again to see that my line ups were still true, meticulously winding the thread with even tension, one next to the other, one turn at a time. This took some time, but I was making good progress.

The process is easy enough but can be painstaking if a better than factory finish is desired,and this is exactly what we were both trying to achieve, so we were really taking our time about things.

There came a point where Neil had epoxied his cork handle and matching reel seat in place and was ready to colour seal his thread windings, so he moved to another work station, where his rotisserie device was rigged and ready to go. At that point, a mate (Gary) arrived and joined us to see how things were going. The arrival was a good enough reason for a welcome coffee break.

I first finished the windings on the eye I was busy with before grabbing my cup. A few minutes later, Neil set to work again. His rod was rotating nice and slowly in the rotisserie device and he was busy coating the third eye when I aproached for a close inspection. Both Neil and Gary were in a crouched position over the rod and obscuring my view, so, not wanting to be left out of the action, I decided to move around the work station for a closer look myself.

Whilst negotiating my way around the business end, where the rotisserie motor was, my eyes all the while on the process at hand, I tripped over the short plug lead of the motor. The next thing, the whole damn thing came down off the table, followed by the rod, which came up and over, in a 180 degree arc over my head. My coffee that I had only half finished, went up in the air, and all over the floor at the same time.

Now Neil is not a guy who swears much, but the rod was still at about the 90 degree straight up position in it's mid flight path when an expletive of note erupted, but it was drowned out by an even greater expletive from me.

What a blunder! I am not a clumsy sort of person, but I just didn't see the damn cord. I was too busy trying to see around them.

Neil was pretty calm though, after the initial shock that is, but I couldn't stop apologizing. Damn, I felt like such an @rse.

Worse was still to come, after the initial inspection, all seemed fine, and whilst I mopped the floor, Neil re-attached the rod in the rotisserie's device, and recommenced coating the thread. At the point, Gary noticed something on the reel seat.......my worse fear confirmed, a crack in the seat where it had been ripped out of the device! I just stood in shocked silence for a while. I could have just dived under the table and died a thousand deaths at that point.

Neil was extremely calm, I must say. Maybe he was also in shock, but he handled the situation in a very good natured fashion, true to his character, and immediately set about finding a solution to the problem. Basically the crack was around the foot of the real seat, around the edge of the bottom cap. He didnt seem too perturbed by this and managed to re-seat it with a fresh lot of epoxy in the crack and more in the base of the cap, where it touches the blank. The end result looks perfect, and if you didnt know this had happened, you would not be able to tell the difference.

I still feel like such a idiot though. Once again, SORRY Boet!! :o :o :o

Ha ha ha. From now I'm going to call you Homer Simpson. So, Homer, it was a Saturday and you chose not to go fishing but instead to mess around with trying to be a rodbuilder. What's the excuse this time?

I thought you would be pleased to know that we've finished the movie in Montana and I'm off for a bit of R & R in Alaska. One of my buds, also a stuntman, has been invited to go bow hunting for bear in the backcountry. He's asked me along as he's heard that I'm a expert bow hunter as well. So I doubt if I'll be around for awhile.

Try and get some fishing done and remember our little challenge on the Witels. I'm trying to get a camerman friend of mine to come along and to make a little movie of our challenge. To make it interesting let's add a survival touch and live off the land while we're up there. One rule - no trout to be killed. Think you're up for it?:D

One question: What size fish do you plan on catching with a 000? Goldfish -ha ha ha - you're a funny man Homer and that weirdo that you fish with, Neil, is almost as bad.

ok, enough, I gotta duck. See you in 3 to 4 week's time.

Fario (aka "The Wildman")

[ShaunF]

Ha ha ha. From now I'm going to call you Homer Simpson. So, Homer, it was a Saturday and you chose not to go fishing but instead to mess around with trying to be a rodbuilder. What's the excuse this time?

I thought you would be pleased to know that we've finished the movie in Montana and I'm off for a bit of R & R in Alaska. One of my buds, also a stuntman, has been invited to go bow hunting for bear in the backcountry. He's asked me along as he's heard that I'm a expert bow hunter as well. So I doubt if I'll be around for awhile.

Try and get some fishing done and remember our little challenge on the Witels. I'm trying to get a camerman friend of mine to come along and to make a little movie of our challenge. To make it interesting let's add a survival touch and live off the land while we're up there. One rule - no trout to be killed. Think you're up for it?:D

One question: What size fish do you plan on catching with a 000? Goldfish -ha ha ha - you're a funny man Homer and that weirdo that you fish with, Neil, is almost as bad.

ok, enough, I gotta duck. See you in 3 to 4 week's time.

Fario (aka "The Wildman")

Ah a stuntman. Guess that explains it then. Perhaps you should try wearing a crash helmet from time to time.

[Chris Shelton]

Ha ha ha. From now I'm going to call you Homer Simpson. So, Homer, it was a Saturday and you chose not to go fishing but instead to mess around with trying to be a rodbuilder. What's the excuse this time?

I thought you would be pleased to know that we've finished the movie in Montana and I'm off for a bit of R & R in Alaska. One of my buds, also a stuntman, has been invited to go bow hunting for bear in the backcountry. He's asked me along as he's heard that I'm a expert bow hunter as well. So I doubt if I'll be around for awhile.

Try and get some fishing done and remember our little challenge on the Witels. I'm trying to get a camerman friend of mine to come along and to make a little movie of our challenge. To make it interesting let's add a survival touch and live off the land while we're up there. One rule - no trout to be killed. Think you're up for it?:D

One question: What size fish do you plan on catching with a 000? Goldfish -ha ha ha - you're a funny man Homer and that weirdo that you fish with, Neil, is almost as bad.

ok, enough, I gotta duck. See you in 3 to 4 week's time.

Fario (aka "The Wildman")

hehe....cool, looking forward to it! Lucky bugger you! Looking forward to chatting to you over spit roast eel on the Witels. Cheers boet

[dlampert]

Hell Chris, you are going through some tough times, I know you say you are not clumsy, but one weekend you pierce your son's ear with a hook and the next you break a buddy's new rod.

Who wants to go fishing with Chris next weekend ;)

And the week before he fell off the mountain :eek: Perhaps it's time to start slowing down a bit :D

Regards,
Darryl

[dlampert]

Truth be told, I did offer Mayfly. It was the very first thought that entered my mind, and my insistance came immediately thereafter. I would have done anything or given anything for the whole thing to just go away. Neil would hear none of it though.

Anyway, I am pleased to announce that the outcome was a good one. Our rods are finished, the first two 000's in South Africa. We have both had a few casts to the snails on Neil's lawn, and they cast like a dream, albeit a bit quicker than I thought they would be. You quick rod fanatics will really enjoy this little rod.

Yeehah, the quicker the better !

Regards,
Darryl

[MaXiMuM]

I don't find the twin very fast, it is a quick'ish stick, but that is to be expected. I love it...

[Chris Shelton]

I don't find the twin very fast, it is a quick'ish stick, but that is to be expected. I love it...
Compared to what I am used to Max, this triple is quick. I may even be inclined to slow it down a bit by lining it up with a 2wt line, but that would defeat the object. No, I guess I must just get used to it.

Now I need a lighter reel. My Abel TR1 is just a tad too heavy, but usable. I have a little Ryobi Magnesium which balances the rod much better, but, who wants to use a Ryobi when you have an Abel? Afterall, a classy rod deserves a classy reel, don't you think?
:p

[Chris Shelton]

I thought you would be pleased to know that we've finished the movie in Montana and I'm off for a bit of R & R in Alaska. One of my buds, also a stuntman, has been invited to go bow hunting for bear in the backcountry. He's asked me along as he's heard that I'm a expert bow hunter as well. So I doubt if I'll be around for awhile.

ok, enough, I gotta duck. See you in 3 to 4 week's time.

Fario (aka "The Wildman")

Fario, you have got to be an absolute nut case! Bear hunting with bow and arrow:confused: I also do a fair amount of hunting, but at least I eat what I shoot. I hope you are going to be eating your bear after you have killed it.
What next? Elephants with bow and arrow?

[ShaunF]

Chris, you must have seen these stupid yankees hunting all sorts of things with a bow on ESPN. I reckon its nothing more than an ego-boosting activity to attempt to make up for their inadequacies in other areas.

How sad ! :rolleyes:

[phly]

Fario, you have got to be an absolute nut case! Bear hunting with bow and arrow:confused: Why bear? How do you justify that? You can't even eat the poor things!
I also do a fair amount of hunting, but at least I eat what I shoot.
What next? Elephants with bow and arrow? :mad:

Apparently you can eat bears..a Canadian i know says they're hunted quite a bit for meat as long as they haven't been eating trash. I wouldnt eat them though..predators are not to be eaten..
Bow hunting's kinda like the fly fishing of hunting. It's more refined than rifle hunting and much cleaner.
You have to have such skill to creep up close to animals before you shoot them...and then you have to be a great shot too. The awesome thing is it's quiet and the meat isn't spoiled due to a high velocity impact. You'd be surprised how deadly arrows are. I remember when i was a kid, this american guy was in SA hunting buffalo and rhino with a bow..and he pulled it off!!

[KevinC]

And the week before he fell off the mountain :eek: Perhaps it's time to start slowing down a bit :D

Regards,
Darryl

And last week he was almost marauded by a cape cobra without even seeing it!:eek: Chris bud, take a break, get your karma realigned!:D

[Chris Shelton]

And last week he was almost marauded by a cape cobra without even seeing it!:eek: Chris bud, take a break, get your karma realigned!:D

hehehe......Damn right Kevin. I sure have had my share of mishaps of late. Hopefully the wave is over now, and I can get down to some safe fishing again. Damn, that cobra was a close call, reared head and all....and me within striking distance.....1 metre off the path.....no joke that!

[Gogga]

[QUOTE=phly;4223]Apparently you can eat bears..a Canadian i know says they're hunted quite a bit for meat as long as they haven't been eating trash. I wouldnt eat them though..predators are not to be eaten..
QUOTE]

Phly,

I don't know about eating bears, But I'm bloody sure one would eat me if given half a chance.

Quite often when fishing on the Island we have come across bears. One day, earlier this year, I had a bunch of mates out fishing on the Quinson river (Campbell river) with me - them all being pom's, they tend to stick together when in the wild (I call it sh*ting themselves (he he)) I wandered off down the river. A male black bear came out of the bush on the opposite side of the river (20 meters away) and proceeded to fish - he out caught me about 5 to 1 - but by the end he was so stuffed with fish that his belly was protruding so much he could hardly walk - never mind chase me - if he choose to do so.

The only time you have to really worry is if you come across mama bear with a cub, then it's best to run like hell!! :eek: :D

All the best
Mike

[KevinE]

[QUOTE=phly;4223]Apparently you can eat bears..a Canadian i know says they're hunted quite a bit for meat as long as they haven't been eating trash. I wouldnt eat them though..predators are not to be eaten..
QUOTE]
The only time you have to really worry is if you come across mama bear with a cub, then it's best to run like hell!! :eek: :D


I heard that you don't have to run faster than the bear, only faster than your buddy! Pays to choose your buddies carefully. ;)

[Herman Jooste]

[QUOTE=Gogga;4331]

I heard that you don't have to run faster than the bear, only faster than your buddy! Pays to choose your buddies carefully. ;)

Now I know why everyone wants to fish with Darryl! ;) :D

[dlampert]

Now I know why everyone wants to fish with Darryl! ;) :D

Probably because Darryl knows that if you run away from any predator you are basically putting a big sign up saying "EAT ME" ! :D So fish with me by all means, I look forward to capturing the award winning shot of the bear chasing you down and then perhaps a couple of close-ups of it eating you :eek:

Regards,
Darryl

[Herman Jooste]

Probably because Darryl knows that if you run away from any predator you are basically putting a big sign up saying "EAT ME" ! :D So fish with me by all means, I look forward to capturing the award winning shot of the bear chasing you down and then perhaps a couple of close-ups of it eating you :eek:

Regards,
Darryl

Thanks Darryl, :o at least I know that the capture of my untimely demise could be the subject of an award winning series of top class photographs :D

[Umhlangarox]

Chris i hope you dont mind me jumping in here but whats the most embarrasing thing you have ever done to a fishing mate? Like leaving him behind,picking him up late ect ect!

[Chris Shelton]

Chris i hope you dont mind me jumping in here but whats the most embarrasing thing you have ever done to a fishing mate? Like leaving him behind,picking him up late ect ect!

I wouldn't call this embarrassing, but it was certainly funny!

Negotiating my way around the marshy inlet to a dam in Dullstroom one day, there was a boggy area that I had to pick my way through and I managed to find a narrowing in the channel. The water was dirty with no visibility, so I kept the balance on my back leg, and prospected with my leading foot, until I found a rock a foot under the surface that I could use to launch myself across the channel.

Now, my mate was lingering behind at his own pace and by the time he reached the obstacle, I was 100 metres ahead of him. He shouted out, asking me where I had crossed and I told him to look for the break in the rushes and where the channel narrows, he could step with confidence into the middle of the bog, because there was a rock there. To cut a long story short, he did this, but found the wrong break, and trusting me implicitly stepped with confidence into the bog and promptly disappeared up to his eyeballs in the quagmire. Needless to say, after spluttering about in the mud, he came out looking like something out of a horror movie. His brand new fly vest, with all his newly attached badges was black. He was not a happy chappy, and to this day, he still firmly believes that I purposfully deceived him. Now I would never do a thing like that........would I?:D

[Umhlangarox]

Oh no you most definately would never do something like that Chris:D You are a honest speaking guy that has a good heart:D :D :D

[KevinC]

Chris i hope you dont mind me jumping in here but whats the most embarrasing thing you have ever done to a fishing mate? Like leaving him behind,picking him up late ect ect!

mmmm... you having a dig at me Matt? ;)

[Umhlangarox]

mmmm... you having a dig at me Matt? ;)

Noooo never Kev:D

[Chris Shelton]

hehehe....man, I can tell you stories about this guy. He is such a stickler for the right attire and only the best of tackle and basically always looking good, even going so far as to grow a day's stubble prior a canoe trip, to look the part...like the Camel man. A real image kind of a guy. Now I have never been known to keep my trap shut either and I really embarrassed the hell out of him one night.

It was the first night of a 4 day canoe trip down the Breede. We arrived in the dark and immediately set about making a fire, and of course out of the Coleman, which was laden with all kinds of niceties ontop of the dry-ice, came the wine.

Now, Rolf's papsak felt a bit crunchy, which meant that the wine had frozen. I offered him some of mine which was still fine, but he insisted on having his super chilled wine, so that was that.

The four of us settled down to a lovely chicken spit...a whole chicken each on two rottiseries, which we basted continuously with a sweet peri peri sauce that 'skrikked vir niks!', in between sips of wine.

Half way through, in between lots of picking and licking on our respective 'hoenders', Rolf started slurring. He was only on his second glass of wine! Anyway, I never thought too much of it, the manne were in high spirits and we were all having a great time, spinning yarns and telling jokes and challenging each other to the first fish, the most fish, the biggest fish....all that kind of stuff. You know how it goes.

At a point Rolf stood up to recharge his glass and at the same time let out a cracker of a fart that got all our attention. This was followed by a brief silence as we came back to our senses and was followed by laughter. There was more to come though......much much more!

Now, Rolf was wearing white shorts and what he didnt realise was that the frozen wine and peri peri had formed a lethal cocktail in his guts and had basically loosened everything up, the result of which was a GT stripe of note that appeared through the shorts. The others had their backs to him as he walked towards the coleman for a recharge, but I had him in clear view, and seeing this transformation of sparkling white to brown appearing before my eyes was just too much of a thing to go without exclamation. Before I could cup my mouth, I was blurting out....with pointed finger...."He sh@t in his pants!!!"

Man, the place erupted and the guys were rolling on the ground, holding their stomachs. We laughed and laughed. Poor Rolf, he took it ok though, giggling a bit inbetween himself, before staggering into the river to get rid of the offending stripe.

As funny as it was, we learnt something from the experience. Never drink frozen wine! the liquid freezes, but the alcohol stays behind. He had been drinking 100% proof! Needless to say, his wine tasted like sh1t after that :D

[Umhlangarox]

Chris thats a classic boet:D

[Umhlangarox]

About a year back a friend and myself went up with a mate to his farm in the Underburg. He has a nice little farm with a dam fill of Bass. The dam has heavy weed beds close to the sides and its impossible to fish from the bank so all 3 of us decided to fish from the boat which was only really big enough for 2 people.

So after much debate we decided that it would be complete madness for all three of us to fly fish so we decided to use spinning rod. After landing a few bass my one friend hook into a bass of over 2kg's right next to the boat and pulled it on board without giving it much chance to fight. This meant that we had a VERY full of life 2kg Bass on the boat with a rapala in its mouth that needed to be taken out.

At this stage all hell broke loss and there was jumping and jostling and screaming as we tried to all calm down and keep the little boat from over turning. Eventually my mate got the fish in his hands while sitting with his back to my other friend who had the rod in his hand. What this meant is that he removed the hook without my friend realising and when he lifted the rod the Rapala embedded itself nicely into my mates leg. When this happened i broke out into complete histirics and couldnt hold back the laughter. He decided to brave the pain and carry on the fishing for the rest of the afternoon untill we left for home. The Rapala was then removed at a nearby hospital and returned to my friend:)

[KevinE]

As funny as it was, we learnt something from the experience. Never drink frozen wine! the liquid freezes, but the alcohol stays behind. He had been drinking 100% proof! Needles to say, his wine tasted like sh1t after that :D
Chris, I'm still picking myself off the floor of my office :D :D :D - great story well told.

[Chris Shelton]

Following a spate of recent mishaps and blunders, it happened again on Friday. I was fishing a small stream by myself and was slowly picking my way upstream, flicking my dry here and there and false casting in between while advancing, basically keeping my fly aloft and dry on the move, and ready to hit the next pocket as I placed one foot ahead of the other in midstream. The rocks were not too slippery, so I was wading over the rocks with a certain degree of confidence, and not really too concerned where my next foot landed. My eyes were on the various target zones ahead of me, and I was in full hunting mode.
Wading through the middle of a glide, I stepped onto a rock that gave way underfoot. This sent me into a sideward spiral, with every foot placement desperately trying to find firm foothold in order to get my body into a upright position again. Alas, the ungainly waltz continued, with my torso overtaking my legs at a point and sending me into a full spread-eagled dive, the result of which was complete submersion. I was grateful to be alone, as this kind of thing is always best left unwitnessed. Although my ego is still reasonable sound, I am now without cellphone. Silly me didn't put it in a sealed waterproof pouch. The display screen still looks like a spirit level......sigh :(

[gkieser]

Hehe. any odds on the first thought going through your mind being "Where's My Rod? Is it okay?".

That's what always goes through mine first.

At the end of last season the path gave way under my feet just past cave pool on ep4 and I fell about 2 metres down onto the rocks. The guy I was fishing with was shouting to me to check that I was okay, but All I could think of was if my rod survived. Turns out I had thrown it into a tree as I was falling and it was fine. Luckily I was too, otherwise the walk back could have been a huge mission, but It's funny how I was concerned for my rod before my own body.

Another recent one was in the B Nationals competition. I caught a good fish in my last session and it was my first and only for that session. While wading down to meet the marshall with the fish in the net, I slipped and went right under except for the net and it must have looked helluva funny to the marshall to see me disappear and only see an arm out the water holding a net with a fish in it. The fish got measured and saved my blank!

[Chris Shelton]

hehe.......yeah, these things happen. It is as always just a matter of time before we take our next tumble, especially in the kloofs, no matter how careful one is. Fortunately none of mine have been too serious, but any one could be. Like you, my concern is always first and foremost for my rod.

[KevinE]

Nice one Chris.:D

Last November I was fishing a gorgy stretch of a remote stream. We had come to a spot with rocky cliffs descending vertically into deep water. There was no way around except for a boot-width ledge a metre above the water on the left. Well, the water upstream looked far too good to pass up. My mate volunteered that I go first. I was moving smoothly half way around when (sure-enough) the ledge gave way and I fall feet-first into 3m of icy water! I splutter my way to the surface and doggy paddle to the tail where I regain my feet. My mate makes sure I'm OK before breaking into hysterical laughter. Luckily I keep all my valuables in a zip lock plastic bag.

[Chris Shelton]

heehee.........I am sure that must have been hilarious for your mate. There is never anything graceful about taking the plunge and as such makes for great entertainment to one's mates.

[Umhlangarox]

While fishing EP 3 me and Kev were slowly making our way up to cave pool. The sun was starting to set quickly and we wanted to get a cast in before having to trek back to the car. There were parts of the river that we couldnt wade through thus we had to walk through some pretty heavy bush weaving in and out of the river. During one of the weaves Kev took a heavy plunge off the bank and landed in the river and all i could do was laugh myself silly. I was still laughing while i made my decent back into the river and as luck would have it i also fell face first and spread my arms like and eagle. It can be funny watching friends fall but nothing is better then when you fall straight after your mate the exact same way they did. Kids never learn:D

[Herman Jooste]

My blunder happened last Sunday at Geelviparadys on the Vaal. I was busy inflating the croc when another flyman comes up to me to enquire about the handling, logistics, etc. of using a 2 man when on your own. Anyway as flyfishers are wont we get to talking about the waters we are about to fish, where the likely/ favoured spots are etc.
I mention a photo of a guy with a monster of a LM yellow caught in these very waters and proceed to point out the exact spot where I think the yellow was caught.
The embarrasment was total when the guy winks, and says, "I know about that fish first hand, it was me who caught it!":o
Eishhhh, I humbly apologised and then pestered him with questions for the next 5 minutes, forgetting totally about the half flat inflatable lying at my feet!

[Deon TerBlanche]

I was once fishing Dullstroom dam, I was in waders and thought I would visit the inlet for a while. On the way there I thought I would take a shortcut over this 'marshy' area seeing that I had waders on. As I stepped into it I said to myself "self: no guts no glory". And with my next step got stuck in mud(quicksand?) up to my belt. I thought I would wade out of it and started wiggling and this only got me stuck deeper and deeper. OK I thought, my fishing buddy will save the day and come looking for me, I won't make an arse of myself calling for help from the strangers fairly nearby. I waited for 1/2 an hour but the prick had decided to fish the outlet as far from me as humanly possible!! Eventually I shouted/cried/begged for help from the strangers and it took 3 of them to pull me free. Needless to say my rhythm was all shot to hell and the giggles I heard occasionaly from the strangers made it a very unpleasant session and I ended up sulking in the bakkie!! My friend came back from his stint with a glint in his eye "did you hear about that *#&^%$" that got himself stuck in the mud, ha ha ha?!! But I got him back, that night I hid his flybox and the next morning bolted for the furthest point from him I could knowing he would come over to borrow some flies, as he approached me I would "innocently" walk further around the dam with him trying to chase me down until he threw a hissy fit and I fell down laughing