Pictures of the keel
Got home at 3am this morning and figured I'd give a run down of our trip. We got to Louisiana on Friday after noon/ evening and first thing Saturday we hauled the boat out of the shed and installed the new electronics, an Elite 7 Ti. Later we had a crawfish boil with about 10 people coming over to eat with us. We were able to see some old friends and meet several new ones.
Sunday was a wash out with heavy rains all day so a trip to Academy then a drive to Farmerville to look at the lake filled the day. A beef roast for dinner wrapped things up nicely.
Monday we tried fishing D'arbonne and stuck it out a good long time but the fish didn't cooperate. We ended with 3, one that was 1-10. Weather was cold, 38, and windy.
Tuesday we headed to Poverty Point with the promise of better weather and it was warmer, 48, but still windy. We fished the canals on the south end and the trees on the north end and caught two hybrid stripers.
Wednesday we went to Caney Lake. We found fish in the deep water 36'-40', just out from the dam . We kept 16 with 5 being in the pound+ range. The weather was perfect and the new sonar unit was amazing. I love the down scan feature.
Thursday we went back to Caney and were trying to beat the rain they had predicted for the afternoon. The wind was crazy, going from fairly calm to whistling and shifting back and forth. It made spider rigging tough in that deep of water but we still managed to catch 11 crappie with a bigger average than Wednesday.
Wednesday we noticed some water in the storage compartment and had to run the bilge a couple of times and Thursday it was worse. Friday morning we crawled under the boat and found that where the keel sets on the skid , the keel had worn through on the bottom, which allowed it to twist, loosening a couple of rivets. We confirmed it with a quick stop at D'arbonne. dropping the boat in the water and checking inside the tunnel with a flashlight. I have a guy that will replace the rivets, I will covert the skid to a roller and I'm contacting a friend of Steve's to rebuilt the keel. Hopefully we'll be ready for the Detroit River in a month.
When we were fishing Caney, we were visited by a raft of loons. I counted 11 at one time but it was hard to be sure with them diving. Regardless how many, it was pretty cool.
It was a great trip and, despite the weather, we managed to catch a few fish.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Pictures of the keel
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Wow that keel is worn! I had a john boat drug around for 40 plus years without that much ware. It leaked too but I fixed that with bondo.
Just a well used boat , it could probably tell us a lot of stories.
Is that the
Same boat & trailer that lost the wheel?
If it is? Might be some bad Juju on that rig.
Might need to sell it to a U of M fan is MSU wins tonight
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Custom Rods: Out-Snagging Berkly's 7-2 Since 2019 / Custom Rods: Collecting more dust that Berkley due to Covid Since 2020
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Same rig, and from the number of fish we have put in that boat, I'll take that bad juju any day. Just something that happens when you've pulled a boat around the state and the country for 15 years. Things wear.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6
Sounds like you guys had fun. Glad to hear you got home safely!
Looks like it was a fun trip despite the weather. Glad you got your new electronics working!
I don’t know if you called my friend Jonathan yet..... but if you haven’t, just a heads up he is going to refer you to someone that can help you better than he can.
If you can’t get it fixed for a while you got plenty of friends here that will take you along.
Welcome home guys
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2017 MiCDC fall crappie guide of the year (FCGOTY)
Member: “Michigan chapter of Team Overalls”
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Nice trip! Thanks for taking us along.
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Steve, I didn't want to bother him on the week end. I'll give him a call tomorrow. It looks like I have two rivets that loosened and one of those pulled through. Jeffs son works on choppers for the national guard can give me a hand replacing them. What seemed like a tragedy on Thursday doesn't look as bad today. Thanks for your help.
The older I get the more I realize the therapeutic benefits of fishing
Proud member of Michigan chapter "Team Overalls"
Worlds proudest grandpa x6