On Tuesday, April, 28, Brandon and I fished in the Tuesday Night Thunder tournament again. When we took off we ran about 300 yards and the motor made a funny noise, then everything died. When I tried to restart it, all the electronics powered off. So, to say the least, I was fuming! I had a new powerhead installed 2 years ago and have been through 3 lower units in the last year. I'm not hard on the boat at all, though. I always run it under the recommended RPMs, keep it well maintained, and continuously check my gauges for water pressure.
So, we dropped the trolling motor and headed toward another ramp that we launched from that night. About ten minutes into our 5-6 mile troll, Brandon lands a 5.18 lb largemouth on a deep diving crankbait. Well, now we had to weigh in thinking we might win lunker. We kept going and I managed to pick up 3 more keepers in the 2-3 lb range. One on my homemade jig, 2 on plastic worms.
We still had 2 hours left at this point, but no way to get back to the ramp the tournament launched from. So, we called one of the tournament directors on his cell phone and he and his partner came to our rescue. We put our fish in their livewell and Brandon rode to the weigh-in in their boat and I trolled to our ramp and loaded up to go meet him.
We ended up with 4 keepers that weighed 11.6 lb, which is our best weight of the year. It earned us 3rd place out of 35 boats and we also won lunker largemouth.
Our year to date placings in the money are 2 wins, 2 3rd places, and 3 lunkers. So far, so good. We've won more than we've paid and for once I don't feel like a donater every week. I believe all the studying, reading and learning new techniques has made the difference.
As for the boat......I wish it knew how close it came to being at the bottom of the lake! It's now in the shop waiting on a verdict and I hope it isn't too bad. If it is, it will have to stay parked for awhile until I can find a new motor. I refuse to pay thousands of dollars to fix a motor that lists for $1200.00 in NADA.
I wish you all the best and hope your boats run well and you catch a bunch of big 'uns!
2 comments:
John,
Boat problems suck, but dont let it ruin your confidence or attitude. Keep up the great fishing!
Art Simms
Thanks, Art! The problem was the lower unit gears stripped out when I landed off a wake. Good news is insurance is paying for it and my check is on the way. Should have it back sometime next week!
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