2013 Humpy Fishing Bloopers and Blunders

[FinChaserNW]

OK guys and gals, we've had several weeks of nonstop humpy action. Not only are the regulars out there, but as always this season brings out the odd-year fishermen and women. With all that excitement, there is always a steady supply of goofs a gaffes up and down the river. So what are some of the more entertaining things you've seen (or done) this season?

- While releasing my "one more cast" fish (a nasty buck), I slipped and dropped my very nice and very expensive pliers overboard.

- Countless people reeling spinning reels upside down and backwards. Hey, whatever works for you...

- I've seen two people panic and let go of their rods when a fish hit. Both were lost.

- A few people hooked by their neighbor on the bank when their gear popped out after pulling in their pink like it's a halibut.

I've got a lot more but would love to hear yours....

Scott

[obryan214]

my best seen bloopers were mostly at the pt. defiance boat launch. several people dry launched they're boats, that is undoing the safety chains before backing down the ramp and the boat comes off the trailer and hits the pavement. others launched with no drain plugs installed. the best ramp blooper though was the guy who sank his lincoln continental while aunching his boat, he made one of the news channels. had to get him out through the sunroof.
an on the water blooper I heard about was a guy letting go of his rod while fighting a fish. he used his partners rod next and caught the only fish to hit the boat.

[rcthepirate]

I've seen a bunch of ridiculous crap this humpy season:

Saw a dude trying to launch his 14 ft. aluminum with a prop motor down at tualco on the skykomish, using his ford escape. I hope he figured out that it was a stupid idea before he got it in the water.

Also saw a bayliner come unbuttoned from its vehicle at the Everett launch and go crashing down into the water (trailer and all).

I've seen guys on the skykomish retaining foul hooked fish. Seen plenty of people who think it is okay to cast jigs with a second rod while they are trolling out in the salt. Saw a guy bust his rod trying to drag a humped out tail hooked boot onto the bank (serves him right).

I could keep going but I think the point is very clear: humpy fishing brings out the absolute best and brightest of us. Totally ready for it to be over.

[Gringo Pescador]

Two seasons ago watched a guy and his daughter unwrap a pole bankside, cast a pink spoon, hook a humpy and not be able to land it. I netted it for him, put it on the bank and went back to fishing. Looked down a couple minutes later and this guy has popped the neck, ripped the gills out and had his hand stuffed into the fish's body pulling guts out. Dude didn't have a knife...

Last season I was on the bank pulling in a humpy standing in about 2 feet of water, guy up on the bank says "look out for that seal" next thing I know I am frantically pulling this wore out pink in figure eights right at my feet with the seal hot on it's tail while my buddy is slapping the water with his pole to try and scare it away. Thing never got my fish and never even broke the surface of the water.

Just yesterday we were pulling plugs for silvers on the Snohomish, one rod doubled over and about the time I grabbed it, the 2nd rod doubled over. Man they were fighting pretty good too. Woo Hoo! we're screaming about the double silvers! Until we got em to the surface and realized we back-hooked two big ol humpy bucks

[tlang]

I always love the two foot cast with enough force to make a crater. We all do it from time to time but when its over and over from a guy who comes off like he is the best is always fun.

I had the two guys up river from me on the Skag hook up, of course they run right at me and all three tangle. I cut my line to net there two fish at the same time then move to recover my gear, then find there one is on my line two hand lined her to shore.

I saw a limit on a stringer this morning in the mud on the duwamish (not close to the bank at ALL)

Countless prides lost to the slippery slope of the duwamish.

My all time favorite? We found some pencil lead on the bank of the Puy, upon closer inspection it was actually split shot dock taped together.

I think the rigging that I have seen is the funniest part. Forget natural presentation, we are going with full on attach squid!

[natetreat]

Do you know what I saw? I saw whole families enjoying a new kind of sport. I saw old folks and young folks enjoying the same sport that we love. I saw a lot of beginners out there catching a whole lot of fish. It's nothing to do with the "best and brightest". People that haven't fished before don't know any better. That's why I help 'em, not look at them with disdain.

On the other hand, I hardly think that you should be boating if you can't even launch correctly. Sure, forgetting the plug once will happen. If it's that tough for you to launch, I'm wondering how much they paid attention to their boater's safety course.

The reel on top of the rod, on a casting rod, a giant saltwater spinning reel with 50 lbs test is my favorite newb setup.

A couple days ago, an old guy and his grandson rowed into Tom Eddy and parked on anchor about 30 feet from shore right in front of us. I was egg fishing, and we had been casting 3/4 cannon balls and dick nites twice as far as he was out. I took a break to watch what happened. His rod was busted at the tip, had about three guides altogether, they had some weird jigs like you'd use for rockfish in the salt. A couple of guys started yelling at him to move, but he didn't, just yelled back "if we get tangled, I'll fix it" Someone snagged on his anchor rope and pulled him off anchor and he drifted down. Next spot same story. Frankly, I was surprised at how civil the whole thing went. He didn't catch anything, and went somewhere else after a while, but if there were some different folks out there I could see things happening a little bit differently. I mean, he was just trying to take his grandson fishing, but man.

I've seen a lot, and most of it is humorous. I try and help out the beginners as much as I can, inform them of the regulations and help them have fun. I also tell them to throw those nasty guacomole humpies back! I've seen some nasty white moldy meat brought out of the river too. Ew. That's what pliers are for.

[Jerry H]

Ok this one is on me. I knew better but....... On the Puyallup hooked the brush on the other side gave it a couple tugs but no luck. Not wanting to cut off and leave more line in the drift I cranked the slack out gave it a good pull and the 3/8th oz bell sinker came back like a bullet you could hear it coming. Hit me in the foot and broke the bone in 3 places and dislocated it in one. I'm on crutches for 6-8 weeks.

Best part my fishing partner went back to the same place through out the following week and saw another guy take out his ankle and another took out a truck widow the same way.

Time to spool up with no stretch braid. I'm sometimes a slow learner

[FishBaitThe2nd]

Mine, fishing at hoodsport hatchery when there was a ton of fish out in open water. And watching a couple, of experienced fisherman, walk in a small pathway that youre not suppost to go under, and they lifted the gate to where a bunch of pinks were and started grabbing pinks with there hands and stuffing them in there waders.

[BentRod]

I've had more than one Humpy give me a face full of water with a tail slap as I was trying to gently release it back into the river. Nothing like a refreshing shower of lower Duamish spring water.

On one particularly slow day during a lunch trip I had hooked and released two Pinks in quick succession much to the disgust of the gentleman next to me. He proceeded to tell me he'd been there all morning without a hit and wanted to know where he could get a jig like mine. Since both fish I'd brought in were foul hooked I proceeded to tell him I didn't think it'd do him much good. I don't think he agreed.

I have seen a few people take some hard spills in the wondermuck of the Duamish while trying to frantically recover Humps that came unbuttoned at the waters edge. Talk about insult to injury.

Also met a newb who showed up with a Big5 bag and a brand new telescoping trout pole. Took him 25 minutes to assemble it. Actually hooked a Pink that took him for a ride and broke his line at the bank. I was surprised the pole outlasted the line. Apparently he only brought one lure which had just swam away. Saw him again with a better rod and better gear, but didn't know how to set the drag on his new spinning reel, so spent the first 20 minutes not being able to retrieve his casts and was just twisting up his line. Ended up cutting out about 30 yards of line before I stepped over and gave him some info on the basics of operation. Saw that the plastic zip tie that held the store price tag was still attached to the bail. Nice guy, so hope he got things figured out before it got to frustrating.

Last year was my season of "education". I'll leave it at that. So far this year has been rather tame in regards to my own follies.....but the season isn't over.

[Idstud]

I have seen some good ones over the years this year Ive only gotten out very few times. I took a pontoon boat out for the first time and realized I need chest waiters IM fat and my butt was wet. That same day I dropped 3 new Dick nites in the drink. I had a few hours after work and ran out to cheap skate to bank fish watch a young man cast his jig right in front of a sled at full speed and get his line cutt. He was mad at the sled? really! Well I was the only one on the bank nice enough to give him a pink spoon and he did offer to buy it. I gave him the option of a jig as well but took the spoon. If I see a guy in need of help at the launch I will help and will spout a friendly reminder your out-drive or board is down before you pull out. I even took my girls on a bike ride this saturday by lake Casidy and helped other peoples kids fish at the dock while we took a break from our ride. If you make newbees time on the water good they will look at fishing as a good thing and not something stupid when you can buy fish from the store. I have a friend in the Navy I worked with that had a bad experience fishing and didnt care for it and didnt see how I could. It took me a long time but I talked him into a trip with me. IM not a great fisherman but ok and I took him crappy fishing on casidy. It was a great day of fishing and we lost some gear but caught fish and had FUN. He tried to pay me for the lost gear but I used a line a wise man once told me. We dont own the gear we rent it. He was hooked and that same year I got him into his first salmon which was a pink at the 522 bridge. Fishing is fun see you out there.

[BentRod]

..We dont own the gear we rent it.

Love it.

[natetreat]

Ok this one is on me. I knew better but....... On the Puyallup hooked the brush on the other side gave it a couple tugs but no luck. Not wanting to cut off and leave more line in the drift I cranked the slack out gave it a good pull and the 3/8th oz bell sinker came back like a bullet you could hear it coming. Hit me in the foot and broke the bone in 3 places and dislocated it in one. I'm on crutches for 6-8 weeks.

Best part my fishing partner went back to the same place through out the following week and saw another guy take out his ankle and another took out a truck widow the same way.

Time to spool up with no stretch braid. I'm sometimes a slow learner

OUCH! Same thing happened to my brother two years ago, only it was a 1/2 ounce cannon ball, and it didn't hit his foot it hit his face. Lucky thing for him he was wearing his polarized sunglasses. He had a lens shaped black eye, knocked it clean out of his frames. Every time a squirrel snag happens, I wince and hear that line from A Christmas Story. When you break 'em off, you have to try an keep your rod tip in the water, a little bend will send it back into the ground rather than straight back. Sorry about the foot, but at least you didn't lose an eye!

[oneshot]

I just watched myself break a friends pole about 20x on video.. as if i didn't feel bad when it happened, I feel worse now.. hahaha.. but the video is funny..

I watched a good buddy whom has never salmon fished, 3 times yesterday, when he hooked up and the fish finally saw the boat, and went spastic, my friend went spastic too and lost every fish.. funny stuff.. \m/

[Norm]

I was launching my boat on the Skagit early August and this nice $50k sled is coming out so I asked the people how they did. They said that they got 8 silvers and im like damn thats good. So I say im just going to go out and see if I can find a few humpies to play with. They were like humpies are closed on the Skagit. Im thinking to myself are these guys just BS'in or do they just not know anything. So I asked where they heard that and they said its printed in the rules. I was like wow so I showed them the reg book and how it stated that its open right now, else no one would be here. Seeing that these guys had no clue what they were doing I asked to see the silvers that they caught. Yea they were all humpies. I tried my best to contain my laughter and wished them best of luck on their next silver adventure.

[Steelheadin360]

I just watched myself break a friends pole about 20x on video.. as if i didn't feel bad when it happened, I feel worse now.. hahaha.. but the video is funny..

That was the loudest snap...

[spoonman]

Me and my buddy were fishing the other day, standing a little over knee deep in the river. I was upstream from him and after numerous fish ons all morning I hook up with this exceptionally humped out buck. My friend no longer paying any attention to my fight after so many hookups kept fishing. Well that nasty humped out sob started going right towards him, so I yell "comin at ya" he just stand there and keeps fishing. That humpy swam right between his legs, wrapped around and snapped off! My friend just about went airborne out of the water. And fell flat in my butt I was laughing so hard.

[natetreat]

Hahaha! That's great.The other day I saw a group of humpies swimming together. It was kind of weird, they were under the boat while we were anchored up. One of them decided to roll next to the boat, and so did all the rest. They were snapped together with a metal clip stringer.

[Steelheadin360]

AH the humpie bloopers....

Ive hooked myself twice this year already, took a 1/2 cannon ball to the shin, and Saturday i took a 10# coho tail right to the nuggets... Yea, dropped me.

The thing i see alot of is people slipping off rocks and goin in the drink, I always pull out my cell phone and wallet for that reason and urge others the do the same. I watched a poor fella do it on friday with a fish on, he went all the way in, let go of his rod, fish took off. I felt bad for the poor guy and told him is he stood on solid ground he could use one of my poles and we chatted and laughed and had a good few hours on the river.

[Dustin07]

one day I told my fishing buddy I had hooked into a pink at about 65ft on the DR and he said "you're not supposed to use downriggers for those fish"....

so about 2 weeks later we're out on the boat and he throws one of my DR balls overboard before he attached it to the DR line... (then asks, why is there no tension on the dr line? the ball is in the water, it should be pulling) i busted up laughing and said, "well you're better off cause you dont use downriggers for these fish."

LOL

[natetreat]

Ha! There has been a lot of slipping in the mud and falling on the rocks. I too have lent some gear to unfortunate anglers. I have so many of them! Just the other day, we hooked a pink that seemed to be fighting pretty hard for it's size. We couldn't get it to come in at all. Eventually we figured out that it must be snagged on the bottom, and it was futile. We decided to break it off, and it turns out he was stuck in some line on the bottom. A lot of it. He had three jigs in his mouth, about 30 yards of hi-vis wrapped around him, another 20 of stren blue, with a leader and cannon ball snagged in his back. And he still bit our shrimp! He was around ten pounds, big for a humpy. We cut all the line off, removed the hooks and jigs and sent him on his way. If he can survive that much, he deserved a good lay before he kicked the bucket!