CaptainSolo
Senior Member
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 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?
Last edited: