Once Upon A Googan!

[BxBomber]

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.

[numbskull]

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"?

[The Dad Fisherman]

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

[crash]

Originally Posted by The Dad Fisherman

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???

[Brine]

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... 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...

[boot man]

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.

[MVbluefish]

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.

[westhavendave]

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.

[basswipe]

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.

[planter]

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.

[WoodyCT]

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?



Woody

[Frankiesurf]

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. 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.
My bag will now stay on my shoulder or if alone way the hell out of the way and closed.

[Adam_777]

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.

[Green Light]

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.

[mikebanks]

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.

[Tagger]

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 .

[MarshCappa]

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?!

[BasicPatrick]

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

[reelecstasy]

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

[bassballer]

Originally Posted by reelecstasy

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

HAHA NOW THATS FUNNY

[bart]

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

[Bronko]

Originally Posted by bart

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

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

[bart]

Originally Posted by Bronko

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

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

[bassballer]

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.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

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.

[Rob Rockcrawler]

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.

[doc]

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...

[missing link]

" ONCE A GOOGAN ALWAYS A GOOGAN"

[beaver]

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.

[Bazza]

- 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