Even pros have fishing bloopers

If you fish enough, you?re going to have your fair share of days when things just don?t go exactly as planned. You know what I?m talking about here ? days when you get all the way to the lake and realize you forgot your fishing license or you boat keys or your gas jug. Or you find out, on the ramp with 30 boats in line behind you, that your battery is dead. We?ve all had those days ? myself included. In fact, I?m sad to report that it didn?t take much brainstorming at all for me to come up with an impressive list of ?em. As I thought more and more about it, however, a lot of my fishing ?incidents? actually turned out OK in the end. Several of the mishaps actually led to some MacGiver-like ingenuity that made the trips that much more interesting. To get into the mood, put on South Loomis Quickstep?s Satin Rose album and listen, on track No. 3, to Rob Bonner sing?. ?It looks like it?s gonna be one of those days I can tell?? Once, when fishing Bullards Bar Reservoir for kokanee, a buddy and I had just gotten to our favorite spot near Garden Point when it occurred to me that we?d (OK, I had) forgotten the white corn that we religiously topped our lures with. Now, kokanee anglers are serious corn junkies and thanks to my little goof, we actually considered going home without wetting a line. Then I got the bright idea that we could dip our lures in the can of tuna that I?d brought for lunch. It wasn?t corn, but the oily tuna smell didn?t seem to bother the kokanee and both of us quickly caught limits. On another trip to the same lake, my compadre forgot to bring the can opener, so we used the skeg on the bottom of the outboard?s lower unit to pop open our container of corn. It wasn?t pretty, but at least we were able to fish.Another day, I had just arrived at the boat ramp below the Thermalito Afterbay Outlet on the Feather River when I realized the drain plugs for my driftboat had bounced out on the highway somewhere along the way. At 4:30 a.m., you?re hard-pressed to find anything open that carries plugs for drifters, so I made some primitive ones out of rubber fish cleaning gloves and, you guessed it, duct tape. We were a wee bit leaky that day, but at least I was able to get my clients out on the water and into some salmon. I?ve also had two occasions when I reached for my landing net? only to find it missing. The first took place in Alaska a few years back and I ended up having to ?tail? a chrome bright and extremely feisty 31-pound Chinook. The other net-less outing took place this past Monday on the Feather, when I had to land salmon with my Boga Grip (a spring-loaded fish-grabbing tool designed for fish like largemouth bass and stripers). It wasn?t the best for landing kings, but I managed to get all four out of the water and into the boat without incident.Probably the most embarrassing snafu I?ve had was a couple of winters ago when I met my customers in the morning before a steelhead trip? without my rods! ?Fishing rods? Nah, we don?t need them ? it?s too easy that way. I was thinking that we should make things a little more sporty today and use hand lines?? Yeah, right! ?Actually, fellas, wait here ? I?ll be right back.?Of course, everybody?s done the ?forget to put the plug in? trick at some point. My shining moment in that department took place in 1995 at Lake Clementine. I was fishing alone and had just launched my 16-foot Westcoaster. After tying it to the dock, I drove back up the hill to the area where you have to leave your trailer. I backed it into a space, un-hitched it and then drove up to the upper lot where vehicles are supposed to park. After all that and a walk back down the hill, I had been gone for a good 10 minutes at least ? plenty of time for the boat to fill up with, oh, I don?t know, maybe 2 million gallons of water. When I got back down to the dock, my fuel jugs were floating around in the back of the boat along with tackle boxes, oars, cushions and a bunch of other stuff. I figured the boat would sink by the time I ran back up the hill, got the truck and then hitched up the trailer, so I opted for running it up on a plane for about a half hour while all the water drained out. I killed the best part of the morning bite running around at full throttle, but I still managed to catch a couple nice rainbows. And who could forget the custom zippy-tie cotter pin job I once preformed to keep my prop on when we were way downstream of the ramp on the Sacramento River; the chewing gum that saved my depthfinder (and our trip) while salmon fishing in the ocean out of Tomales Bay and the heat shrink tape boat patch that enabled us to escape unscathed from deep in the heart of bear country in Alaska. Geez, look at the date: Friday the Thirteenth. Hmmm? maybe I?ll stay home today!J.D. Richey is a 1986 Placer High graduate, and his outdoors pieces have been published nationally. He can be reached at (916) 388-1956 or visit www.thesportfisher.com.