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Thread: Saturday was one of those "Why do I own a boat?" days

  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Default Saturday was one of those "Why do I own a boat?" days


    I haven't been able to fish for the past two weekends due to weather and business obligations so I was looking forward to Saturday. I had been following crappie.com and I was going to catch some of those big Sardis slabs I've been seeing pictures of. I hooked the boat up Friday after work so I would be ready to hit the road when I got up first thing.

    I wanted to get to Sardis early because I knew the crowds have been big. I wanted to be sure to have a parking spot at Engineers Point because I knew the wind was suppose to be from the south when it was suppose to get heavy around 11 or 12. I made it to the ramp at Sardis as the first hints of daylight were in the Eastern sky. I unhooked the back straps and then pressed the button to raise the motor to remove the transom saver. NOTHING. Not even a weak sound.

    Well I thought I have the two trolling motor batteries for my 24 volt system. I should be able to get the motor started with jumping off of one of those. I open up my tool box and I have 1 battery cable extender. I do not have any jumper cables. I put the straps back on the boat and head back towards the town of Sardis. By this time it is before 7 am so nothing is open except for the Dam Store which had 50 boats around it because of guys getting bait and the gas stations by 55. I go to one of those and they did have a very cheap set of jumper cables.

    I hook up the cables from the starting battery to one of the trolling batteries to start some current flow and head back to the ramp. When I press the button to raise the motor it rises and I get the boat ready to launch. I am fishing with just my dog this morning So I back the boat down and let it off the trailer. I pull back up a little so I am out of the water, but before it gets to the end of the rope it stops and is kind of stuck on the wrong side of the trailer. So I have to pull up farther to clear the trailer. When I get out this time, the momentum still brought the boat forward and I was looking to have to step on the trailer to push the boat out. That is when I notice one of my bunky boards is definitely broken all the way through. So I get the boat clear of the trailer and beached and go park the truck.

    I get back to the boat and try to start it but there is just not enough power to turn it over. I get the battery extension cable and attach it negative to negative and I will use both jumper clamps on the positive side to get more power flow. That works and I head down to Clear Creek. So I am finally going to fish. Starting a few hours later than I planned, but that is all behind me.

    The first 4 fish I get to bite the hook pulls on the the first run they make. I finally catch the next one in about 8 fow. The wind is starting to pickup. I am trolling into the wind to keep good speed control. I catch another in about 7 fow. The wind continues to pickup and I decide to go way up the creek and throw a sock out to drift with the wind. This way I can be much more stealthy since I have to run my 80lb Terrova at 3. So I put it up to 7 and get up the creek. When I get to 5 fow I start the drift. I have 4 fish pull off during this first drift and I get 1 into the boat. This time I start the big motor to go back up the creek and do another drift. By this time the wind had to be doing 20 and was now a little more SSW so it was pushing not in the direction I had planned. So I used the trolling motor to course correct some to follow the creek a little better.

    It was now after 1 and I was going to complete the drift to the 4 point and go around it to try and get out of the wind. I don't catch anything and I pack up to go. I go to start the big motor and it tries twice and then nothing. So I get the tool box out and unhook from the starting battery and hook the motor directly to trolling motor battery 1. Same thing. I unhook from trolling 1 and go to trolling 2 which did not have a direct connection earlier. I also decide to use the cable extender I got and the one already hooked between the two trolling batteries to make it a 24 volt system. So I put all the motor hookups on trolling 2 and run the extender + to + and - to - to try and get all the power I can.

    I get back to the drivers seat and I get one weak try and then nothing. I am thinking about calling someone or asking for help when I think of that little rope they put under the cowl to pull start a motor. I take off the cowl and put it on the floor. I get the pull cord out of it's little plastic bag. My Merc 50 has a plastic piece over the flywheel that I have to remove. It is held down by by 4 plastic wingnuts and 4 washers. I pull those off carefully so they don't take a swim and put all 4 in the cowl which is upside down in the floor. Now the one good thing that happens to me all day happens. The motor starts on the very first pull.

    I get back to the ramp and leave the motor running. I get my truck and load the boat on the broken bunky board trailer and pull up into the other parking lot so I can put together all the stuff I have laid out all over the boat. It takes me about 45 minutes to get everything together and still somehow I lost one of the washers that holds the plastic piece over the flywheel.

    I gave away the three crappie I manage to catch since I had so much stuff to do. So as I am leaving the parking lot, the Game Wardens are in full force, and I have to pull over. The gentleman that came to check on me I told him just give me a ticket because with the way my day went I was sure I did something wrong. He looked at me puzzled, so I told him about my day and he said he wouldn't after he check license and registration. He did ask me a strange question though. I told him I had caught 3 but gave them away. He asked me if the three I caught were legal? I just told him yeah.

    I can't wait to fish next weekend.

  2. #2
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    Yeah we all that days like that on the water,even take the truck battery off the truck only to find it to weak to start the truck when ready to go home....Makes you to make sure next time lol

  3. #3
    shipahoy41's Avatar
    shipahoy41 is offline Crappie.com Legend - 2022 Crappie.com Man of the Year * Crappie.com Supporter
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    Wow! What a story. We have all had one of those days. I think the strangest I have ever seen was someone trying to jump start his boat battery from a car while he was stannnnnnnnnnnnding in water with the cables. Add to that the fact he was drunk. Add to that the fact he was blind in one eye.

    As for me personally. I launched my boat last week and the main engines would not start. I used the trolling motor to fish, caught 20 keeper crappie then used the trolling motor to get back to the ramp. Got the truck and trailer to the ramp, backed in and got in my boat. Made a small circle then out the trolling motor on full thrust and started heading for the trailer. When I got close, I yanked the trolling motor out of the water and floated on to the trailer on the first attempt. Winched it the last two feet, put the safety rope on and got in my truck and said "Thank you Lord."
    Aquatic Species Removal Engineer.
    May God be with you. Keep CALM and STAY ANCHORED with your faith.


  4. #4
    skeetbum's Avatar
    skeetbum is offline Crappie.com Legend - Moderator Jig Tying Forum
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    There are days when you just can't roll sevens. My brother and I drove about 45miles to a company tournament. untie, check rods and cooler, hook up the gas tank.....Where's the gas tank.......at the house. Small trail of smoke followed him to get the tank I was told was in the boat when I asked at the house. So much for the morning bite.
    Creativity is just intelligence fooling around

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