Ok, well, here goes. The day I tried to sink my boat & kill my girlfriend.
We all remember Hurricane Ike that went through Houston, TX & then made it’s way up through southern Ontario before it ran through the maritimes just a couple weeks ago, right?
To make a little more sense to this story, I have a 16′ aluminum bass boat, with a 40 hp on the back. Not a Great Lakes boat, to say the least. Very low in the water, & very light.
Well, Tania & I had a hankerin’ for some Smallmouth Bass action, but just a short time to fish, so I decided we’d launch in nearby Frenchman’s Bay & head out onto Lake Ontario to fish the rock shoals around the Pickering Power Plant for a couple hours.
Those of us who are familiar know how rough & tumble Lake O can get, even on a good day. Well, when we arrived, we both looked out & saw the thousands of whitecaps, & the waves crashing onto shore. Frenchman’s was calm, so we launched & made our way to the bay opening, leading out onto Lake O.
As we arrived, there was a big 20′ Lund coming back in. He told us he couldn’t get past the opening, & we were crazy.
Being the Furiousaholic I am, I talked not only Tania, but myself as well that IF we could get around the rocky point, we ’should’ be sheltered on the other side.
Well, we started out, & even made it around the point, but what should’ve been a 5 minute trip had turned into a 45 minute adventure. A brutal one at that.
When we got around the point, where the depth changes from 25′ up to 5′ on the rock shoals, I looked at my depth finder to see that I was on swells that varied from 19-10′. If I don’t stay in the trouph & drift over the 5′ shoals, we’re dead. That’s when it all got real for me. I later learned that Tania had been scared since she saw the lake.
Just when I decided we were going to head back, our feet suddenly got wet. I wondered where the water was coming from, so I turned my head & saw the next roller come right over the back of my boat. Oh boy…
The phrase ‘remain calm’ ran over & over in my head. I told Tania to hang on, as I was going to try & get us turned around on a dime with the next roller. Think of that memorable scene from The Perfect Storm. And this time it worked! We were now facing the waves & still in deep enough water to not have to worry about hitting the rocks. Another 45 minutes later, with my bilge pump running full bore the whole time, we were at the opening to Frenchman’s Bay again.
The opening is marked with 2 small lighthouses about 50′ apart & a rock shoal leading to shore on each side. The already huge rollers were crashing over the rocks making getting through a nightmare. The rollers would pick us up, but with all the water in my hull, the bow wouldn’t come up causing my boat to list, & crabwalk. Twice I thought the bow was going to catch bottom & tumble ass over tea kettle. These are the 2 single most scariest moments I’ve ever had in my boat, in my 5th season. Somehow, I had the prescence of mind to give it a shot of gas, just enough to stay ahead of the rollers behind me. It was crazy.
Anyways, after an hour on the Bay, we put the boat back onto the trailer. I looked at Tania & said “honestly, if you were any of the guys I fish with, we would’ve never even attempted it today”. She replied “So, why did we?”
“Well, I didn’t want you to think I was a wimp”. Made sense to me. That’s when she said “Baby, you’re not a wimp, you’re an idiot!”
Nice.
100% true story, from just a couple weeks ago. This hat would’ve kept me warm on the way home that day, ’cause it some bad-ass cold in the truck!

I want to give this hat to my Japanese father inlaw for our first day fishing together (and his first time fishing!).
But, I think MuskyBill deserves this hat just for most words typed.

Yeah, that’s gonna be tough to beat Bill!

Concede to Mr. Bill

Bill ‘headcase’ Musky hunter, just for being so mental i think you should get the hat, i can’t even begin to think of a comment after you’re fishing trip!…By the way, with stories like that, you should be posting them on the FF Forum not on here, we want to read more, nice one mate.

This hat would be great for me the next time Clive embeds a Mepps Musky Killer in the back of my head (at least I didnt fall out of the boat).

That said my head is of abnormal size so it probably wouldn’t fit.

That’s what you get for standing withing casting distance of me Jon!

PS the hats are Flex fit, and should fit any adult head.

Ya, do not have the energy to write as much as MuskyBill did nor do I have any near death experiences….like his gf said ‘I try not to be an idiot”.

Starting every year around Turkey Day I start heading out to the Pier in Michigan and cast for Walleyes 20 minutes after dark(sometimes with my 7yr old daughter). If the winds are right you can cast right from the pier, but if the winds have any westerly in it we wade out. Nothing beats standing chest deep in water with snow blowing around you, and this looks like a good hat to have on those days.

Wow after reading Bills story there ain’t nothing to top it. Jeez buddy I hope 6B’s forgives ya after that one. You’ll need a nice warm hat like that for ice fishing the boq this winter.

ken i agree but i think you need it more to compliment your green elf suite you wore to sportsman’s lodge this year.

Gary, you are correct. Next time I buy Rhino Gear for the bugs I should really think about how it will look on me. I guess sometimes it is better to get bitten a few times over looking like a 40yr old Richard Simmons fan sweating to the oldies. :)

6B’s will ALWAYS forgive…it’s the gf he should be worried about ;)
Not only did I “white knuckle” it all the way out and back, I actually got pretty pale there for a few. Can’t remember the last time I experienced being sea sick. With Bill and his wonderful nautical skills, we made it back safe and sound, and yes…all is forgiven. But, it’s definitely one of those once in a lifetime experiences, meaning once is enough so, next time I see white caps, I won’t be putting my sea legs to the test…..they’ll be planted firmly on dry land! :-)

Words I like to hear, JB!
With or without the hat, I’ll hit up the BoQ with ya this winter.

But, c’mon!
We’re not ALL ‘fair weather fishermen’ are we?
There has GOT to be some wild stories. I know Clive & Jon have a few…

[...] some good news to everyone who has conceded to Bill’s awesome story - we will be giving away an additional hat! That’s right, you still have a chance to win a [...]

Hello again, i have never been able to wear a hat before because i didn’t know how it should go, but thanks to the 3 illustrations on the art of wearing a hat i feel confident now and if i should be lucky enough to win i could wear it knowing it is on correctly!!!…Cheers mate!

I’ll budge on this one since I think the hat is sweet looking. I could totally use this hat this winter on the boq. Since its going to be my last winter on the bay I plan to fish it real hard and a warm hat is required for the long days on the ice without a hut. I’ll still be able to use a great warm hat when I move back to the Niagara as the river flows year around and there is lots of fishing to be done when the weather isn’t great. I must mention that a hat like this would have been great while attempting to evade the harbor police in a canoe with a 3hp motor while the captain of said vessel cut into Toronto island airports waterways but he said he didn’t know. All I know is I could have used a warm hat since it was freezing out and the police boat was kick’n up some pretty good waves while holding us at large. I thought we were goners and going to be broke since the Coppers were throwing around some large figures for fines. Thank goodness the Captain managed to sweet talk em and we got off scott free with only water in the boat to show for our ill navigation. Man alive what a trip. The ride over to the island was a cold one and I sure could have used that hat!

I need one because there’s so much snow here that i’m almost loosing my ears.

[...] its more then just a hat. Check out the history of Stormy Kromer below and don’t forget to submit your own story for a chance to win a free [...]

My daughter just informed me that she deserves the hat(she liked the FLEXIBLE FIT IDA KROMER in Pink of course). She is 7yrs old and just took her first trip to Ontario to fish for Pike this Fall with me. She was a true trooper, we fished 7 days straight getting up at 7AM and getting in around dark and never complained once. One day we had blowing winds and rain for about 5 hours straight, it was too cold to wear a ball cap(which she loves) so she was forced to wear one of my thick wool caps. After seeing this cap she said she wishes she would of had that hat. She ended up out fishing her Dad most days, she caught the biggest walleye every day and I barely beat her on the biggest Pike of the trip.
Also here in about a month we will start hitting the piers for walleye at night.

Look - I rediscovered fishing this summer because I realized my kids were your typical suburban chubby TV addicts. I bought us rods, reels and some basic tackle. My old man, who took me fishing plenty when I was a kid, sent us some old flies and bubbles and stuff. Once the ice was off the water, we were out there, my boys learning how to cast and me learning how to be the guy in charge of untying knots and getting fish off the hook.

We’ve spent the summer taking trips to the pond across the street, the lake up the road, and the river near their grandparents’ house. We’ve caught sunfish, bass, and trout, watched frogs hopping around the water, hiked trails, climbed mountains, gotten our shoes wet and come home smelling like bait.

And you know what? My boys are skinnier, my wife is happier, the TV isn’t on nearly as much, and by god, I can now clean a mothereffing fish.

So I think I deserve to win the hat, because me and my boys are going to be fishing until it’s just too damn cold to keep going.

I deserve win the hat because were I fish have much chickens passing near. Sometimes, I hear some singing because she put her eggs, and I never have some bag at hand to take them…

I’m not much for a pithy comment, but I thought I’d leave a note about how honored I be to wear Kromer on my upcoming annual pheasant hunting trip to South Dakota.

I’m sure that my hunting buddies will joke about how silly I look while they wear their stylized broad brim hunting caps, but I’ll be laughing on the inside as my head stays nice and warm. I’ll be laughing al the more when the stiff South Dakota wind picks up and Kromer is staying put.

Finally, with the fall bite on, I know my new Kromer will call the largemouth to my waiting hook. Heck — it’s got to be good for at least a reaction strike!