I was waiting for someone to put this thread up and he seems to have dropped the ball......so I stole the concept! I was talking with another S-B'er about all the Googan talk going on lately and we started laughing about what "Googan-Type" stuff we used to do when we first started out surf fishing for stripers!:jester: So this thread is here for us all to share some of the "Googan-Esque" things we all did early on.......so lets have some fun, share a few funny stories and remember there was a time when we didn't know it all!:tooth:

My Googan story is about myself and one of my buddies and how we would go down the backside with all our gear......including an ultra-bright Coleman lantern.....:rolleyes:....and park our butts at the waters edge at night and fish for stripers with plugs and chunk bait! Well.....how the hell else were we going to see what the hell we were doing???:hidin: We found out however that the fish liked the light......cause' we used to pound fish beside that lantern!:rotflmao: What a couple of "Googs"!

i know, showing up to go fishing for bass and only bringing your light tackle albie rod, complete with 12 lb test leader, and then crying when you lose your 1st hoed plug. Yes, I'll admit it, not my finest moment, but for a minute, I had a chance at that one :)

Definitly brought a 10' ugly stick on the boat:jester:

To this day, my only neopreme waders are camo for duck hunting, so yeah this spring when it was too cold for brethables, I was wearing camo. Not a fasion contest, go ahead mock me, I don't care.

I usually laugh at the googin talk, I'll even joke around about it, but I don't need to make myself feel better about my own life by bashing someone who is trying to learn. I still have googan moments, I probably always will. I'm the type of guy who would rather take five minutes to show somebody what I know, than spend a tide making them feel like crap, life is too short. People have helped me is the past, a knot here, a techniqe here, these people will always stick out in my mind as great people.

One of my best friends is someone who was just getting into the game, I taugh him what I know, learned a lot in the process, and ended up with an awesome fishing buddy. I guess that puts me out of the "cool crowd" huh? just like high school:bshake:

When I was a googan, I asked too many dumb questions to bait dealers and sharpies. Also, I blew my money on party boats because I couldn't catch a large bass.

When I began fishing at Rockport, I used my grandpa's supermarket mini-cart and rigged up gears. Lol. I looked like a hobo because I didn't have a car. Now I do own one. So I can travel and fish and improve.

I've only been hardcore surf-fishing for a few years, I still learn lessons every time I got out fishing. Some of my best moments were when I got my new reel at the begining of last season. I coudln't wait to try it. Well I went to a spot that required about a 1 mile walk 1 way. I was just about to cast out when I realized I forgot to put the crank on the reel. I did alot of walking and cursing that night. Got skunked as well.

Ask Ross about the 1st time he met me...walking down by Devereaux with my 8' Ugly stick 30 lb. mono with a 3/4 oz. crystal minnow hanging from it....yeah I was going long with that setup. :shocked:

I have made so many mistakes fishing that I am going to change the name of my boat to The Googan.

you stole my thread title!!!:cputin:
we were having a good yuk on this.....
I fished with my 2-piece telephone pole and Ahab 20, lugging 5 gallon buckets full of eels and ice for miles on the sand wearing 5mm noeprene waders in the summer......before that fishing freshwater tackle in my hiking boots and steet clothes not caring about getting wet....I saw a guy doing this the other day he didnt care either...he was having fun and had no idea what a googan was :kewl:

12 Foot Daiwa Eliminator with a Penn 8500 SS. After all, every sharpie knows you need a really big stick to fish for big stripers.

Size = Experience

:fishin:
:shocked:

About 15 years ago there was a run of incredible nocturnal fly fishing along Lobsterville beach on MV in early June. Night after night thousands of 30"-36+" bass would wallow on sandeel soup at your feet. They were VERY hard to fool, however. After a lot of tortured nights of frustrated fishing and hours of obsessed fly tying, I finally learned how to catch them and greedily guarded that knowledge.

A night, soon thereafter, a young guy in shorts approached me while I was unhooking a nice fish and asked advice. He was visiting from the west coast, had an 8 wt fly rod and a Loop reel (the earliest wide spool reel that had no drag except your hand pressure on the spool), and little else for tackle. I covered my fly with my hand, gave him some useless pleasant brush off and smiled smugly as he walked off.

A short distance away he met an older man walking off the beach. The older guy I think was named Souza and worked in a lumber yard on the Vineyard. He had been flyfishing there as his primary mode of fishing for 30+ years. The young guy asked him for advice and I listened while he freely explained how to time the tide, what retrieve to use, and then cut the fly off his line and gave it to the young guy.

The young guy set up shop nearby and began catching fish as efficiently as I. Eventually he hooked a freight train of a fish that took him up and down Dogfish bar several times until he landed a 46" fork length striped bass that must have weighed 35-40 pounds.
Fought and caught in 3 feet of water with a 3oz rod, and a reel with no drag. An incredibly skilled angling feat. All possible because of the kindness and generosity of experienced fisherman. I, in comparison, felt ashamed, petty, and small.

I learned something that night. I learned that freely helping someone less experienced than you is the real measure of your worth as a fisherman, and as a person. Ultimately, that is what we are fishing for. If you are out there still, Mr Souza, thank you, you helped me too.

Numbskull, that's a great story and so true.

Reading these posts I realize I'm a googan a good amount of the time. lol.

I am always willing to help someone who is unprepared to fish effectively where ever I am fishing. Since someone else (including my father) helped me appreciate fishing so much, I feel compelled to "share the wealth". That doesn't mean giving away your favorite plug, lure or secret spot, but more like sharing your knowledge of a particular spot in regards to time, tide and weather. I will readily pass on a pre-rigged slug-go to someone who lost their only lure, and if there is a child involved, I will make the effort to give the kid as much info as I have (and they can absorb). I have a number of neices and nephews that LOVE to fish, and they're approaching that age when stripers are not out of the question.

I think its funny how white buckets are associated with the Googs. I actually saw two bucket incidents last weekend. The first was the prototypical white bucket, only this fella had made notches around the top rim with a utility knife so he could hang his rusty Gibbs poppers, so they wouldn't have to lay on top of the rotting pogy in the bottom of the bucket. This guy was one step away from an actual plug bag I think.

The second was a couple doods who had set up a nice lineup of 5 or 6, 6' freshwater rods, with chunks and used an over-turned Orange Home Depot bucket as a coffee table with which they could safely sit thier bud-lights.

These are the guys that really don't want help-they are what they are.

Honestly...there's really nothing wrong with Spiking a couple of rods and sipping on a few brews....sometimes its just about relaxing with your buds.

Oh, I have no problem at all with spiking some rods. I just thought the different uses for buckets, especially the modifications of them where funny.

I have no patience for dead sticking, I am always pulling it in to check the bait.

Honestly...there's really nothing wrong with Spiking a couple of rods and sipping on a few brews....sometimes its just about relaxing with your buds.

I once saw a couple of guys soaking clams with spiked rods while drinking and goofing off. I walked past them down to my spot all the while thinking about how ignorant they were. I caught a couple af small fish and headed back to the car to try a different spot. As I passed them, I saw a huge tail sticking out of their big cooler. My curiosity got the best of me and I went over to see the fish. They didn't have a scale, but it measured out at 46" with my tape. I ended up talking with them for a bit and it turned out they were nice guys who were just blowing off some steam after getting out of work late that night. And they knew a lot more than I thought they would have by their appearance.

A few good ones from my first few dozen striper trips:
- Backlashing a Shimano baitrunner because I set the hook without disengaging the baitrunner. As far as I know, I'm the only person to ever backlash a spinning reel.
- Using a lantern, then wondering why it took the fish 10 minutes to start biting again when I walked in front of it.
- Using 17lb test in the boulders with eels. Leaving with about 30 yards of line left on the reel and no hooks.
- Owning no waders or wading shoes. Freezing in mesh shorts and a tee shirt, and sliding on the Jamestown rocks in sneakers.
- Going kayaking in a maze of islands with only a compass at night. Couldn't find my launching point when the pea soup rolled in.
- Buying 4 of a plug that I read about on the internet, then realizing they suck.
- Wading out on Penfield Reef on an incoming tide and forgetting my flashlight (at dusk). Getting back was a blast in water up to my chest with my surf bag and rod held above my head because the current was treating the bag as a drift sock.
- Trying to fish the east wall with no gaff.

I fished a bar area, white water for a few season and wondering why I never got a hit. My Dad, who was in Florida, had caught many large bass there. Then early one morning at dawn, two guys walk right past me, and out into the water. The continue for about 100 yards straight out. I was amazed. I then realized that I had been fishing in a foot or so of water for the last 2 years. I didnt know I was supposed to wade out on the bar! Bought waders the next day. Started catching fish immediatley after that. Not my brighttest moment.

I once saw a couple of guys soaking clams with spiked rods while drinking and goofing off. I walked past them down to my spot all the while thinking about how ignorant they were. I caught a couple af small fish and headed back to the car to try a different spot. As I passed them, I saw a huge tail sticking out of their big cooler. My curiosity got the best of me and I went over to see the fish. They didn't have a scale, but it measured out at 46" with my tape. I ended up talking with them for a bit and it turned out they were nice guys who were just blowing off some steam after getting out of work late that night. And they knew a lot more than I thought they would have by their appearance.


this is so damn true, I think most of us would be surprised how much the "white bucket brigade" actually catches. sure, some of them don't have a clue, but there are some realy sharpies mixed in there who ONLY fish chunk bait or worms. I've run into a few of them up on PI in the dead of night.

- Backlashing a Shimano baitrunner because I set the hook without disengaging the baitrunner. As far as I know, I'm the only person to ever backlash a spinning reel.


I've done the exact same thing....so.....No you aren't the only person to backlash a spinning reel

I've done more idiotic things than I can count, many more recently than I'd like to admit. The bottom line is that sometimes I just get real excited about the fishing and forget basic things. In any significant blitz I'm virtually guaranteed to do something stupid. For example, a few years back I was in a classic bluefish blitz and hauled in an absolute alligator...a big thick fish that was probably around 35 inches. The hook was just barely in his mouth, and I had dropped my pliers a few paces away unhooking the previous fish. Eager to get the plug back in the fray, I figured I'd just quick unhook him by hand. Happy to show any of you the nice permanent scar on my thumb from that decision.

Whenever I see someone who is clueless, I always try to remember that I was lucky enough to learn the ropes from guys who had been doing it for 30 years. If asked, I always try to help. But I've learned that volunteering information without being asked usually meets with an "f you" look back rather than any thanks.

George great story. Sometimes I think we forget what it's all about.

I'm the type of guy who would rather take five minutes to show somebody what I know, than spend a tide making them feel like crap, life is too short. People have helped me is the past, a knot here, a techniqe here, these people will always stick out in my mind as great people.

One of my best friends is someone who was just getting into the game, I taugh him what I know, learned a lot in the process, and ended up with an awesome fishing buddy. I guess that puts me out of the "cool crowd" huh? just like high school


I wish there were more people who thought like that.....I find the internet to be alot like High School.....if your in the crowd...your in...if not.....your just wasting time......some people can post that they just farted....and they get 400 responses about how awesome they or that was.....other guys have a legit question....and get 2 responses out of 500 looks.....kinda sad when you think about it....but it will never change.....it all about clicks.....funny....you rarely see people offering to fish with new guys.....or show them a trick or two...it's always the same answer...." Do your homework.....pay your dues....put in your time..." You know, I find it hard to believe that ALL these great fisherman on this site learned everything they know on there own.....but they are unwilling to show other newcombers some tricks of the trade.....afraid of giving up that Perfect spot that they have apparently found out about all by themselves.....if I was a newcomber trying to find out about this sport.....and the internet was the place I looked.....not sure I would have fallen in love with the sport the way I did.....it doesn't seem like a very friendly sport to a newcomber if you just take a step back and think about it.

So.......Who wants to fish?

Many times the Googan is really the guy who thinks he knows what a Googan is but in reality is a Googan himself.:confused:

I see lot's of guys carrying just the right Pole/Rod/Stick matched with a perfect reel and all the right stuff but will be Googans forever. There are know nothing Googans and Googans who know a ton. Internet hero or a Googan?? It just depends on the day.....

All us guy's put our pants on one leg at a time but I bet half of ya still squat to pee
God Bless all you Great fisherman you all started out like the other guy ya you put your time in , what ya want a MEDAL look in the mirror your the same POS as me no better and your gonna end up the same place as me . IN A F'N HOLE covered with dirt with worms eating youg fish loving bones
LINK SR

I am STILL a googan thats why I fish alone or with only those I am close enough with to show my true self.....:hidin:

I used to be way to serious about fishing.....I have learned from my ways and enjoy it way more now. Sometimes I like to do googan things in the presence of what appear to be sharpies just to piss them off. Thats when you can tell they dont get the same joy from fishing as you do.....

I learned something that night. I learned that freely helping someone less experienced than you is the real measure of your worth as a fisherman, and as a person.

Whoa - you've exceeded my expectations....

Jenn: Sometimes, early in a game with two outs or late in a game that was not competitive, Willie Mays would purposely strike out and look bad at pitch he could have hit easily. He'd give up an out when it did not matter so the pitcher would try the same thing at another time when it did. Predictabilty is a weakness few people realize they have.

still one too...
I have not even come close to graduating from googanhood :alien:
I know how to catch one species of fish by a couple different methods, half decently.....with ALOT of effort thrown in....

This thread is not about who is a "Googan" or who is a "Sharpie".....gawd that word is stupid! This thread was intended to remind us all that at one time....we were all a blank canvas, and even now no matter who you are.....there is still room for a few more brush strokes! This thread was intended for us all to give a humorous example of something funny, silly or stupid that you might have done when you first started out!;)

Oh.....there are cliques.....but I do not belong, nor do I care......I like everyone and will fish with anyone....and I have!:kewl:

i think we all have a tiny bit of googanism in us from time to time. But, I don't think this thread is about bashing people as googans, It's just funny to look at our selves from time to time and have a chuckle. I mean if you can't laugh at your self who can you laugh at ?

i think we all have a tiny bit of googanism in us from time to time. But, I don't think this thread is about bashing people as googans, It's just funny to look at our selves from time to time and have a chuckle. I mean if you can't laugh at your self who can you laugh at ?

BINGO! Right on the mark Johnny!

I apologize for taking this thread somewhere else....it wasn't pointed at anyone, just a general view I sometimes see.....


I have done many a googan things...and still probably do.....

My 1st saltwater set-up....a white Mitchell Rod and reel from Wallymart.....headed down the Canal to do some bait fishin'.....with my Sneakers on.....walked right down the rocks....next thing I know....I'm sprawled out on my back.....bait everywhere....my pole in 2......I never even took a cast that day....

Used to fish off a jetty at night...same jetty....all the time......after about a year and a half of that....and 1 fish later.....I realized it was about 2 feet deep there.....WHOOPS.

Well since we're being honest and laughing at ourselves....The first time I hit this pier to try it out. There were a few people there. One guy I recognized and I go over and exchange fisherman war stories with him, when my reel starts screeming. I go over adjust my drag and start reeling, well almost everyone on the pier comes over and starts coaching me on how to reel him in. I'm ashamed to admit that I got so caught up, that I didn't realize that they instigated me into brutally fighting this fish against everything I was taught. I was High-stickin, running, and dodging, d#^&#^&#^&#^&#^&g , and jumping. I got the fish on deck and then it dawned on me, I'm worn out, you'd think I just hauled in a blue fin the way I was sweating, all of that and the fish was just barely a keeper. I did everything that's considered a "googan's m/o", all on the ASSumption that I thought those gentlemen were seasoned veterans and knew all there is to fishing this spot. These guys were high fiving me and congratulating me on a 29" fish. Reality hit and I realized the error of my ways when I watched one guy snap his rod trying to yank the fish up onto the pier, and another guy leave a blue flopping around on the deck with the line and hook still in it's mouth because he was scared to unhook it.:blush::blush:

This thread is not about who is a "Googan" or who is a "Sharpie".....gawd that word is stupid! This thread was intended to remind us all that at one time....we were all a blank canvas, and even now no matter who you are.....there is still room for a few more brush strokes! This thread was intended for us all to give a humorous example of something funny, silly or stupid that you might have done when you first started out!;)

Oh.....there are cliques.....but I do not belong, nor do I care......I like everyone and will fish with anyone....and I have!:kewl:


Bigfish...I can laugh at myself because I know I do stupid things. The problem is most of those that NEED to understand the point of your thread....wont

Left Falmouth after work & dinner one late Oct night, got to the Vineyard, got to the Head, fished a perfect tide, got nothing, got home exhausted for 8am, got two small kids ready for the day, walked them to the local swimming beach for something to do, dead low,low tide, found two guys from Ohio trying saltwater fishing with 6 ft spinning rods, using poppers in 18" of water as far as they could cast. While I explained to one the futility of their effort, the other got a huge hit (right at his feet), screaming run, and managed to land a 14 lb bluefish. So who was the "googan"?

Jenn...I agree!;)

6oz. pyramids and bait the first time at the Ditch. Kept getting hung up and peezed. My son was with me and only about 8yo at the time. dispite this idiocy his father was leading him into, he caught a 40+ inch bass. That fish must have lept on that mack chunk before it hit bottom. This was when a bass had to be 36" to keep. Of course we (I) didn't bring a tape to prove it..The beauty of all this was we were fishing right next to a group of guys who were all decked out in the "proper" attire and gear. We could tell because they looked all the same and were all snooty. Snooty until Noah hooked up.

I try never to be critical of others methods of fishing . I too started out with a white bucket chuncking bait and drinking lots of beer . We fished well , caught many large fish and never made a spectical of ourselves (like some do) . The local waters for me the bucket brigade cathes more fish than any other type of fishing . That being said I dont fish that way any longer but I dont fish my local waters often . Like link said who the hell are we . We are fisherman not rocket scientists . and either way we will end up the same . dust to dust .

When I first started out in the early 70s . I thought you had to run up to the surf and cast hard . My grandfather used to laugh at me " go for it kid LI isnt that far away " . we chuncked often and caught large fish . I learned that with time I found the strength in me to just stand and cast like I did in the freshwater . Today I still do stupid things in others minds but thats Ok . for most of us its not our method of survival so have FUN fishing . its only fishing and dont take it too seriously .

How about all of us freshwater converts that found out the hard way how important the drag on a reel is.

How about all of us freshwater converts that found out the hard way how important the drag on a reel is.

Or us freshwater converts that were not used to rinsing the salt off our gear???:hs:

Trolled a tube at 7 kts. in the middle of Vineyard sound at 2 PM on 30 lb mono. All 100 yards that would fit on the undersized reel was skimming across the top of the water.

Now I know so much, everything stays the same but I add a worm. Man, those night crawlers are expensive.

Anchored in 10' of crystal clear water (with not a fish in sight) in cape cod bay with an ugly stick, a giant chunk of bait, 2oz lead sinker, 67 beers in the cooler, a flat of sea worms, a pound or two of clams, 6 guys in the boat, and not a fish within 2 miles of us. We figured, hey just drop the bait in and they will come! It's funny how they never came...:rotflmao: The boat's gone now, and we've all since had the opportunity to do a bunch of dumb stuff from shore too! Live and learn...

My first time fishing with eels no one told me how to handle them. Me and a buddy went to the end of Tashmoo jetty with a bucket'o'eels and proceeded to try and grab the slimy eels with our hands on the rocks with no rag, then put a hook thru their faces.
It turned into an all out laugh fest, after mucho numerous 4 handed grabbing attempts we laughed ourselves silly til we nearly pee'd our pants. After regaining our composure we figured out to take them off the jetty and put some dry beach sand on them for grip...Duuuhhhh! Till this day I still chuckle a little every time I reach for one of those slimy little suckers.

My worst googan moment came about 5 years ago when I went on my first get-together outing with members of the CT Surfcasters Assoc. I, at the time, had been surf fishing for 25 years and liked to think I knew what I was doing.
so here comes the newbie (me) up to about six guys from the club fishing side by side, I say hello to all thinking "this is what it's all about, a bunch of guys just like me". the guys actually made some space for me in a very crowded spot and then on my first cast with my new buddies I proceeded to cast the drag knob and spool of my 4500ss into Long Island Sound. I had loosened the drag for some reason and it was right at the edge and off it went, I had no spare spool or rod and had walked 1/2 mile to the spot, so I just watched them fish for a few minutes and went home. Going to the same spot tonight to meet the guys if the weather cooperates.

When I was a young teen I had this bizarre overhead as hard as you can cast casting style.

Hooked myself in the back of the head.Twice.

Whats wrong with 5 gallon buckets!! Anyone who would cast stones at the guy who likes them might as well beat up on duct tape ( thats DUCK tape to you googans ) and zip ties.

I sometimes have the honor of fishing with an 80 YO Googan who wears plaid pants and old dress shoes as he putts around in his dory.
He makes plugs out of broomsticks and the things work great and he fishes with bulk cheap Shakespere line.
The guy thinks keepers of any species are meant to be kept and eaten and he eats fish all winter long.

Did I ever tell you guys about the time I stripped down to my skivvies and swam out to the huge rock on the SE corner of Watch Hill to salvage a Gibbs bottle plug someone had left hanging on the top of it?

:doh:

Woody

I had a Goog moment just last night.

Where I was fishing there is about a three foot wall with sand on one side and on the other you can jump down and cast from in front of it. I jumped down and decided to take my bag off my shoulder and lay it on the other side of the wall. It is now three feet up behind me above a nice moving current and of course laying open. I swing the rod back to cast my bucktail and before I even realize what was happening I hear the sound of the bag being flipped. :eek: It turns out that my bucktail had hooked the back and bottom of the bag. All of my plugs decided to make a run for it. I was able to grab most of them but the lightning fast goalie like reflexes of this kid I just met saved the rest. All of my bucks and tins stayed in the pouches and I did not lose a single thing. Going through the inventory made me realize how pissed my wife would be once she saw the receipt from the replacements. :af:
My bag will now stay on my shoulder or if alone way the hell out of the way and closed.

I'm thinking the 14 ft walmart rod for tossing 2oz and a small chunk in the bay was overkill.I was using my white bucket as a seat while holding the big bastard.No surf,no current,shallow water,low tide,full moon,light shining in the drink looking for bait.
The thing is I still fish alone.I don't get much help from others.So every lesson in this game is learned the hard way . I have picked some stuff up here and there on this site but, thats like saying you can rebuild an engine because you've read about a guy that built the same one.I read the reports ,watch the tides and fish under optimal conditions when possible .Still just a goog who wanders on the beach alone ,talking to myself ,yelling at wind knots,making stupid mistakes and learning from them.So yeah I'm pretty googanish most of the time.

BigFish,

Here is my googan moment:

Slinging an eel by its tail through a onshore wind into the Merrimack with a 12' Ugly Stick.

I have learned a lot since then by talking with the surfmasters working the counters at our New England bait and tackle shops, The Fisherman, On The Water, the Plum Island Surfcasters, the various books that have been published in recent years, and GREAT online communities such as this one.

I follow a woodworking site called www.woodnet.net and www.bt3central.com. Sites like this one and the woodworking sites are the reason that the internet is so powerful a tool. It's people helping people. Sharing information so that evryone benefits.

They share information and help people just to help them. We were all newbies once. Once another newbie asks you a question and you can help them in some manner,(you can skin a cat in more than one way) you are getting them from a point where you once were. A rookie.

We were all rookies once. I remember once when I couldnt get a 1/2 blind dovetail to work while I was working with stock that was 7/16 inch thick?

Took me a while but I smiled and laughed at myself after I figured it out.

You can either learn from your mistakes or from you mentors. I would rather learn from a mentor, but I also learn the hard way from my mistakes more than I would like to admit.

Mike

"aka" rookie, newbie, or googan.

My early googism was chunking with treble hooks because the meat stays on better .. Caught a 24" striper the hook buried in its throat .. I cut the line and released it knowing it wasn't able to feed like that . That was the end of trebles and rod holders .

How about buying a 6' boat rod with some god awful Penn conventional reel for my skiff and then going ahead and using it at the Powder Point Bridge! Brilliant! Oh yea and then I went ahead and tried to cast it out! Can you say Birds Nest?!:fishslap:

I learned something that night. I learned that freely helping someone less experienced than you is the real measure of your worth as a fisherman, and as a person. Ultimately, that is what we are fishing for. If you are out there still, Mr Souza, thank you, you helped me too.


A F@$N MEN...we should all remember that one!!!

If I can give back to others 50% of what this sport/hobby/way of life has given me I would die a happy man.

That being said...I have dozens of Googan stories both surfcasting and boat fishing and the number goes up to the thousands when I think about flyfishing.

Latest laughable moment was this summer when I was telling some friends about how well I have been doing in club casting contests and how much I have been learning about distance casting during my trips to the outer banks...can you see this one coming...back to back to back monster backlashes...two rods, three reels and within ten minutes I was all done for that tide...replacing the line was inor compared to how stupid I felt. It's funny now!!!!!

Ya know what's really weird? I don't ever remember having a "googan" moment?

(Well there was that one time wading out to fly fish in Barnstable harbor on a bright sunny Sunday morning and after making the 3/4's of a mile trek out to the edge of the channel at low water and just starting to cast to rolling fish I got stomach cramps and had to immediatly head back for the truck, which was a speck on the shore and getting halfway back suddenly realizing I wasn't going to make it and had to make the decision to either drop trou then and there on the spot or wear the consequences. I wonder if the husband and wife team that were clamming 50 feet from me ever got over that sight?)

hmmmm????:doh:

I know I am not alone in this next one...

Two of us are in the right spot and the fish are there...my friend is hooking up every few casts...I keep missing hits and dropping hooked fish while he is putting the hurt on the school of fish that seemed suicidal...I get more and more frustrated as I am using the same plug and retrieve as he is.

Finally we both stop for a smoke break and while I am bitching about how i can't get a fish landed my friend proceeds to take my plug off the rod and remove the hook protectors and tells me I should be all set now.

Damn it...I have done this on more than one occasion

I tried explaining to this woman, I am fishing a conventional that is why the reel is on top. She refused to listen and told me how it just felt "right" to have the spinning reel on top because that is what her husband taught her...........( I think she was getting weirded out when I started snapping off pictures) lol

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/BostonMel/Chris/googan2.jpg

I got my first striper on a clam and 3oz of weight, which was not enough weight to hold bottom in Moriches inlet here on Long Island. I was using a 7' Penn Captiva rod and reel combo.

Well, from there I decided to step it up a bit so I went to Modell's Sporting Goods and purchased my new set up, a 10' 2 piece ugly stick and stepped it up to the 8000 Captiva reel. I spooled that bad boy up with 40lb stren braid and was addicted.

3 months later I caught my biggest bass on that combo.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. My friend quit fishing and I raided his garage and got myself a 10' Lami conventional. I also got a Penn 9500SS and put it on the conventional rod. I couldn't understand why I kept getting birds nests and wind knots, until some guy saw me fishing and said "I think a conventional reel belongs on that rod, that rod doesn't have surf guides on it."

I tried explaining to this woman, I am fishing a conventional that is why the reel is on top. She refused to listen and told me how it just felt "right" to have the spinning reel on top because that is what her husband taught her...........( I think she was getting weirded out when I started snapping off pictures) lol

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c283/BostonMel/Chris/googan2.jpg


HAHA NOW THATS FUNNY

i think i'll always be a googan when it comes to landing big fish :wall:

i think i'll always be a googan when it comes to landing big fish :wall:

Bar either your PM box is full or you can't receive any PM's.... :crying:

How about heading to the beach with my buddy, planning to do an "all nighter" which then was 7-midnight, and we were getting eels which meant automatic fish. With not knowing how to properly fish them I rigged mine with a 3-way and a 3oz sinker. I casted it out, threw my rod in a sand spike and waited. Reeled it back in after 10 min to find the biggest eel ball id ever seen, then proceeded to try to untie it. This procedure went on for about 2 hours.

Bar either your PM box is full or you can't receive any PM's.... :crying:

whoops, sorry about that. all set now...

I had a googan moment this year.

I stopped at a tiny spot and hear fish slapping the water. I grab my fly rod and start casting and pulling out line so I can cast. My first cast hits the water and I immediatly hook up only to have the line wrap on the reel and break off. I didn't have anymore flies with me either.


I also once insisted on jumping between rocks when it was safer to just clim b down and climb up. Sure enough I jump, slip, then slid down the rock and tear a good 12 inch hole in my waders.

I remeber going to the outer banks and looking at all the sick custom rods, they were really long and like 350.00. I went to another shop and they had a 12 footer, it wasnt as pretty but it was 9.99. I figured wow those other guys are suckers paying 300+ for a rod i just bought for 10 bucks. Bought my first wood plug a big ole gibbs polaris, i figured i would be casting to bermuda. Well 30-40 yards was pretty humbling. I figured i would show those carolinians how to catch stripers. Didnt go so well. For a week of fishing i managed 2 skate and a puffer.

With not knowing how to properly fish them I rigged mine with a 3-way and a 3oz sinker. I casted it out, threw my rod in a sand spike and waited. Reeled it back in after 10 min to find the biggest eel ball id ever seen, then proceeded to try to untie it. This procedure went on for about 2 hours.[/QUOTE]

Thats classic, i remember doing the same thing.

i witnessed a great googan moment over the weekend...a guy showed up to a local beach where i was with what seemed like a 5' rod...tosses out a storm shad with a bobber...and then just sits there and waits...and waits...felt bad enough that i gave him a plug and gave him the suggestion of taking of the bobber and giving a bit of movement to things...

" ONCE A GOOGAN ALWAYS A GOOGAN"

I was lucky enough to be invited by a friend to the Vineyard this summer. Her father had heard I was a fisherman and was excited that we would be able to fish together. Well we met him at South Beach for a day of sun bathing and there he was equipped with his 12ft, two piece ugly stick, spooled with what felt like 50 lb mono and a three way on the end. The best part was what was attached to the 3 way, a 2oz sinker on one end and a wire leader with a Jumpin Minnow clipped on the other end. Needless to say he wasn't too successful fishing that day from the beach. When we got back home I introduced him to my plug bag.

That was a classic moment, but I've certainly had my fair share of Googan moments as well.

- Fishing the Canal, At Scusset low tide, casting with one rod, and chunking with another. Look over and my rod is being dragged through the water with a fish on. I did manage to get the rod,but lost the fish. I never knew that you were supposed to loosen the drag ( I did feel better when talking to the guys who have seen rods pulled out from the rocks.

Fishing at night and forgetting my tackle box on the beach. It was basicly a fresh water tackle box with all of the saltwater stuff I had.

-I still find myself forgetting to take all of the plastic hook protectors off.

-Driving my truck on the beach in Truro and getting stuck. I break out shovel and start digging, some guys come by to help, and then I realize I forgot to put the truck in 4WD

Well....I didn't know what a Googan was until I read this thread....and know I'm one because as I was reading through the tales I kept saying to myself, "I wonder what's wrong with that?"

It reminds me of a proverb that I like to live by:

A man who knows not and knows he knows not is a child, teach him.
A man who thinks he knows but knows not is a fool, shun him.
A man who knows what he knows is a wise man, follow him.


I believe that living one's entire life as a combination of child, teacher and wise man is not bad.

Bruce the Googan.

Does anyone know who came up with the term Googan? Who or what is the original Googan? Is it from a movie or tv show? The first time I heard the term it was in the book"Trolling for Striped bass and Bluefish" by Capt. Pete Barrett. I thought he came up with it but maybe not.

http://www.googan.com/default.htm
I don't know where the term as used here came from but they have their own site.
When I worked at Killington in the early 70s we used to call the skiing equivalent "turkeys" Some of them became skiers. Funny, I don't remember any girl turkeys.

Funny, I don't remember any girl turkeys.

Do they Gobble?

Freshwater googan story. Me and a buddy were fishing opening day Trout 5yrs ago . We were in my 10ft coleman crawdad pushed by a 34lb thrust trolling motor anyway we decided to move out of the cove we were in to the open lake. We reel in and hunker down against the wind and I crank the motor to hi. Well a few minutes later I look to the bank and we made a little headway but not much. Now the banks are full of people when out of the early morning silence comes a voice ( YOUR DRAGGIN YOUR ANCHOR) followed by thunderous lafter. It was a long ride out of that cove, after I pulled the anchor of course.