Unexpected Problems

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Mike, Steven & Bobby joined me today for sturgeon. They were hoping for some action and possibly a few big ones too! I knew exactly where to go and headed out to the area that had been producing. Too bad we had to run while the rain was falling, but at least it wasn’t supposed to last!

We anchored up in a light south wind after scouting the area for fish. I had marked a few good ones and wanted to see if we could get an early bite. In less than ten minutes I saw a rod bounce and set into something small. Bobby took the rod and reeled in the first sturgeon of the day. Although not big, it was still nice to get the skunk out of the boat, early!

We were getting into fish all morning but I wasn’t satisfied with their size. I made many moves to try and set up on the bigger ones but each time I relocated on large marks, they didn’t eat. Plenty of small fish did however and numbers of sturgeon were landed. They even managed to catch a couple of exotic fish with one red horse sucker and a drum!

The conditions were almost perfect today with the south wind and I was able to hold with the electric motor for the entire time. Sometime after 2:30 and the last small sturgeon, we decided to make a big move. I packed everything up and was going to see if we could spend the remaining time trying for walleye. The skies were looking a little threatening and the radar as well but we would give it a try!

On the run back, I finally got a good look at what was coming and it wasn’t pretty. We were already getting rained on and I could see the shoreline starting to disappear. I gave them the option to fish & get wet or head in and get less wet and they opted for the latter! We headed in!

The day was successful but mostly for numbers and not size. Everyone was still happy to have caught as many fish as they had and to have spent it on the water. The weather was just a bonus as we weren’t frying in the heat! The rain may have been falling heavily now, but at least we were on shore and ready to take out! Or so I thought!

After having major work done on my truck just a couple of days ago, I was surprised to have the problems I did today. I had front end repairs done as well as a fuel pump replacement. When I tried to gas up this morning, the fuel wouldn’t go in the tank. Instead it just pumped out onto the ground. I guess they forgot to connect the pipe back from when they dropped the tank. The biggest problem however was when I tried to back the trailer down the ramp to load the boat. When I put it in AWD and went in reverse, it just jammed up. A loud grinding noise was heard under the engine and I was locked. Apparently a cap front the front axle had fallen off and was stuck where the wheel turns. It was held on with 6 bolts and only 1 was found on the ground under the truck. I guess they forgot to tighten the bolts! The other 5 must have vibrated out between Friday night and now! Lucky it didn’t happen while I was on the highway or the results might have been different!

I was forced to make a few calls afterwards. One was to a friend to get my boat and the other to CAA for a flatbed tow. I still had to disconnect the trailer from the truck without having it roll downhill into the water and pin it up to the other vehicle. I blocked the tires and tied a tow rope to the front of the trailer and we pulled it away from the truck on the tongue jack. Once it was on a level surface we pinned up to the other truck. We quickly had the boat on the trailer afterwards and the first of the problems was resolved.

After about 30 minutes from the time we called, the flatbed truck arrived and we had it loaded on the truck to be taken to my house. I was actually able to drive it onto the bed when the piece that was jammed fell off, freeing the wheel. At least we had that going for us!

Both truck & boat were taken to my house and Tuesday morning when the repair shop opens they will be getting a call. In the meantime I will have to cancel the customers that I have for Monday as I have no way to get the boat to the water. Hopefully things will work out quickly, Tuesday morning. I don’t need to be down longer than one day with customers and fishing to be done. Welcome to the world of a fishing guide!!