Have you ever made social blunder while on water?

[sroffe]

I learned I needed to watch my backcast. Whacking the deck hand once in the head with a glob of eggs is bad enough. Twice, I almost got thrown out of the boat.

 

[Lance Magnuson]

A few weeks ago I was on Lone Lake in a boat with my son and rowed past a group of anglers who had beached their craft and were standing around drinking and talking. I haven't met many new people here since moving from Vermont, and thought I might cleverly find out if they were folks from this forum with whom I might have interacted online. So I yelled out: "I was just telling my son that some of you might be on the flyfishing forum I like!" Their heads turned, they regarded me, one said "nice canoe" and they went back to their conversation. As I probably would have done. I'm not sure what I expected, I had made a statement not asked a question. I felt like I had made a social faux pas, but I'm not too broken up over it.

Don’t mind the Lone Lake anglers. They’re typically untoward. It’s hard to sit by yourself watching an indicator for hours and not become antisocial.

 

[Driftless Dan]

A buddy and I, while in high school, decided to float the Nehalem River from Spruce Run park to tidewater, where my parents had a cabin. Lots of adventures there, but as we neared the end, we floated on slow water. As we rounded a bend, we noticed something on the beach. As we silently got closer we realized two folks were making love on the beach. We kept quiet as we drifted by, but as we were within 20 yards, they, er, finished. We broke out in applause. The woman seemed unhappy at that, but the guy stood up, still buck naked, and took a bow.

 

[Jim Ficklin]

If taking a whiz with my waders down around my thighs and having a lady flyfisher pop around the bush that was shielding me counts, then yes . . .

 

[Irafly]

Don’t mind the Lone Lake anglers. They’re typically untoward. It’s hard to sit by yourself watching an indicator for hours and not become antisocial.

Yet out on Lone, I’m one of the most gregarious guys you’ll meet and I most definitely watch an indicator. My loud friendly nature is often times perceived as a social blunder by others, but I don’t care

But the first time I fished with @Drifter In his boat out on Crane Prairie, I really needed to poo. If you’ve fished there, You’ll know that once you are out on the lake, accessing shore again can be very difficult. My options were limited: poo my pants, hang my butt over the side or... I noticed my cooler. I took the beers out, did my business, rinsed and restocked. For some reason, he has never fished with me again since that trip, can’t imagine why.

 

[Jim Travers]

I have never made a social blunder! EVER!!!

 

[KillerDave]

I have made a few. But since I can't really remember what they were, they don't count.

 

[Jake]

My then-4-year-old and I hiked into an alpine lake to camp and fish. As we were fishing right from camp a solo female hiker came up, dropped her gear near us, and said “I’m going to pitch my tent here if you don’t mind. You’ve got a kid, so I know you’re safe.”

Now, what I should have said was “ok”...or nothing. Nothing would have been good. But, in an attempt to empathize with her situation, I said

“Yeah, you might be surprised.”

She camped on the far side of the lake.

 

[Jake]

Another time I took my cardigan corgi (big dog, dwarf legs) backpacking. The trail passed by the lake, and I spotted an angler about 2’ from shore but already waist-deep.

“Woah,” I said, “it gets deep fast!”

“Yeah. Cute dog!” he said, “What is it?”

Now, if you’ve ever had a cardigan corgi you know you’re constantly answering 1000 questions about them wherever you go. So, I launched into the well-practiced spiel.

“She’s a Cardigan Corgi. They’re like a regular sized dog, but stumpy legs. In fact...”

Looking at my dog, I didn’t notice that he had stepped out of the lake to come visit her.

“...Corgi literally means dwarf dog...”

I noticed then that the man was himself an actual honest-to-goodness dwarf.

What do I do? I hurriedly wondered. Do I keep going? I would for anyone else. Do I treat him differently because he has dwarfism? Apparently I chose the third, previously unknown, option; make it waaaay more awkward.

“...so she thinks she’s a big dog, and tries to do all of the big dog things, but she’s not. Her legs are so stumpy she can hardly swim—she can barely even walk in the water ‘cause her legs are so short. It’s funny because she makes even puddles look deep.”

 

[ceviche]

Another time I took my cardigan corgi (big dog, dwarf legs) backpacking. The trail passed by the lake, and I spotted an angler about 2’ from shore but already waist-deep.

“Woah,” I said, “it gets deep fast!”

“Yeah. Cute dog!” he said, “What is it?”

Now, if you’ve ever had a cardigan corgi you know you’re constantly answering 1000 questions about them wherever you go. So, I launched into the well-practiced spiel.

“She’s a Cardigan Corgi. They’re like a regular sized dog, but stumpy legs. In fact...”

Looking at my dog, I didn’t notice that he had stepped out of the lake to come visit her.

“...Corgi literally means dwarf dog...”

I noticed then that the man was himself an actual honest-to-goodness dwarf.

What do I do? I hurriedly wondered. Do I keep going? I would for anyone else. Do I treat him differently because he has dwarfism?

Apparently I chose the third, previously unknown, option; make it waaaay more awkward.

“...so she thinks she’s a big dog, and tries to do all of the big dog things, but she’s not. Her legs are so stumpy she can hardly swim—she can barely even walk in the water ‘cause her legs are so short. It’s funny because she makes even puddles look deep.”

You just topped everyone else.

 

[psycho]

What is a social blunder? I need to have an explanation so that I would know if I ever did that.

 

[bakerite]

Yet out on Lone, I’m one of the most gregarious guys you’ll meet and I most definitely watch an indicator. My loud friendly nature is often times perceived as a social blunder by others, but I don’t care

But the first time I fished with @Drifter In his boat out on Crane Prairie, I really needed to poo. If you’ve fished there, You’ll know that once you are out on the lake, accessing shore again can be very difficult. My options were limited: poo my pants, hang my butt over the side or... I noticed my cooler. I took the beers out, did my business, rinsed and restocked. For some reason, he has never fished with me again since that trip, can’t imagine why.

This was a social blunder and explains a lot!

 

[Irafly]

This was a social blunder and explains a lot!

I won’t say anymore about the pontoon that I sold that may or may not have been peed on while I was falling off of it.

 

[Irafly]

This was a social blunder and explains a lot!

Does it explain why my beer tastes so good?

 

[Saltycutthroat]

I got invited to go fishing with someone I met on the internet when I was first starting out. I was oblivious to most everything I think, and while trying to be good intentioned, felt like I was a burden. At the end of the day when we got to the boat ramp we started breaking down equipment to put in the car. I didn’t realize he had a certain way of doing it, and I took the spinner off his gear rod and reeled up the line. I immediately realized I did something wrong, and could tell he was super annoyed. I apologized profusely, but felt super embarrassed.
To my surprise, this person invited me to go again on a different river. I pretty much felt out of place and like a burden again because of my novice abilities.