Yeah, Louis, I feel the same way. Thanks for putting all my "bad" days on the stream into perspective, guys. There's no way I could top those stories, but I can relate a few funny occurrences at my brother's expense (the one you fished with, Louis).
First, a bit of history. My brother's wife is one of those who has to talk with him about 12 times a day for no apparent reason (another bit of perspective that helps me appreciate my "bad" days). He's also in business, so he has this terrible habit of leaving his cell phone on while fishing (to me, often his fishing partner, this is an annoyance that borders on sin). Well, one day my brother is fishing and hooks into a really nice fish, the kind you might sniff a few times per season in a good year. As he's playing it, he gets a phone call, and ANSWERS THE PHONE (the Unforgivable Sin). As he entertains his wife's inane babble, of COURSE the fish comes off.
Since he spat in the face of the fishing gods that day, the stream has played some cruel tricks on him and his technology. The first time was on a day in January, one of those days so cold your guides are freezing up every few casts and the fish are colder than the weather. We're leaving the stream, wondering why we'd gone in the first place, wading through knee-deep water, and I suddenly hear a sound like a tree falling into the water. As I turn around to look, my brother's just pulling his face out of the water. As I stand there shaking my head, he takes his phone out of his chest pocket - yup, shot. It's one thing to fall when the water's up to your chest and off-color, but he took this dive in crystal-clear, knee-deep water... that was about 31 degrees. No way to explain that one without invoking the supernatural, and I made sure to tell him so.
There have been subsequent soakings of his phone I'll spare you, but one more incident bears mentioning. On our most recent trip, he took a digital camera to catch a few memories. This time, wise to the stream's strategy of soaking his electronics when he least expected it, he puts his phone and camera into zip-lock bags. At one point, he takes a tumble (this time saving face by at least doing it in some deep pocket water), and smiles afterwards, "At least I put my camera and phone in zip-lock bags!" When we get back to the car, hours later, he reaches into his pocket and finds - yup, the bag with his camera had a hole in it. The hole had somehow let a ton of water in but none out - his camera was swimming around in there like a goldfish he'd won at the county fair.
The lesson is a simple one: Don't talk to your wife while you're fishing.
-Shawn