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Boat Ramp stories
- Thread starter GTMODawg
- Start date
A buddy and me were putting in on the Columbia River to hunt geese and he had an Ulterra and was accustomed to using it to launch with someone else there or not....just the way he did it and it worked well most of the time. He backs the boat in, it floats off the trailer and starts downstream. For those who do not know the Columbia is MOVING....nothing like what we are accustomed to in the SE. That boat had a 140 HP Suzuki Jet and it could just barely make steerage going up river....thats how swift the flow is. Anyway he hits the ulterra remote...and NOTHING. Not a thing. NADA. He proceeds to pound on that remote and cussing the likes of which I have not had the pleasure to hear in a pretty colorful lifetime. Both of our dogs were very aware something was amiss and started fighting one another, apparently thinking we would soon run out of food and it was far better to eat one dog than 2. I am standing on the downstream side of the trailer and he is on the upstream side and says "go get it!". I look at him like he has lost his mind, which he most assurredly had, and immediately start thinking whose gun is closer and who has the quickest reflexes. This is about 2 hours before sunrise and the air temps are about 15 degrees and the water temps close to 30...ice anywhere there aint no flow. Finally the boat washes up on the rocks about 50 yards from us.....but still about 20 yards off the hill. He and I both start that way and wade into that cold water like two kids in a creek in July! The Columbia river bed consists of ball shaped rocks about the size of common building bricks and are as slippery as one can imagine....we both manage to stay mostly dry from the crown of the head up but below that we start icing over IMMEDIATELY! We secure the boat, get back in the truck and warm up a little, the dogs make up for their minor indiscretion and are fast asleep in the back seat. After a few minutes he looks at me and says...."I didn't really mean go get it.....I just meant we (emphasis on we) had to get the boat somehow". Little did he know that I had immediatley, upon hearing him say that earlier, though of the best advice I have ever recieved....that the best boat on the planet is someone else's who has asked you along. Had that boat floated to Portland I would have rode with him to get it but I wasn't about to bale off into that flowing ice water to save my boat, let alone his! As it turned out he had forgotten to turn the trolling motor on! Needless to say we did not hunt that day....we sat in the truck for about an hour, when it got light enough to see, loaded the boat and headed for the house.
Coastal Tiger
Member
Po Boys, Halawakee Creek at Long Bridge, and Idle Hour ramps, all on Lake Harding, are comedy gold during the summer months, especially holiday weekends. Watching the pontoon owners put in or take out is my favorite. Don't even think about letting the wind blow a little 
I've got enough stories to fill a book...and that's just from stuff on the river end of West Point.
BassRaider
Senior Member
Back when my parents lived in Metter, they had a friend in Portal that insisted I get those pesky bass out of his 5 acre pond. I lived for those trips down there. I think my parents only thought my visits were just to go fishing (kinda true). I used the old mans 10' jon boat w/paddle, 5 gal bucket for the fish, & cement filled coffee can for an anchor. Most every catch was a small bass, skinny black crappie, or 2 lb bluegill using mini Rapalas.
Once the bucket was full, I'd paddle over to the bank and dump the fish into a fish basket in the water. Thanksgiving weekend fishing before dinner, I paddle to the bank, lost balance and did a fat man backflip into the water. Freezing, I walk up to the old mans house and ask for a towel and dry shirt. Old I.E. is only about 5' nothing but gave me a t-shirt & overalls. I had a pair of boots in my truck. Dried off in their fish house & changed and walked back to the house to thank him. Him & his wife started laughing so hard at the way I looked. Said I reminded them of Lil Abner wearing a too tight short shirt & overalls that didn't cover my boots w/no socks. Drove to my parents to change into fitting clothes.
Later that night the community had a get together and when I walked in everyone had heard the story and got a big laugh. Made a few friends also.
Also have a later story about a friend whose truck sank at Gainesville Marina.
Once the bucket was full, I'd paddle over to the bank and dump the fish into a fish basket in the water. Thanksgiving weekend fishing before dinner, I paddle to the bank, lost balance and did a fat man backflip into the water. Freezing, I walk up to the old mans house and ask for a towel and dry shirt. Old I.E. is only about 5' nothing but gave me a t-shirt & overalls. I had a pair of boots in my truck. Dried off in their fish house & changed and walked back to the house to thank him. Him & his wife started laughing so hard at the way I looked. Said I reminded them of Lil Abner wearing a too tight short shirt & overalls that didn't cover my boots w/no socks. Drove to my parents to change into fitting clothes.
Later that night the community had a get together and when I walked in everyone had heard the story and got a big laugh. Made a few friends also.
Also have a later story about a friend whose truck sank at Gainesville Marina.
beretta
Senior Member
Saturday afternoon after really slow day of fishing on Lanier, made it back to the ramp and had the pleasure of watching husband and wife try and load their 10ft jon boat. First he beaches the boat on the ramp, there's only one. Then drive the truck and trailer to the top of the ramp, unhooks the trailer, they both grab the trailer and walk it down the ramp. I thought for sure it was going to just ghostride into the lake but it didn't. They get into the water WAY too far, can't see the fenders. He then attempts to back the truck down the ramp and tries to line up with the trailer. He then gets into his boat and after what felt like an eternity he finally gets the strap hooked to the boat and has to shimmy over the bow into the bed of the truck because he out the trailer in the water too far. It was comical. I should have recorded it for Boat ramp bloopers..
Po Boys, Halawakee Creek at Long Bridge, and Idle Hour ramps, all on Lake Harding, are comedy gold during the summer months, especially holiday weekends. Watching the pontoon owners put in or take out is my favorite. Don't even think about letting the wind blow a little
In my experience the wind, current and tide plus the dang Russians are always working against a man when trying to get a boat back on a trailer. It never works with you...always against you!
That ramp In Franklin used to be almost impossible to bet a boat on a trailer. The river was booming through there....even with the small breakwater it was always exciting.
I watched an old boy lose his truck, boat and trailer in the Coosa river at the lock and dam one day. That ramp used to be slicker than snot and had about a 20 foot washout about 100 feet across at the end of the ramp....which was too short to begin with if the water was low. Once a wheel dropped over that abyss it was some kind of exciting to see if there were enough trucks in the parking lot to save the one in peril.
They found that rig on the far shore about 1/2 mile down stream.
Fish would STACK up in that hole at the end of that ramp!
They found that rig on the far shore about 1/2 mile down stream.
Fish would STACK up in that hole at the end of that ramp!
I watched a man and about 8 cub scouts back an extended chasis dodge van into Lake Jackson to the front bumper one January day trying to retrieve a walk through windshield runabout that must've been a former naval vessel....it was about 30 foot long. Those kids came POURING out the windows of that van. We drug the boat and van up the ramp...it wouldn't do it by itself. When the water finished draining he drove it off.
There used to be some big fish caught jigging in Jackson in the dead of winter....
There used to be some big fish caught jigging in Jackson in the dead of winter....
ghadarits
Senior Member
Yall want a good laugh check out The Qualified Captain on instasnap or you tube.
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/qualifiedcaptain
Hours and hours of entertaining boat mishaps.
https://www.youtube.com/hashtag/qualifiedcaptain
Hours and hours of entertaining boat mishaps.
Coastal Tiger
Member
dang
DANG !!!
I like Miami Boat Ramps channel on YouTube. Good one to throw on in the background while you’re putting around the house. You think our GA lakes see some traffic, they got nothin on those saltwater ramps in Miami. They film at the ramps every weekend and then narrate the interesting stuff, it’s pretty comical.
Throwback
Chief Big Taw
Lord have mercy. Where to begin
Batjack
Cap`n Jack 1313
Post #2!
Used to be a bass club from the metro ATL that our bass club would encounter because both clubs had scheduled events at the same ramp on the same lake on the same day.
Them fellas would arrive early, block all the ramps and all the docks and stand there until the entire club had arrived, run their mouths a bit, launched their boats and taken up all the good parking.
Then, and only then, would they clear out of the way.
Very unpleasant bunch of unmentionables.
Them fellas would arrive early, block all the ramps and all the docks and stand there until the entire club had arrived, run their mouths a bit, launched their boats and taken up all the good parking.
Then, and only then, would they clear out of the way.
Very unpleasant bunch of unmentionables.
Whitefeather
Management Material
I took the wife to eat in LaGrange one night in the winter. When we were finished, about 10:00 pm, we swung through Ringer and pulled up to the boat ramp and saw smoke shrouded headlights shining up the ramp. There was a truck that had backed the trailer tires over the drop off at the end of the ramp and couldn’t get up because of the slick slime on the ramp. We found a ratchet strap buried in the tool box and I hooked up to him and pulled him out. He said he’d been there since about 5:00 that evening trying to get it out. Fella needed new rear tires on that truck.
BigBass123
Senior Member
In all seriousness, if someone finds themselves is this situation is there any way to self rescue?
