Thread: No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

I had a client trip on KY Lake yesterday. We started at 6 but by 7 we were looking down the barrel of a heavy storm. We barely made it to the marina where we spent the next 2 hours.

Once the storm blew over, we headed back out but with distant lightening from the storm still visible, we hung in Jonathan Creek for a while. While on a trolling pass, a pair of old guys started waving their arms and yelling from a houseboat that was anchored mid bay. We pulled up the poles and headed over to see if we could help. As I got close, it was apparent the cover for the hot tub on top of the rental houseboat had blown a couple hundred yards away. The cover was about 8X8 feet and made of vinyl and thick foam. When we got to the cover, I found it to be 1/2 full of water. We barely got it over the side of the Excel where it could start to drain. It took several minutes and a couple of cycles of the auto-bilge pump to get it clear of water.

I eased up to the houseboat and the guys asked me to take the cover back up on top. I declined. No way I was getting any more involved with a couple of guys who saw fit to stay anchored 1/4 mile from shore in a storm when the water next to the protected bank on that part of Jonathan is 20 feet deep. They seemed put out but offered to pay me for my help. I declined.

We eased back out to our trolling pass and soon had a nice black crappie headed to the boat on a Pico Geezer Clown. I grabbed the Crappie Master net I had just bought from Buffalo 13. As I went to slide the net out to full length, the rubber net and hoop broke clean off the handle. Seems we had probably rolled the tub cover over onto the net when trying to drain it and broke the new-to-me net. $100 shot right in the butt.

I guess that's my payback for trying to help somebody on the lake. The last time I tried to help somebody, Rickie and I watched a 4 rod HiTek rod holder snap off the transom while pulling in a new Ranger that the owner forgot required gas to get from Point A to Point B.

I guess I'll keep trying to help folks but it's getting expensive. Kind of like when I jump started a guy who was down on his luck and I blew a $600 alternator on my truck a couple of years back. I don't know how much more goodwill I can afford.