At the Spalding County Sportsman Club meeting last Tuesday everyone got a good laugh at a story told on one of our members. The local realtor, who’s name will be withheld to protect the guilty, was fishing with another member practicing for a tournament. He had a brain freeze that all fishermen have at times.

It seems Niles was quickly tying on a hook to match what Raymond had caught a fish on. He put the hook in his mouth and tied his line, then somehow forgot the hook in his mouth when he got ready to fish, and hooked himself!

No permanent damage was done, it was more embarrassing than anything else. But we all do things like that. I have certainly done my share. Most caused no damage but I will try to not do some things again.

Spinnerbaits cost several dollars each and sink in the water. One day I was in a hurry to tie one on and cut off the plug I had been using. I grabbed a spinner bait, took the end of the line and tied it on and dropped it over the side just as I realized I had picked up the end of a piece of loose line that was not attached to anything. The spinner bait sank carrying the three foot piece of line with it.

Another time I was tying on a Carolina rig. With those rigs you slip a heavy sinker on your main line, put on a bead or two, then tie on a swivel. You tie a leader to the swivel and tie your hook to the end of it.

I slid the sinker and beads on and started to tie on the swivel. The end of the line slipped from my hand and the main line swung the sinker and beads over the side of the boat. The sinker headed to the bottom. I thought the beads floated but they joined the sinker on the bottom. So I started over.

It is not unusual to hook something you don’t want on your line and often that something is in the boat with you. I have had more than one partner yell at me as I started my cast and my lure or hook went too far toward them. More than once it got real close, sticking in them.

The bad thing, for me, doing that is when you follow through with your cast, not realizing your hook is in your partner, it makes you get a bad backlash!

Losing a sinker or spinner bait is bad enough, but a rod and reel is another worse story. I like to change rods as I fish and usually lay the one I was using across the deck of the boat with the lure dangling over the water, planning on picking it up again after a few casts with the different outfit. That is ok when the lure dangles over the water.

But with a Carolina rig the lead is over the water and the worm is in the water. One day while fishing a tournament at West Point I left a Carolina rig over the side of the boat. I heard a splash and looked down to seem my rod and reel headed toward the bottom in 30 feet of water.

My partner said he saw a small spotted bass come up right beside the boat, grab the worm and take off, pulling my rod and reel in. We tried to drag the outfit up for about an hour with no luck. And that was my favorite Carolina rig rod and reel.!

Another morning at West Point it was very foggy. I was fishing a rocky point and heard a splash right beside the boat. I thought fish were schooling and kept fishing.

A little later I wanted to throw a buzz bait and looked for that outfit. It was gone. I guess I bumped it with my foot and kicked it overboard. Just shows I should not have so many outfits on the deck of my boat while fishing.

The worst scare I got was at Lake Martin. I was by myself practicing and had run up the river. When I stopped in 15 feet of water off the bank I put the trolling motor down and picked up a rod. The line on the rod I picked up hooked the handle of another outfit and flipped it over the side.

I tried to grab it before it sank and fell out of the boat. Luckily I was wearing jeans, tennis shoes and a light shirt. When I came up I looked around to see if anyone was laughing at me. Then I looked around hoping someone was laughing so they could come help me. I could not get back in the boat.

After struggling for several minutes I managed to get to the back of the boat and use the motor to climb back in the boat. As I lay on the deck panting I remembered the prescription bifocal sunglass I had been wearing. Had is the operative word. So I lost a $200 rod and reel outfit and a $300 pair of sunglasses.

If I had just thought before grabbing for the rod I could have thrown out a marker and tied on a Little George and drug up the rod. But by the time my swim was over the boat had drifted and I never was able to get it back.

When fishing, expect to do some dumb things but try to think and not make them even worse!