Quinte Fishing

Hello All...
I recently added some comments to Legacy's thread about advice on Lund boat's and told a story about an incident that happened to me striking a deadhead this past spring.

With the fall fishing season rapidly upon us I thought it would be appropriate time for some of us to share some "tense moment stories' and the lessons we learned.

Feel free to contribute but here is another scarey moment I won't soon forget.

I was participating with my Dad in the opening Walleye Derby back in the early 80's and had boated up from Kingston on the Friday in perfect weather in my 22ft Luguna Sportcraft. Very comfty with a full camper top, Cuddy etc which served us well as the weather turned very nasty. Had a fabuluos weekend of fishing but when it was time to boat back to Kingston strong winds out of the West created huge rollers and especially by the time I got out to the upper gap. These rollers became so intense that turning back was scarier than riding them east towards Kingston. Throttling up to climb on top and throlling down in the swell...this went on for a good 40 minutes. The scare happened when my timing was off throlling back and the pulpit of the boat dug into the next roller...a wall of water came up over the bow, ran up the windsheild and ripped the camper top from the snaps soaking both of us and taking on a significant amount of water. With the stern sitting lower in the water I engaged the bilge and nothing happened. Unfortunately with the design getting a bail bucket to help was literally useless. Luckily we were close enough to limp into Colins Bay under some very tense conditions taking on even more water. Keeping in mind cell phones were not an option back then and unfortunately we did not have ship to shore communication on board.

When we finally docked, it turned out to be something as simple as a fuse on the bildge that could have proven disaterous for us.

Lesson(s) learned that day...check the forecast before heading out, make sure all electronics are in working condition including bildge, if communication is not an option let someone know on shore where you are fishing and what time you expect to be back. ...and I am sure there is more. Luckily we were wearing Life Jackets but they do little good in the cold May waters of Lake Ontario when you have to swim a mile or so to reach shore...I now have a survival suit for cold water fishing.


Be Safe everyone and enjoy the bite!

Steve
From Muskoka

Great thread...

Mine is fishing the QFS with my old partner and going wide open at around 65 mph. The prop on the TM was rotating very fast, facing inwards. Next thing we know, it comes off and goes flying between us...the pin broke.

All we saw was a flash and being a heavy plastic, I'm sure if it hit one of us in the head, if not killing, it would have caused a life changing effect.

From that point on, I always face my prop towards the bow so it doesn't spin and still get goose bumps thinking that someone must have been looking out for us that day.

Cheers

Paul

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The fishing was so good........I thought I was here yesterday!

I remember labor day 1984, think it was '84, sword/tuna fishing 300 miles offshore pensacola,fla.,was calm and nice for 6-7 day's, no warnings on wx.,all of a sudden black horizon coming offshore from the mexican side, pulled our gear and headed north,64' thompson,maybe 28-30 knots,wind picking up, only 250 miles to shore,lol,i have a pic someplace(polaroid days) , of 4 perfectly shaped black tornadoes coming at us from the side, they never got to us, but hurricane winds did, we fought the growing storm for 100 miles, 25' swells in a following sea took forever, we got to the intracoastal at orange bch.,AL.,and tied her down, next morning the hurricane wiped out several towns,and a big chunk of pensacola, it did would make landfall then return to sea and hit land again several times, did millions in damage. We were lucky.we were at the point of tossing 1500 lb tuna overboard to lighten the load, but couldn't bring ourselves to toss are paychecks overboard. Got tons of old stories from my youth fishing in florida. There was no lesson to learn back then, loran c and paper charts and radar is all we had, weather reports were often wrong. Just the gut feeling saved our butts. I'll never forget the light breeze just going dead calm, then turn right around and be a cool stiff breeze that never stopped building.

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Paramount 21 "Superfisherman" CC,Merc 225x,merc 15hp pro kicker.MG xi5,105lb

well mine was not fishing but rather goose hunting 3 years ago.
dec 18th temp.-16,4am my alarm goes off,up i get grab my gear and off to the truck,my first stop lol of course timmies,2 lg later im off ta get the boat out of the storage unit.
now im hooked up and on my way,with the wind gust ta west 65km hr i knew the geese would be moving early,i arrived at the boat launch(where on the bay i wont say lol),backed in and dropped the old tin can in the lake,pulled her up on shore and went ta park the truck,man she was ruff but im not new to that.
started the boat and off i went, good 3 footers id say and me heading right into the west wind,after a ruff ride i arrive at my hunting spot,i shut the motor off ,put it on tilt n rowed in on a shoal,then stood up put my oars away and proceeded to step out,while putting away the oars i never noticed the boat had drifted back 7-8 feet,and i steped out ...over the side i went and right to the bottom in 7' of water the boat had moved just enough to bring me to the edge of the shoal,up in a hurry i was and when i came up my arm hit the boat so i grabed the gunnel and held on thinking ok ok your alright now get your big butt in the boat lol.

i pulled myself in after 3 trys sat there and drifted a little thinking hell im not to wet maybe ill stay n hunt,well i thought better of that idea and i left for the boat launch,between the ice forming on me and the loon you know what all over me i hit the boat ramp,got out pulled her up and headed for the truck,on the walk to the truck there was a lady walking her dog lol,man she must of thought i was the swamp thing coming outta the lake cause i was covered in blk stinking mud.

one thing id like to say is im 100% sure my neoprene camo chest waders saved my life the reason for that is they fit good n snug on your body the only place i was wet was the upper half no water what so ever got in the waders n still had my hat on when i came up lol.

taker easy n stay dry lol
Hawg Hunter