Posts: 682
Location: Sycamore, IL | I've had a bunch of little mishaps on my day trips but the worst was a trip to Vilas a few years back...I had just bought a used 2WD truck and talked my buddy into a late summer 4 day trip to Vilas co. On the way up we blew a tire and my spare wouldn't lower(rusted shut). Got towed to some little town where they were closing up and got set-up with a new set of tires. 3 hrs later back on the road it starts storming to the point where we couldn't see the road. We were meeting a friend of my dad's who's got a cabin on the Moen chain in Oneida county. When we arrived there was so much water in the boat the lakewoods were floating (I'm surprised I didn't blow a trailer tire!) Woke up the next morning and followed my dad's friend to a little lake in Vilas with a "tough" boat launch. As in:"this launch is a little tough to get into". Well we got in just fine and fished until afternoon when my dads buddy had to take off. We dropped him off and fished til about dark and decided to head back in. Drove my 2WD truck in til the trailer bunks just touched the water and all four wheels were in the water and got the boat loaded. Pulling out I buried the rear wheels in the sand/gravel bottom and we were stuck. Had to call for a second tow of the trip. Made it back to the cabin and decided that we would just fish the Moen Chain the next day. Got in the boat and proceeded to hit a submerged rock busting our prop. Drove into town and bought a new prop. Decided that we would go to a lake that I love up by Phelps. Got some lunch and bait and noticed a funny sound coming from the outboard...the trim unit was running pushing the motor down into the transom saver and wouldn't raise the motor to get the boat off the trailer. At that point we had had it, we tossed the bait and went to the bar. Headed home the next morning, hungover...tail between our legs.
Best short trip: a buddy and I were helping out the DNR at shabbona with some trail up keep and bridge rebuilding. I decided to bring the boat in case we got done early we could hit the water for a few. Launched the boat at 3pm, fish on at 3:06pm(nice 39 incher) at the bar by 3:45pm. Awesome!!! |
