# What are some mistakes you've made while fish'n??



## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

Hoping I've learned from the past 6 years of actively fish'n here's a few mistakes I've made.  

-Drag set to loose
-Didn't keep the rod-tip down
-Didn't snap the rod for the hook-set
-Didn't do a good job on the net
-Didn't change out iffy tackle/lures
-Didn't cut the hook/line
-Didn't sharpen the dang hooks like I said I would
-Didn't firmly practice the 3Ps (passion, persistence, patience and this last one patience gets me every time but I am get'n better...at least I think I am)

Need to listen and pay more attention to the little voice (aka Jiminy Cricket)...

So anyone else willing to come forward and share past ole-poo-pahs you've learned from? :wink: :wink:


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## mm73 (Feb 5, 2010)

When I was a kid I hooked my cousin in the ear while learning how to fly-fish. :lol:

Probably my most common mistake is not keeping my hooks sharp, and not changing my line frequently. Poorly tied knots is another one...


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

Left the bail open a few too many times....

Too lazy to put on a swivel when I troll, I pay for that mistake....

Drink too much fluid while I'm on the toon...


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## threshershark (Sep 7, 2007)

.45 - don't forget to add:

Charged the electric motor battery enough to get you across Scofield Reservoir, but not back.


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## dank80 (Oct 31, 2007)

Bad leader and/or tippet on my fly reel used to cost me a ton of fish. I was always using low quality and sometimes old tippet. I learned the hard way that's not something to skimp on.


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

Making sure my stringer is *FIRMLY* attached to an anchor point before putting fish on it.


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## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

Mistakes? Sheesh! My list would be shorter if I could jot down the times I _didn't_ screw up. :lol:

My most costly (in time) mistakes have been hiking into places that don't have any fish, but they were still pretty spots that were nice to visit.

A mistake I still haven't fixed still causes me some issues from time to time: I still haven't bothered to buy software for my GPS. That means that all I have are straight-line distances on an otherwise blank screen. Without mapping, I end up zig-zagging for the last mile when searching out a new puddle.

Cheap tippet got me when I first started fly fishing, but now I just use mono (no "leader") and don't have problems anymore. :mrgreen: Not the best for rivers, but on sinking line while dragging bugs, it's not a problem.

Letting a nice reel get submerged in cloudy water has bitten me a couple of times. Currently, my Pfleuger President is gritty and tough to reel (despite thorough oiling) because of this.

Not placing my fly rods in their proper cases in between fishing stops has taught me a sour lesson...TWICE! The first time, I was pulling out my 3wt (RS4) from the back and my dropper fly caught my baby's car seat. I heard a little *tick* sound, looked down, and saw that my tip had snapped. :evil: Lesson learned right? Nope. 

The very next week, I was shuffling around in the back of my car in preparation for a trip to a special place and when I shut the door for departure, I heard a crunch and saw that the door hadn't closed completely. My heart sank to the bottom of my stomach and I knew what I had done: I crunched my 5wt (TFO) at the middle joint. 2 good rods in 2 consecutive weeks. DOH! Now my junk stays in its case, even between stops.

Cleaning a fish in an ice hole last year, I accidentally lost my grip on it and it was never to be seen again. A fellow forum member was witness to this.

My first trip to Willard was full of "OOPS", but the biggest mistake that stands out would have to be accidentally leaving a wiper in fatbass' live well, which went unnoticed for about a week, I think. _/O He probably still smells my mistake every time he opens the well. (Sorry Jim!)

Well I could go on and on about this topic, but I don't think the server is big enough to handle my entire book of folly. :lol:

Hopefully I'm able to gain some wisdom from my seemingly constant state of error. *\-\*


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## katorade (Sep 23, 2007)

Don't take my adapter to fill up my pontoon, so I get to the lake and have to fish from shore.


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## BerryNut (Dec 29, 2008)

+1 on the reels getting gritty, but I learned that fly rods are not meant to be left hangin off the front of your toon while carrying it to the truck, fly rod met truck, truck scratched, new loomis 4 piece fly rod became 5 piece rod. 

Small cooler on back of toon when wind picks up on the berry not good. I thought coolers were supposed to float? 

Fishing when cold makes fingers get smaller i guess..... taking off gloves not realizing the wedding ring fell into the dirt while changin flies. Still trying to make up for that one.


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## mjschijf (Oct 1, 2007)

Looking back on my fishing mistakes, most of them involve losing fish that I SHOULD have landed. This still happens to me far too often. This has been the result of drag too tight, knots coming loose, yanking on the line when the fish is near shore (snapping the line), or setting the hook too hard or not hard enough (fishing for bass and trout consistantly will do this to you). 

In July of 2008, a month after receiving a Fplueger President reel/Ugly Stik Lite combo for my birthday, I was fishing Sand Hollow. Moments after catching and releasing one of the biggest bass of my life, my mood quickly changed when I was replacing my senko, and somehow knocked my rod into the water. In a desperate effort to retrieve my new rod/reel, I tipped my tube upside down, knocking a bunch of other stuff into the water as well. My digital camera was permanently water damaged, and I think I lost a pretty nice pair of plyers too. Oh yeah, my new rod/reel were gone forever. There was a guy fishing about 50 yards away from me who was probably watching this commotion and laughing his @ss off.

To this day, I haven't invested in a reel as nice as the Fplueger President that I enjoyed for all but one month. 

Like LOAH, I've experienced the rod-crunching when closing my trunk. Luckily, it was a pretty cheap spinning rod and wasn't too upset over it. 

When I was a little kid, I remember fishing at Gunlock reservoir during a scout campout. I casted out, and the top half of my pole went flying. When I reeled in, the pole was nowhere to be seen. 

I'm sure there are way more mistakes that I'm forgetting, but those are the ones that stand out.


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jul 18, 2008)

*Lots and lots! However, there's one that's really ironic. Though if you consider a "mistake" as something you did, but knew better not to, this wouldn't be it. This is more a learning process thing.

When I started fishing, I just went. Didn't do any research, join forums/boards, or ask other anglers around me. I just put a worm ball on a hook, cast out and reeled in slowly. Now, for one thing, worm balls are considered the wrong way, as far as I know. For another, you don't cast-reel bait! But... I was a newbie.
HOWEVER! On a Wyoming river I caught 3 fish in 2 days, doing that. Now I can barely catch 2 fish in 3 months doing the "right" stuff. Maybe I should go back to reeling worm balls! :lol: LOL
*


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

Vivid-Dawn said:


> I just put a *worm ball* on a hook,... Maybe I should go back to reeling *worm balls*! :lol: LOL


WTH is a *worm ball* :? :?: :?

Guess I've never seen or heard of a 'worm ball' in the context of fish'n bait. Kinda let the imagination go with it I guess... But maybe it's better that I don't know what a 'worm ball' is... :mrgreen: :shock: :mrgreen:


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## JERRY (Sep 30, 2007)

Remembering everything but my fly for on one of the best fishing days ever. Luckily my buddy let me borrow his between fish. A good / bad day of fishing.

Sometimes it is good to sit back and watch, rather than just full on fishing the whole trip. :wink: NOT!


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jul 18, 2008)

*K2MUSKIE

A "worm ball" is when you fit a whole worm on a hook. Either by threading the whole length and 'stuffing' it on there, or just looping it around and securing it. Either way, it's a big chunk looking thing...hence the "ball"!
*


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## Pez Gallo (Dec 27, 2007)

One time I thought I made a mistake, but... I was wrong.


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## k2muskie (Oct 6, 2007)

Vivid-Dawn said:


> *K2MUSKIE
> 
> A "worm ball" is when you fit a whole worm on a hook. Either by threading the whole length and 'stuffing' it on there, or just looping it around and securing it. Either way, it's a big chunk looking thing...hence the "ball"!
> *


Allrightie then...and now I have the rest of the story. Just never heard of the term worm ball before learn something new every day...thank you!! :wink: :wink:


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## Old Fudd (Nov 24, 2007)

Sitting in a boat up at the Berry years ago. Cleaning fish tossed a 40 year old Case Knife over board and kept a hand full of fish guts!


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## .45 (Sep 21, 2007)

oldfudd said:


> Sitting in a boat up at the Berry years ago. Cleaning fish tossed a 40 year old Case Knife over board and kept a hand full of fish guts!


 -_O- -_O-


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## cfarnwide (Sep 10, 2007)

One I still do occasionally... Take the 2 weight fly rod on a pack trip in the Uintas but grab the reel loaded with 6 weight line. Makes for some pretty sloppy casting.


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## mm73 (Feb 5, 2010)

oldfudd said:


> Sitting in a boat up at the Berry years ago. Cleaning fish tossed a 40 year old Case Knife over board and kept a hand full of fish guts!


LOL! I did the exact same thing with my car keys once! Went to throw away a candy bar wrapper but threw away my car keys instead, and put the wrapper in my pocket. Didn't notice it either until later that day when I went to go home!


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## Chaser (Sep 28, 2007)

Two immediately come to mind-

1-Last spring as I prepared for an afternoon of ice-off fishing at Strawberry, I completely forgot to put my main tackle box with all my go-to lures in my pack. Didn't realize the mistake until I got to the lake and started to rig up. As luck would have it, I did have a few soft plastics and hooks to rig them with, plus a few other needed items, and what I had ended up being the ticket. I caught several nice cutts in just a 3 hr time span.

2-Just a few weeks ago, while fishing at Strawberry, I forgot to set the anti-reverse switch on my reels. As I got my first bites, and went to set the hook, as I yanked up on the rod, the reel went backwards and un-spooled the line, causing me to miss the fish. What's more of a mistake than that- I had to do it 3 or 4 times before realizing the problem.


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## Tigru (Oct 15, 2007)

I have a couple of "trust" ones for you......

1. Putting too much trust in my little pick-up going over/threw muddy, snowy, steep terrain and getting stuck for hours and needing the help of others to pull me out. (Happened twice so far)

2. Putting too much trust in my wife's throwing arm when asking her to toss me some fishing gear from shore to me in my float tube about 10 feet away but in deep water.


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## Wilford (Mar 31, 2009)

Leaving the dock without the plug that goes in the back of the boat.(A small aluminum craft) I had rubber boots on and didn't notice the water coming in. Made a sudden sharp turn back for the boat dock.
Leaving a large tackle box full of trolling gear on the ramp at Deer Creek. Sure wasn't there when I returned to look for it.
Getting in a hurry to go fishing and leaving the fishing rods propped up against the garage. I won't say how far I went before I noticed, but far enough that I had to buy a new rod and reel so I could go fishing.


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## kastmaster (Nov 20, 2007)

Classic mistake of not putting in the plug for my boat before launching. Granted, it was my first solo
trip with the boat, I was just too excited to leave the dock. I wondered why it was taking the boat so long to get on plane, looked back and saw the transom full of water. I was able to stop and put the plug back in, dock the boat, put the boat back on the trailer, get out of the water and park. Took 2o minutes for the water to drain out.

Last fall at Renegade, fishing was hot till it got too dark. Pulled up the anchor, started the motor and started speeding toward the ramp. Looked back for a second and saw my stringer with fish fly off from the starboard side. Made a quick U-turn but the stringer was gone. Lesson learned. Always check for stringers in the water before speeding off.

Not fishing related, but another boat ramp experience. Went up to Pineview with the family to play in the water. Backed down the ramp, undid all the straps and tried to launch the boat. Nope, boat stuck on the trailer. Felt the back of the transom for more straps and found nothing. Checked the bow and everything was untied. Spent about 10 mins on the ramp trying to get the boat off the trailer, then it hit me. The trolling motor was still chained to the trailer. Got out of the water, pulled up to the parking lot and saw the lock on the chain. I searched for the key to that lock to no avail. Ended up cutting the chain to get the trolling motor off the trailer and saved the day.


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## Jeremy28 (Dec 1, 2007)

1) taking off old leader and putting on new for a flypole rig and then tying the tippet and hook on the old leader that wasn't attached to pole!

2) Done the "forgot the boat plug" thing at newcastle about 6 years or so ago. had a small junky aluminum boat with a crappy little gas-powered motor that only goes about .0005 mph and we didn't notice it till we were quite aways out. By the time we got back the boat looked like it was popping a wheelie and couldn't see where we were going very good.

3)My cousin Brandon Larson from here in the forum and I went fishing to panguitch last november and after we loaded everything and right as we were getting ready to leave i said "i just have that feeling we are forgeting something" so we got out and looked in the bed of the truck to make sure and then left. Anyways, when we get there, Brandon forgot EVERYTHING! He left his pole, tackle, and waders and the only thing he brought was his tube! Thankfully, I know the owner of the gas station by the lake and he lent us a pole.


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## baconeater (Apr 5, 2008)

taking my own way on ice with 4 wheeler instead of sticking to tracks used by others got myself buried up to the fenders in a berry slush monster the size of a football field took 2 sleds to get me outta that mess ill never forget that 1 :shock:


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## pkred (Jul 9, 2009)

I drove out to Starvation early one mourning to meet some fellow anglers, got my pontoon out of the jeep and put together, That's when it hit me. I had left the pins that connect the frame together sitting on my garage floor in a neat little pile... Luckily I found a roll of athletic tape in my console, after a little redneckery engineering I had the toon taped/tied on all four joints. It held all day the trip was fun, but man I felt like a tool.


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## wyoguy (Mar 4, 2010)

Wilford said:


> Last fall at Renegade, fishing was hot till it got too dark. Pulled up the anchor, started the motor and started speeding toward the ramp. Looked back for a second and saw my stringer with fish fly off from the starboard side. Made a quick U-turn but the stringer was gone. Lesson learned. Always check for stringers in the water before speeding off.


Done that so many time I finally put a sticker next to the key to remind me!


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