Humbled at the boat ramp

[FurFlyin]

I went fishing yesterday afternoon by myself. I hate going by myself but it was a spur of the moment trip and none of my fishing buddies could go, so.....

I got everything set up, backed the trailer down the ramp, the boat unloaded. I hit the deploy feature on my Ulterra, it deployed. I hit spot lock, went and parked the truck. Came back to ramp and the boat was sitting right where I left it. I drove it over to the ramp and stepped off onto the deck. While I was driving the boat to the dock with the remote, I did make sure to look at the two bass fishermen who were loading their boat and they looked at me a couple of times. I could tell that they thought I was cool... I was so proud.

So I go fishing. I come back to the ramp, step on the pier. It's almost dark. I drive the boat away from the pier and hit spot lock. I go get the truck, and back down the ramp. The trailer wasn't square with the ramp, so I pull up and give it another shot. I got out of the truck and walk down the pier. "Where the heck is my boat?" I had turned the running lights off when I got back to the pier so it took me a few seconds to find it. She was about 150 feet from the pier and headed out to sea. Trolling motor was on 5/10 and she was moving fast! I had apparently just turned it on, and failed to hit the spot lock button. It's hard to tell which direction the front of your trolling motor is facing when it's dark, but I finally got the boat back to the pier. I got it loaded and pulled out. The boat was sitting all hopped up on one side. Not on the trailer correctly, so I had to back her down again, not once but twice to get it right. I finally got it all fixed right and headed home.

This story reminds me of a Bible verse:

Proverbs 16:18, Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

Next time I'm not going to hope the guys in the other boat are looking to see how cool my trolling motor is!

[Special K]

That's a good story for sure... but one that many would be too proud to ever tell. You are a good man.
Glad to hear it was pretty harmless overall and that it worked out as good as it did in the end.

[dsliner]

Thanks for telling your story, life has a way of keeping us humble and self examination is key to learning those sometimes hard lessons.

[crp4570]

Thanks for sharing. Boat loading goes two ways for me. Either very well or very bad

[FurFlyin]

Everybody does stupid things, I'm just not shy about admitting my mistakes. LOL I figured you guys would enjoy reading about my idiotic event.

crp, that's 100% the way it works for me. No in between.

[ezgoing]

I'm getting my tm with spot lock this coming Tuesday. I want to see if it will put itself in the boat slip. Trying that might make quite a story.

[DonaAna1]

My wife and I had some of the best laughs of our, at then young, lives while at the boat docks.
Anything can and does happen at the boat dock!

[SKs Crappie Catching Adventures]

I don't think I'll ever trust doing that.....

So your sayn your remote worked the tm 150' away?

[Mr. S]

I just recently installed my new Ulterra. Man was I excited. I fish alone 90% of the time too. But when I arrived at the ramp I said to myself, self, you have haven't tried this newfangled TM out yet, with a loading ladder on my trailer I couldn't deploy it in the yard. So this first trip out I just did it the ol' way and backed down and clime aboard and started the motor and slid her off the trailer. Yeaaa, just call me chicken. I just hope I don't ever go to deploy and I not have remembered to turn the power on...

[Crappieawlogist]

If it makes you feel any better ... I once tied up to dock...went to the truck....came back to find that the rope I tied to the dock was not tied to the boat! I watched the wind push my boat about halfway across into Beaverfork Lake before some other boaters came to my rescue.