09-04-2003, 09:36 PM
[cool]Hey, JR, that was a good story. You not only lost face, you almost lost a good chunk of your "cheeks" too. But, how could you have anticipated the weight and displacement thing? You can be excused the oversight.
The greatest launching and beaching story I know of was a guy that wanted to fish a "quarry pond". It was a water filled pit with rock walls that went straight down. No beaches. There were some big fish in there, but it was difficult to hook them and bring them up the rock walls without breaking the line or having them tear off the hook.
The closest you could get to the water was about 12 feet...straight down. Like polokid, this guy was a jock and in good condition. He also had some basic training in climbing and rapelling down walls. So, he rigged a harness to hold the tube up around his waist, while he rapelled backwards down to the water in his donut. Then, he lowered his rod and tied it in place with a light line, to retrieve once he was on the water.
I would have loved to watch that launch. He was rapelling with his fins on, but he did make it into the water without killing himself. He had tied off the rapelling line to the front of his 4X4 truck, and it held well. He even caught some nice bass, to make the trip worthwhile.
He discovered the flaws in his thinking when it was time to get out. After tieing the rod to the retrieve line, he paddled over to the rapelling rope. He quickly found out that pulling himself and his soaked gear back up was not as easy as lowering himself to the water under tension. The fins were the final straw that made him decide he wasn't going to be able to "PULL IT OFF".
After several attempts to get up the wall, he decided he would have to admit defeat and suffer the consequences. He had to open the crotch strap and slip out the bottom of his tube. Luckily, it was summer and he was not wearing waders, which would have filled up. He worked off his fins and tied them and the tube to the bottom of the rapelling line. Then he hauled only himself to the top and pulled up the rest of his gear.
I first laughed when I heard the story, but then I shivvered when I imagined myself doing something foolish like that...as I have been known to do. By going by himself and putting himself at risk he could have very well become food for the crawdads in the little lake, with nobody even knowing he was there for who knows how long.
Man, the whacko things we do just to enjoy floatation fishing. Of course, we know that we are immortal and impervious to the perils of mere mortals.
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The greatest launching and beaching story I know of was a guy that wanted to fish a "quarry pond". It was a water filled pit with rock walls that went straight down. No beaches. There were some big fish in there, but it was difficult to hook them and bring them up the rock walls without breaking the line or having them tear off the hook.
The closest you could get to the water was about 12 feet...straight down. Like polokid, this guy was a jock and in good condition. He also had some basic training in climbing and rapelling down walls. So, he rigged a harness to hold the tube up around his waist, while he rapelled backwards down to the water in his donut. Then, he lowered his rod and tied it in place with a light line, to retrieve once he was on the water.
I would have loved to watch that launch. He was rapelling with his fins on, but he did make it into the water without killing himself. He had tied off the rapelling line to the front of his 4X4 truck, and it held well. He even caught some nice bass, to make the trip worthwhile.
He discovered the flaws in his thinking when it was time to get out. After tieing the rod to the retrieve line, he paddled over to the rapelling rope. He quickly found out that pulling himself and his soaked gear back up was not as easy as lowering himself to the water under tension. The fins were the final straw that made him decide he wasn't going to be able to "PULL IT OFF".
After several attempts to get up the wall, he decided he would have to admit defeat and suffer the consequences. He had to open the crotch strap and slip out the bottom of his tube. Luckily, it was summer and he was not wearing waders, which would have filled up. He worked off his fins and tied them and the tube to the bottom of the rapelling line. Then he hauled only himself to the top and pulled up the rest of his gear.
I first laughed when I heard the story, but then I shivvered when I imagined myself doing something foolish like that...as I have been known to do. By going by himself and putting himself at risk he could have very well become food for the crawdads in the little lake, with nobody even knowing he was there for who knows how long.
Man, the whacko things we do just to enjoy floatation fishing. Of course, we know that we are immortal and impervious to the perils of mere mortals.
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