|
|
| I'm writing this because my therapist told me once that it is good to purge. This day will be what I refer to when people say things like "Oh, you're a fisherman. You must do it for the relaxation!". Empathic responses are OK, please no sympathy.
After spending a few moments last Friday reading posts on MuskieFirst about everyone out catching, I figure it is about time for Mikie to go muskie fishing again. Home I go, pack up the muskie gear and load into my BassTracker. Now, the Gambler is in the shop for a new ignition system on the Merc - another story, so I have the Tracker with a Merc 9.9 and two DownEast rod holders that I think will work well for trolling all day. I even choose plugs - a little Ernie and a brown diving bait that I won at Tony's earlier in the year. Even wear my lucky MuskieFirst t-shirt to bed so I can just FEEL like I'm gonna get me one. Go to sleep smiling confidently.
4:30 am, get up, tippy-toe around the house, arrange drinks while breakfasting, hook up the boat, out by 5. 3.5 hr. drive is uneventful, see lots of boats on trailers, convince myself that only old drunks and fishermen are up at this hour. Even remembered to stop at the BP for the parking pass, gas up, stash food and snacks, put in at Warrix ramp with spirits soaring. It is a cool, cloudy day, wind blowing into the ramp, slight chop that just cries out for some topwater action (no problem, got a Suick already tied on my third rod).
Motoring out from the ramp, I press on the tiller handle down to set the trim on the motor. Need to keep the bow down so I can see, Mercury gives me three settings. No click. I check the lock, yes, it is off, push again. Tiller handle breaks. Boat still under power, now no steering control. I find I can turn the motor while under about 1/2 power by pushing on the sides of the cowling. This will not do for trolling, so I change my plans and motor to the mouth of the bay, I'll use the troller to drift and cast. This is how the big fish at the outing was caught in Teck's boat, I think; we are still rockin!
Shut off the Merc, jump up to drop the troller. It is set on '3'. Should be on '0'. Plugged in. No power. Depth finder-no power. Troller extended handle had been knocking against the deck, bumped itself on, has been quietly discharging my battery all week. You didn't see me checking the battery when I was tying on the lures the night before, right? So, no juice.
Out comes Li'l Ernie. We cast all down the shore, keeping the Merc at idle and engaging the forward speed when drifting too close. Water is green, kinda clear, warm. Make one pass with no hookups. That worked, try another pass! While motoring up to the mouth again, two guide boats arrive, one is Crash's with Justin driving, another is red Ranger. Daggone! I must be in the right hole if the guides are coming. Start to make another pass, find that the handle is now coming apart and will not go into gear.
Faced with the option of being stranded, I manage to find forward and motor back to the dock, load boat on trailer, watch guides and clients casting with wistful gazes.
3.5 hr. drive back home. Mad wife greets, garage door raising at 5 am woke her, I blame her resulting curse for my mechanical problems and the conversation becomes dysfunctional. Kids too big to beat and the dog is hiding. 2 hour nap, dinner, and a good drunk puts it all in perspective. It is, after all, my relaxation hobby. Good day. mm | |
| | |
| I have had days like that that lasted for a week.....[:bigsmile:] [:((] | |
| | |
| Daggone dude!!! We'll have to meet up there in Sept...this time we'll all bring our boats + hope that at least 1 of them will work! Glad those days aren't as frequent as they used to be, but even one is a bite in the backside...you're scheduled for a big fish day dude![:sun:] | |
| | |
| Sounds like you borrowed my boat for the day. | |
| | |
| Its just a fish.....someone once said....LOL | |
| | |
| I feel your pain!
Repeat after me....Serenity now!
Hang in there guy, it clearly can't get any worse...[:blackeye:] | |
| | |
| Tom! Hey, I'm starting to give consideration to the Sept. Monster outing in Mn. If I don't hook-up up there, it is time to sell the tackle. Any thoughts? m[:bigsmile:] | |
| | |
| Mikie -- I can relate dude ! Last week we drove 4 hours to get to piedmont , only to have the kind folks at the boat dock tell us if the ranger catches you even starting the 30 hp motor away from the boat dock (can only be used for loading/unloading) he will write you a citation . So I drove 4 hours to be able to fish around the marina . My trolling motor sucks so it was pretty tough , had planned on fishing salt fork but it was muddy. Glad my 4 stroke is VERY quiet LOL ! ManitouDan[:bigsmile:] | |
| | |
| Yeah, Seneca has a few, too that would have been on your way back; actually, I've heard the marina area of Piedmont is pretty productive. I almost went to Piedmont, but the weather man said the Saturday storms were moving North, so I headed South. Cave Run was an extra hour for me each way. Now, Dan, if you have a boat that runs, whatcha doin next weekend? m[:bigsmile:] | |
| | |
| Mikie:
Here's a story of empathy not sympathy....
I got my new boat in February when there was still hard water where I live. A couple weekends later when the water had softened south of here I had to go to the in-laws for an Easter gathering. My wife and I agreed that I would fish with her brother in-law and a friend of mine from that area on Saturday and her and I would fish a different lake on Sunday and return home.
On Saturday we went to lake x which has many fish and is used as s brood stock lake. My friend and guide for the day put us on fish. The problem was nobody could convert the lazy slashes into a boated fish and they were all dinks. This lake is a 10hp lake and I have a bass boat which meant we were only able to work about 1/3 the lake with the trolling motor in some brisk wind. On the way home I asked my brother in-law if he wouldn't mind if we fished a cooling lake which we were passing. This was to be my frist opportunity to run my boat with the big motor. He said no he was too tired and cold so on we went back to their house.
On Sunday morning the in-laws were preparing the children for church and we were preparing for fishing. The in-law applied the guilt trip to my wife in my absence which caused her to say why aren't we going to church? Of course we had agreed about this many days prior so I knew the answer but in retrospect should have kept my pie hole shut. After a bit of friction we headed off to the lake and the in-laws to church. The forecast was for low 50's and partly cloudy skies. We launched the boat onto yet another of our states many HP restricted lakes where again I cannot run my big motor. After about 30 min of fishing and running the trolling motor hard to get to the other end of the lake I hear a very lound stream of running water. I look back and see both of my bilge pumps squirting full bore. The ass end of my boat was very low in the water. What could be causing me to take on so much water?.....THE PLUG! Because of where my plug is located in a stepped hull, there was no way to get it in from inside the boat and the water was in the mid 40's. We kicked the trolling motor up to 24v and hauled tail back to the ramp. We trailered the boat and replaced the plug. It was about that time that I looked up into the sky and saw what looked sure to be a long long day of heavy rain. The temps had dropped into the 40's and it began to rain almost immediately. I looked over at my wife's face and it told me there was only one answer. We put the cover on the boat and headed home in more then 1" of rainfall that morning after booking only 30 min of fishing time.
| |
| | |
| I've "got that t-shirt" too! "Dad, bring me the drain plug!" so I'm running to the dock with this stupid plug then stop to wonder, how can I get it put in without a snorkle? I've tried that, "The lake is my sanctuary" line, too, didn't seems to work as good.
Thanks, guys, I'm feeling much better now. My dealer says my 9.9 is out of warranty but a new handle can't be that much, he's got it ordered. Meantime, we've got a week next week with a new moon. Should be some great fishin. I still have the kayak! m[:bigsmile:] | |
| | |
| If I can give one piece of advice on this board, it is ..............PIEDMONT SUX! Find somewhere else to go. Figures it's the closest muskie lake to where I live.
Mikie, I'll try to swing it, but we'll see. I'm heading to the Kawarthas the 2nd week of July, then hopefully my buddy get's off his butt and figures out if he's in or out for Chatauqua in August. So, we'll see how the $$$ situation shapes up, not to mention the girlfriend may start getting a little irritated by fall. But......if history repeats itself, that won't stop me. | |
| | |
| Mikie-- I'm off fri-sat but I think My family is headed to cincinni to catch a reds game . Are you in central ohio ? I'm on the ky side of the river right across from portsmouth oh. Cave Run has been tough this spring with the high water. I like fishing clear fork alot and would like to learn leesville but its about 4 hrs to piedmont and even longer to leesville . The launch area is pretty good at piedmont , saw a guy pounding that area last week when we were there, he released a 33 incher there about 6;00 am , I caught a 30 incher in the back of essex bay, so piedmont's not all the way dead . Trying to get someone to share info on piedmont is TOUGH ! Hey take care , if we can hook up sometime that would be great , late sept/early oct on the cave is hard to beat. I'm about 1 hr 20 min. from there. ManitouDan | |
| | |
| Yeah, Dan, I'm in Athens, maybe we can see what muskies are left in Rocky Fork sometime.......m | |
| | |
| Mikie, I"m in for the Cass trip, if you want to go. Let me know, and we can work out the details. We'll split everything expense wise, ex. gas, food all that good stuff. I want to get this paid for now, before the girlfriend even knows about it, hehe. [:devil:] | |
| |
|
Cave Run Saga