Opener blunders

[DTro]

Come on I know there must have been a few here and there. I'll start:

Took a co-worker out this morning on the river. We had a few nice sauger and a few nice sheepshead he wanted to keep. I was happy to find some fish for him and he was pretty excited about it. He had them tied up nicely on a cleat next to him.

We decided to try a new spot, anchors up, minnow bucket up....take off.....snap!.....what was that? You guessed it.

Couldn't get another one to bite the rest of the day.

[bigb56303]

had everything in check so i thought got out on the lake all was well trolling aroung a bit went to start the big motor and nuthin battery dead, so i go to the trolling motor and battery just a bout dead out in the middle of briggs thankfully the wind was moving in the right direction so i drifted most of the way back using the little bit of juice in the trolling motor then break out the good old paddle not the greatest day, but could have been worse the wind could have been going the other direction

[Jeremy airjer W]

It was the first time I towed the boat with the new truck. Went to bring the boat down to the landing to fire up the motor. Went to plug in the trailer harness and discovered I was about 8 inches to short. Its 9:30 at night in cook MN, nothing is open!! Luckily I had some leftover wire from wire in a 12 volt outlet. after about a half an hour it was repaired. My dad was just impressed that all the lights worked!!!!

[Borch]

My only blunder was forgeting my cell phone at home and not telling my wife which lake I was fishing on as I went out alone. When I got home late I got an earfull as she was worried sick. I guess she really does like me.

At least we have fresh walleye for dinner. She'll forgive me.

[Northland Sportsman]

While launching the boat I though my buddy had a hold of the line to pull it up to the dock. I give it a push off the trailer and he says what are you doing? I looked back and the boat was floating out into the lake. I said what the He// you just had a hold of it 2 seconds ago. The wind was blowing back to shore so it didn't go far. A lady at the landing was even nice enough to wade out and get it for us. We were out & fishing in no time but it seems like there is always something on opener.

[rippenlips]

10-4 on loosing the boat. My friend drove the boat up on land by a dock. We were unloading all of our stuff onto the dock and I was the last one to get my takle box out and while I was standing on the dock I looked over my shoulder and boat was floating off into the lake. I decided to try and jump off the dock to get into the boat and yup you guessed it I swimming. Lost my sunglasses and my cell phone was in my pants pocket. I let it dry on a fan over night and I couldn't beleive it but it is working again.

[dfv87]

Borch,

She has to like you it is in the marriage deal, don't read too much into it. JK

How was your opener? We hit em pretty well on Mille Lacs. (anybody with a pulse could have and I qualify for that!)

I hope to be hitting Koronis or Alexander in the next couple of weekends. I will try and send you an email to let you know or get some info. We need to hit some of the same water this summer. Good luck!

Dale

Oh yeah opener blunder... We went out Sat morning in the rollers on Mille Lacs and while my buddy was trying to set the anchor in the rocks I went up front to "help" him... now 2 adult men in the front of the boat facing 3' rollers, we got a "some" water over the bow before I jumped back behind the windshield, my buddy got even wetter than just the rain but the bilge worked well! (and long) Anchor held though!

[Ray Esboldt]

Note to self: Look into a skid plate for the middle support bar of the trailer on the new rig. Accesses that go from flat to very steep cause trailer support to drag. Your trailer is not a very effective gravel grader.

[TSCTSC]

What do you mean by that? Can you explain further or illustrate? Thanks

[Ray Esboldt]

I mean the trailer doesn't ride high enough with a boat on it to clear the crest of a crumby access that is real steep then rapidly flattens out. The center crossbar ended up dragging gravel right at the transition of the slope. I either need a makeshift skid plate for the trailer, a truck that sits higher in the rear, or less of a drop on my hitch's receiver. I'll probably try the third option first. And, I need a can of primer and black spary paint.

[Bobb-o]

didnt get to fish on saturday due to an one-who-thinks-I-am-silly cousin allowing his fiance to pick the wedding date, but managed to get out on sunday and catch a few walleyes. It all started when we went and got the boast from my aunt's garage (where we store it in the winter) the dealership winterized the boat and when they unhooked the battery they let the negative wires fly around so that we couldnt find one of them to get everything all hooked up. we get to the lake, and my dad turns the blower on (it is an I/O) and we get everything set to put 'er in the water, we get it in the water and it wont turn over, barely had enough juice to keep the blower going, but just not enough to start the boat, so we had to go and take the battery out of the truck and jury-rig it into the boat. then we get out to where i wanted to fish only to find that we only had 20 feet of anchor rope in a pretty strong wind (it was 24 feet where i wanted to fish)well we just put out all the rope we had and let the wind take us until it caught, which was in 14 feet, luckily there were a couple walleyes in closer.

[Gus]

Don't leave all the brand new tackle and jigs you just bought sitting on the kitchen table as you leave. Not only do you not get to fish with them and have to buy more while on the road, your wife finds the bag full of goodies and the receipt and has an earfull for you when you get home.

[blakjack23]

I saw a guy in a van back in his large Warrior boat...well try to back it down, before getting the van wheels locked up in the mud. I couldn't help him out because I didnt have a tow strap but I did see him out a fishing a few hours later. It sure is nice having a big 4x4 truck and not having to worry about that kind of stuff.

[The Yeti]

We had 2 broken rods. One on a hook set, and one trying to pull out of a snag. Pretty hilarious hearing a rod snap like a twig trying to get a snag loose!

[dirtking]

ran the little 9.8 hp motor once before opener, all day sat. went back out sat night and it wouldn't start. Carb must be gucked up.

[snowgoose]

After cracking the block on my 90 horse last fall I decided to buy anougher used motor. It was cheaper than repairing the 90. I bought a 70 horse from a neighbor that works for a boat dealer. I had him put the motor on. We tested the compression, put new plugs in it, and put a new brain box on it. We took it to the lake a couple times before opener and ran it for at least 2 hours. Everything was working great.

We get to the landing on Winnie at about 7 AM Saturday morning. Back the boat in. I jump in and start the motor. Something does not seem right. I tell my buddy that I am going to take it for a run and warm it up. I make it about 150 yards out and the motor quits. What the *%^$??? Now I can't get it to run at all. I troll back to the dock and pick up dad and buddy. We trolled around Eagles Nest for a couple of hours. Caught one walleye.

I then took the motor to a mechanic in the Hill City area. He runs a compression check. I have 30 pounds of pressure in the top 2 cylinders.

Long story short. I blew the heads on this motor too. I hope the 3rd motor is the charm. I had a 88 horse installed on Monday. Please pray with me that I don't blow anougher motor.

[dirtking]

Ouch - and I thought I was the only one who was constantly fixing motors - Good Luck

[SomethingFishy*]

REMEMBER THE DRAIN PLUG..... Atleast we caught it before we left the access, pull boat out of water, drain, put plug in, then fish.

[Gus]

I always attach my drain plug to my safty chain that gets hooked on the bow eye of the boat. I can't unhook the boat from the trailer without taking it off. Good little reminder that the plug isn't in yet. And I think we've all been there done that with the plug.

[jerkin'm]

While hurriedly backing my trailer around Saturday afternoon I found a 8" Maple tree in the way....Need some new lights..

[78cj5]

Dinged the skeg on my E-Tec and wrecked a prop (at the same time). Good thing I didn't have my stainless on...

I should blame it on my lousy 334, but I can't. Driver error.

[MercMan]

While getting ready to load my uncle's 18 foot boat on the trailer at the end of the day Friday, a huge wave from the north crashed over the transom. That wave dumped about 10 gallons of water in the boat. Then the next wave came, then the next. In mere seconds the boat was resting firmly on the bottom of the lake in 3 feet of water. Luckily, he has an electric winch, so we winched and backed the trailer under the front of the boat. When enough of the boat was on the trailer, we drove it out and let the boat drain. The only thing damaged was the weight of the boat filled with water bent the winch mast straight up and down.

I was just amazed at how fast that boat filled with water and went down. I can't imagine how that must feel when it happens to people in open water. Another case for everyone to wear life jackets. A boat can swamp extremely fast.

[TUMBLEWEED]

Not a blunder, more like Murphy's law. Get up to lake

Friday at noon. Launch boat, start to pull forward,

motor stumbles, then dies. Crank and crank but no

start. Others starting to show up. I am blocking everybody

with the dead tow vehicle on the ramp. Someone finally

shows up with a tow-strap and tows my dead Suburban

out of the way. I have the whole thing towed in on

Saturday morning to the shop. It was a dead fuel pump.

Many thanks to Dan's Auto up in Richmond for getting

me on the road again. Sure picked a good time to go

out!!

[deepportage01]

my low oil alarm was going off all day for no reason on winni you would not beleve the looks we got people were waiting for the thing to just blow up.but it did not stop us from geting a few.

[Woollman99]

While launching the boat on Sunday, I noticed a guy tied up to the access dock trying to get his boat started. I could tell something wasn't right due to the cussing. The motor would not turn over and he claimed his battery was fresh. He had the motor cover off, looking for some possible answer to his dilemma. Trying to be helpful, I jumped in his boat to looked over the battery and connections. While looking down at his Honda tiller, I noticed that he had the gear lever in the forward position. I brought it to his attention....he put it in neutral and bingo, it started. He had been tied up to the dock for over 30 minutes.......