We have all had that ONE fishing partner......

I'm sure we have all fished with many different people over our lifetimes. Whether you and a buddy are going fun fishing, or you are randomly partnered with someone during a tournament, we all have had some pretty "interesting" experiences with a partner a time or two- I know I sure have!

I would like to hear about a particular story about a partner that sticks out in your mind as amusing, interesting or downright unsettling. Here's a story that I recall that always causes me to chuckle when I think of this particular day.

It was quite awhile back, at a time when I was just coming into my own in the local tournament scene, there was a one day event on Okeechobee that I had entered. I was particularly pumped for this event because I had a pretty solid practice under pretty tough early spring cold front conditions. I found an area that held some big fish under some beautiful junk mats that seemed pretty much untouched. After the tournament meeting, I met my tournament partner for the day.

First off, let me start by saying that he seemed like a really nice guy, but he seemed to be pretty wired. He was kinda short, obviously was from "up north" and every time I looked at him or heard him speak, all I could think of was Joe Pesci's character, Leo Getz, from Lethal Weapon..............You know..........."ok, ok, ok, they $%+@ you at the drive-thru." His mannerisms and everything were spot on. It was pretty uncanny.

Anyways, we met up in the morning just fine, though he still seemed a bit "energized." The first red flag for the day was the amount of spinning rods he put in my boat. Don't get me wrong......I like spinning rods, but Okeechobee is just not the place to bring ALL spinning rods.........especially after I told him what kind of fishing we were doing. But eh, whatever, it's his own deal. The time prior to blast off was pretty normal, you know, good conversation about random stuff to try to get to know eachother- again, seemed like a good guy. After blast off, we made our way to my area, just to find ourselves relatively alone. Things happened pretty quickly for me in the beginning, and I caught a couple fish right off the bat. After that it became a bit of a grind- you know, just your regular mid morning lull. I was essentially working these grass mats one by one, slowly picking them apart. The fish seemed to be very spooky and lethargic, so I was trying to stay stealthy around every mat.

After a couple hours of tough fishing, I could tell that the patience on the back of the deck was getting a little....well.....thin. At first, there was an occasional exchange from one spinning rod to another, then it began to turn into an obsessive process of elimination of sorts. You know the scene.........about nine or ten messy spinning rods all tangled together in one big wad of "fairy-wands." This by itself was frustrating enough, especially since i too was getting frustrated with the lull in action. Things continued to get progressively anxious, and the next tick that my Leo picked up was a seemingly insatiable need to fish from both sides of the back of the boat every cast. He would literally make one cast on one side, shuffle over to the other side, make a cast and then go over the other side...........to the point where he turned my boat into a wave machine that would make Typhoon Lagoon jealous. It was like there was a Golden Retriever on the back of my boat and there was a sea of tennis balls surrounding us on all sides not knowing what to do with himself........he just couldnt pick a side.... and before I knew it, I was punching through mats that had little waves rippling through them......which is obviously a conflict with my plan to stay stealthy. Needless to say, I had to say something, so I did. No big deal, just communicated and the waves stopped.

Soon thereafter the punching bite picked up...........5-pounder, 3-pounder, another keeper. I was beginning to look pretty solid, but Capt. Spinning Rod was having a tough time. He could easily cast a fluke to the open water and catch a load of keepers, but he was throwing some odd-ball finesse stuff on light line in heavy grass........and just wasnt doing the trick. The wave machine started back up, and I could tell things were getting a little frustrating for him. He finally expressed frustration that he didnt have any heavy tungsten to punch with too...........and I of course mentioned that he really didnt have any gear he could punch with anyway, but he persisted, so I of course obliged and gave him a wrecking ball of a hunk of metal and he tied it on to what looked like 8-pound test.......with NO PEG (though I suggested it)!!

It was a pretty interesting sight, seeing old Leo Getz with a medium action spinning rod trying to control a 1.5oz tungsten weight. The funny, yet incredibly distracting, part of the whole scene was the fact that every time he punched into a mat the weight would disappear into the abyss, while his little green brush hog would remain on the top of the mat with the appendages waving at me. Unless a topwater bite turned on, he obviously wasnt going to catch anything.

Inevitably he got frustrated again, put down the heavy tungsten rig, grabbed another spinning rod and started the Golden Retriever routine again, turning my mats into a wavy mess. If his fishing strategy wasnt already bizarre enough, things really became confusing, and amusing when a fish started busting on a bluegill in open water, probably 40 feet from the boat. This was it.......this was his opportunity............there was no way he was going to mess this up........this fish was HOT........ready to eat.........and his little finesse rig was sure to get its attention. In a most unanticipated move, instead of throwing that finesse bait at him that he was throwing, he raced to his mess of rods, noisily shook free a spinning rod from the pile, and before I could see what his selection was he had the rod behind him, with the length of the rod loading in an entirely unnatural way..........and then ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz KAAAAAAPPPPLUUUUUUNNNNNKKKKKKKK!!!! For some unknown reason his choice for a schooling fish in open water was...........yes..........the 1.5oz free floating weight with the little green brush hog. It was like he threw a Cherry Bomb into the water...........which might have been his strategy..........you know..........a dynamite kind of principle. I was fully expecting to see the unsuspecting bass float up to the surface.......death by way of a case of severe Bilateral Subdural Hemotoma.

From then on out I decided to focus on my own efforts.........and though my bass had to contend with unnatural waves and air to surface missile attacks........I was able to finish the day with a solid finish an a check.

Despite him having a tough day, I hope I get to fish with him again........super good dude, just a different energy level then me- but that's the beauty about fishing with so many different partners.


What is your most interesting fishing partner story?

I had a buddy years ago that has passed now but he used to beat the paint off the top of my outboard with every other cast .....

Had a few fun days with a mummy. This guy would be wrapped up with cloth so you could only see slits where his eyes should be. He could catch fish but they and the terminal tackle whether single or treble hooks would almost every time end up tangling with some parts of his choice of wrapping. He wouldn't want to relinquish his command post at the bow with the trolling motor at all costs so we would drift away from the productive area or bang into some poor guy's million dollar yacht or dock or run a ground. I would always brace myself for impact after confirming with him he didn't want me to hop on the trolling motor while he unhooked he and his fish. But the most embarrassing moments were when he would pontificate about how no other boat should be on his body of water doing anything other than bass fishing. Don't get me wrong I would love to have a private bass pond of 30 or 40 square miles. But the string of profanity and if the poor boat captains of the occasional passersby could have seen his stare down through those mummy slits or hear any of the litany I would endure until the next distraction could have ever imagined was being thrown their way I was sure they would have come back several more times trying to do strafing runs for more entertainment. But he could catch those pigs and after wrestling with them and almost talking them to death he would always give them a tender kiss. Step off the boat and he was back to mild manner Clark Kent. I wonder how he is now that I moved on fearing his temper and attitude towards fellow men would some how be contagious as the flu. I like to think that the non bass fishing vessel using the same body of water just ensures less fishing pressure and thus leaves the job for me to give the fish their lip piercing experience.

In my boat:

Partner firmly planted a floating worm traveling at about Mach 5' dead in the center of my back, and I was shirtless.

Super super nice guy, worked all the time, no time to practice. I had practiced, found good fish a couple days prior, so we started the morning on my spot. Literally his first cast, boom, 8 pounder. With all the ruckus of landing his catch, we drifted slightly away from the general area. So I got us back to where we needed to be, and boom, his second cast, a 9 pounder. 2 casts, 17 pounds of fish. He finished the day with 5, the rest being dinks, and I worked my tail off for one dink for the day.

In another persons boat:

I drew the one fellow in the club that had a rocket for a bass boat. Day of tournament was in the mid 30's. I had brought my hunting suit to wear in transit, but that was about it. We get in the boat to ready for blast off, and he pulls out this huge motorcycle helmet with face shield. He looked at me and said, sorry, I just have the one. It was a miserable boat ride, and I literally could not function for about 10 minutes after we stopped.

Great stories. I enjoyed reading them. Thanks for taking the time to post them.

I used to fish a local weekly pot tournament. We had been coming to the scales with at least one 5+ pound bass for weeks in a row from our first spot. It is a spot where current comes out of 4 pipes in a 100 yards stretch. It is only real good till the water warns up to much which is usually about a 6 week period from the start of the season.

One week we notice another boat follow close behind to where out first spot was but stayed a good ways away when we stopped. It was a distance relative of my partner that he had talked to about our success of late. They also fish this pot tourney as much as we did.

We blast off in order first to pay first to blast off. The next week the fore mention boat was boat 3 we were 6, and at blast off they were heading to our spot. I almost caught up to them but they managed to get in the area first. The best two spots are the first and fourth pipes. They pulled up to the first pipe (the best) and we started fishing from the 4th about 50 yards away. We exchanged conversations and in it we let them know we saw them follow us last week. They then got quiet but both boats fished on.

I guess since they saw us fishing from afar they were not fishing the spot right or from the right angle to catch the fish. They were throwing plastics and we caught our big fish on large crankbaits first then we would go to the worms.

After we fished for an hour with a c-rig and only boated a couple average fish we left it and they had caught one too and soon left also. We had only stop 1/4 mile down lake so we saw them leave. We quickly ran back to the spot and in 5 or so cast had a kicker in the boat and one under 3. At weigh-in my partner told them where we caught them and did it just after they left.

The next week my steady partner could not make this one so I fished alone. This time they were waiting for the guy to start taking the money and got boat #1 I was about boat 5 or 6 so I did not try to hurry to the spot.

When I got there they were fishing at the forth pipe and was boating a fish under 2 pounds. I was able to set up on the best spot and started throwing my normal crank. Second cast I hooked and boated a fish over 5 as they watched. I tried not to let them see what I was throwing but they were staring. A few cast later I caught a 2# fish.
The relative (boater) had been digging through his tackle and started fishing a crank bait. Few cast later I boated a 2+ pound fish. His partner in the back of the boat is now starting to throwa crankbait.

Here is where it get funny, and as I relive this in my head it is hard to type.
He (boater/relative) has been changing lures every 5 casts, fishing faster and faster. He looked so frantic and was watching me more than his own pole.
I soon hook another big fish. I lipped him on the opposite side of the boat from them and trying to make it look like I am hiding it but also making sure they see it is a 4 pounder.

No sooner than I got the fish in the livewell I heard a loud scream like a scared 10 year old girl. I turn to see a large crank bait hanging from the shirtless back of the guy in the back of the boat. And him yelling "you dumb ..... you hooked me in the back".

I tried to keep fishing but just could not. Every time he would say "stop playing and just yank it out" followed by that girl scream again , I almost bust out laughing.
After 4 or 5 of them I just buried my face in my hat and left.

At weigh-in I saw them but no lure. They stayed toward the back of the crowd watching me get paid.
Even though it is legal and within the rules to do what they did and I never said anything harsh to them about it, YES I did think it was sweet revenge for them spot jumpers.