Just a story of dumbness for entertainment

[Leaky33]

It probably starts with a trip to Mantua a few days ago. Fishing slow, caught 1 nice Lm + a small one. Packed up to leave, had put my rod on top of the cab. and took off after putting everything away. Got down the road and realized I had left the rod and reel on top. Went back, searching the road and parking lot and found nothing after less then 5 min. of leaving. Being stubborn, thank god, went back along the road once, then a second time and a third, and WOW, there it was on the side of the road in the weeds way down the road. Felt vindicated and lucky.
Ok, I go to the club to catch dinner today and when I go to use the rod and reel, the reel was frozen. :twisted: Couldn't turn the handle hardly at all. Well what a bummer, tried the fly rod but flow was awfully high. When reeling it in, something grabbed my fly and broke it off, Not my day, thru some sticks for the Sparkinator and went home. Took the rod and reel out of the truck to see if a little lubricant might solve my reel problem. Didn't help. Was about to decide that the reel was toast when I happened to notice the spool miss aligned/bent and bent it back and it works just fine now, HALLALUAA!
Looks like I'm good to go again. Lucky. Figure I had run over the reel on one of my trips and bent it. Now it seems to work great. Lucky, dumb guy. :oops:
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[idahopanfish]

Sounds like me. # weeks ago my trip to Lava Lake could have been a state of affairs. I was in a hurry to get to Carey lake to fish for some evening gills aulaoded and went back to the car for my fins but no fins and the I noticed on tennis shoe on the top of the car, bummer[:p].

10 miles back to Lava and meet some people who had come after me and was asked if I was the one who had left their fins behind, of course I replied it was my friend, but I was alone, so then I asked if they had seen a tennis shoe which they had and said it was just out of the entrance to Lava on the highway. Thank you LORD.![angelic]

Went back to Carey persued the gills with a yellow popper.
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[Watertooner]

On my last trip to a local lake, I thought I was doing well by packing the car the night before I left. In my hurry to leave the next morning, I didn't do a mental checklist of all the "necessaries". Got to the lake, started unloading all the equipment and panicked after realizing I didn't see my handpump laying out with the rest of the stuff. Started kicking myself while slowly walking to the car to begin the task of putting everything away and thinking of what to say to my buddy who was going to arrive in a few minutes. Panic turned to relief when I spied the pump laying on the floor under a blanket. I wasn't dumb for forgetting the pump, just dumb for forgetting I had loaded it. Feels about the same, but the consequences aren't as steep.
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[a_bow_nut]

Over half of the poles that I now own are a result of forgetting mine at home, or I don't want to say how many times I've had to go back to the lake to get my poles that I left sitting somewhere.
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[TubeDude]

[cool][#0000ff]Once in northern California I drove up to a favorite fishing spot before daybreak and noticed a long bundle leaning up against a tree. I checked it out and found several top quality steelhead rods that someone had obviously left behind when driving off in the dark the night before. Fortunately, the owner had made sure to attach a tag with his name, address and phone number. So when I got back home in Sacramento I called to let him know I had found his rods. Couldn't believe it. At first he seemed to think I was a crank caller and was about to hang up on me. I described the rods and where I had found them. He assured me that he had not lost any of them. So I just gave him my phone number and invited him to call be back if he discovered them missing. A half hour later I got the call from him. He was almost crying with apology and relief. Turns out his fishing buddy had taken them out of his truck for some reason after he had already packed them for the ride home. When he showed up to reclaim them a few days later I forgot to ask whether or not he had fired his fishing buddy.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Can't remember all the rods I have found along the road or left behind at fishing spots. Many have been properly returned but others ended up in a new home after diligent effort to find the owners.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Believe it or not, I have never lost a rod that way.[/#0000ff]
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