Best fishing-related practical joke?

[Lancer6]

Confession time:

Back in the 80's a friendly competitor of mine had just purchased his first bassboat, a gently used 18' Ranger. He had not had a chance to use it when he needed to make a business trip from San Antonio to Odessa.
I suggested he tow the boat and take an extra day going and another coming in order to fish Big Lake, near the little town of the same name. He did.
I even arranged for Mike A., a client of mine who lived in Odessa, to host him and the boat at his home. Whatta pal!
Problem: When he arrived in Big Lake on his outbound leg he pulled into a gas station, refueled and asked for directions to the lake. He told the guy he was chatting with it would be the first time he'd fish from his "new" boat.
The guy, somewhat bugeyed, said "Are you serious?" Here's why:

From Wikipedia:

Big Lake is a small rural city in Reagan County, Texas, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 2,885. It is the county seat of Reagan County[3].
The city takes its name from a playa, a unique dryland plains geographic feature situated atop the divide between the Rio Grande and Colorado River watersheds, located less than two miles south of the city, through which St Hwy 137 passes. The playa, with no outlet, is over two sections in size, making it the largest in Texas; It holds water temporarily and ONLY after high runoff rain events, being used for grazing the remainder of the time.
End

Mike in Odessa called me after the poor mullet arrived, boat in tow, and told me that I was the meanest, cruelest, sorriest SOB on the planet and my little hoax was the funniest thing he'd ever heard of. Then the victim took the phone and told me about the same, only deleting any reference to "funny" and substituting some rather harrowing threats.
When he got back from Odessa, several hundred miles of extra gas burning later, I made it a point to be hunkered down at our cabin at Medina Lake with my lady instructed to tell him I was at Falcon Lake. He later told me he almost went to Falcon with the express purpose of killing me but his wife, between fits of laughter, talked him out of it.

Top that one, you beyonces! I hope you do. I could use a few laughs.

Latest TPWD Fishing Report for Big Lake:
Water level: 0
Water temp: NA
Black bass are bad to terrible on a variety of lures.
Catfish are terrible on stink baits.
Crappie are poor to lousy on minnows
Walking Catfish are excellent to 12 pounds on small insects and Snickers bars.

[aikenyounggun]

thats pretty funny

[rangerryan]

that is a classic.... i cant top that. noone can.

[bcklash]

That was COLD!!!! Have you been fishing on that boat with him since then? I would beg you to go fishing if that was me.

[Lancer6]

Originally Posted by bcklash

That was COLD!!!! Have you been fishing on that boat with him since then? I would beg you to go fishing if that was me.

We patched it up within weeks, mainly because he enjoyed ratting me out to anyone that would listen so much that his wife pointed out that if it weren't for me he wouldn't have much to talk about. Come to think of it, SHE was pretty cold on that one.
We fished together from my boat before he got his and many times in his thereafter although it was a lead sled compared to mine. He and his spouse were frequent guests at our lake cabin and were nice folks to BBQ, drink, chat, and skinnydip with (well, SHE was, anyway, good form.) late at night at romantic Medina Lake. No hanky panky, I assure you.
Nice folks but I've not seen them in eons. They moved to Flawda and I heard they'd divorced. If true then that's one divorce I never saw coming.

L6

[carolina-rig-01]

that is funny, really funny.

[Bryan]

That's a good one Lancer, man I'd have been PO'ed!

I can only think of a couple simple ones.

Most spinning reels have reversible handles. Next time you have access to a buddy's gear, switch the handles of his spinners to the other side. It's something he won't notice until he picks up the rod to use it.

You can also turn the drags on his reels almost all the way off before you start fishing. The first (attempted) hookset will be classic!

[jcw1503]

Also some spinners has a switch on them, turn it to off and when the get a bite and go to set the hook, the only thing that will happen is more line will come flying off and it will have just enough pull on the bait to make him miss the fish.....it happened to me, it sucks!!!!!

[cassidyta]

I have an old super spook that I made hookless and treat as a casting plug. It usually only takes 1 or 2 missed fish before the other guy catches on.

[Nitro911]

When I started reading that I was thinking "You sent him WHERE? Lancer must be really old if there was water in Big Lake". I was wondering which 80's you were talking about...

That may be the funniest (and the cruelest) thing thing I have ever heard of someone doing to a fellow angler in good sport. Well, half of you saw as good sport anyway.

[Lancer6]

Originally Posted by Nitro911

When I started reading that I was thinking "You sent him WHERE? Lancer must be really old if there was water in Big Lake". I was wondering which 80's you were talking about...

That may be the funniest (and the cruelest) thing thing I have ever heard of someone doing to a fellow angler in good sport. Well, half of you saw as good sport anyway.

Trust me. At the time I sent the poor mullet on his quest there was nothing in that "lake" except cows and coyotes. The only time water is in that place is after the ever-rare severe rains and the accumulated water goes bye-bye in a hurry. No chance for fish, even if some were stocked, to make it beyond a few days.

L6

[Nitro911]

I have family out there (well, they are in Austin now but they used to live out there) and know the area. I forgot two things when I was reading the post:

1)The title of the post, and
2) Who was making the post.

If I had kept those things in mind, I would have been following along fine.