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You know, it was just one of those days where you should have stayed in bed.
We got a new motor last night so today was to be our first test. We got to the marina on time, put the boat in the water, and had trouble starting the motor. No worries, it was pretty cold out there (-6 celcius to be exact) so it must have trouble cold starting. Keep trying, putter putter, stall. Hmm whats that odd whishing sound coming from the gas line? Oh $%!t the damn gas hose is cracked! Back to the truck to see if we have anything to quickly repair it..
"Eric did you tie the boat up?"
Eric looks back.. there's the boat drifting solo across the channel. Hmm now what the heck are we gonna do? It's November, nobody else is crazy enough to hit lake erie right now.. The boat is going further and further away and Eric makes the snap decision to JUMP IN and SWIM after it!! Okay I must say seeing Eric jump in and swim after the boat was pretty funny.. he had a floater suit on so he had no worries of drowning.. but that must have been FREEZING! There was ice on the launch ramp, LOL So he managed to get over to the boat, get in and paddle it back over to the ramp where we SECURELY tied it up.
Hmm nothing to repair the hose. Damn! Eric warmed up, then we loaded the boat back up to head to the marine dealership about a half hour away.
We get there, buy a whole new gas line. Go out and hook it up.. still hearing the air sound. Do an inspection and the connection to the tank is also leaking. Another 100 bucks later we have a new gas tank. Back to Sleded's place to syphon the gas from the old tank into the new one. This took a little while!
Now since we're at Eric's workshop I decide to install the new rod holders I bought. The one up front goes in without a problem.. one at the back needs longer screws. None in the workshop, to the hardware store! FInally find the right screws, another 14 bucks in the hole. Hmm we're both hungry from all this running around so we stop for lunch. That was the BEST part of the day right there.
After Eric changed we finally go back to the marina and launch the boat around noon. A guy coming in says there's nothing out there but shad, tons of them stinkin' things. We decide we did all this work so we'll try anyway. We're greeted by 3-4 foot rollers as we exit the marina. I pressed on... determined to wet a line! We get there, soaking wet a little while later. The guy at the ramp was right. Sleded eventually hooked into one little smallie on a tube, but other than snagging those shad which were so thick the water was black, there was no action to be had. Tried trolling around... snagged shad. Jigging - snagged shad. Spinnerbaits - nothing at all but the occasional, yes you guessed it, snagged shad.
The weather was supposed to calm down as evening wore on. NOPE those waves grew and we were fighting much harsher stuff coming back to the launch.
We did make it back in one piece and the motor did run well after the gas tank/line replacement.
I'm glad we finally got out fishing.. but it was a terrible, uncomfortable day for the most part.
Makes for a great story though!
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We got a new motor last night so today was to be our first test. We got to the marina on time, put the boat in the water, and had trouble starting the motor. No worries, it was pretty cold out there (-6 celcius to be exact) so it must have trouble cold starting. Keep trying, putter putter, stall. Hmm whats that odd whishing sound coming from the gas line? Oh $%!t the damn gas hose is cracked! Back to the truck to see if we have anything to quickly repair it..
"Eric did you tie the boat up?"
Eric looks back.. there's the boat drifting solo across the channel. Hmm now what the heck are we gonna do? It's November, nobody else is crazy enough to hit lake erie right now.. The boat is going further and further away and Eric makes the snap decision to JUMP IN and SWIM after it!! Okay I must say seeing Eric jump in and swim after the boat was pretty funny.. he had a floater suit on so he had no worries of drowning.. but that must have been FREEZING! There was ice on the launch ramp, LOL So he managed to get over to the boat, get in and paddle it back over to the ramp where we SECURELY tied it up.
Hmm nothing to repair the hose. Damn! Eric warmed up, then we loaded the boat back up to head to the marine dealership about a half hour away.
We get there, buy a whole new gas line. Go out and hook it up.. still hearing the air sound. Do an inspection and the connection to the tank is also leaking. Another 100 bucks later we have a new gas tank. Back to Sleded's place to syphon the gas from the old tank into the new one. This took a little while!
Now since we're at Eric's workshop I decide to install the new rod holders I bought. The one up front goes in without a problem.. one at the back needs longer screws. None in the workshop, to the hardware store! FInally find the right screws, another 14 bucks in the hole. Hmm we're both hungry from all this running around so we stop for lunch. That was the BEST part of the day right there.
After Eric changed we finally go back to the marina and launch the boat around noon. A guy coming in says there's nothing out there but shad, tons of them stinkin' things. We decide we did all this work so we'll try anyway. We're greeted by 3-4 foot rollers as we exit the marina. I pressed on... determined to wet a line! We get there, soaking wet a little while later. The guy at the ramp was right. Sleded eventually hooked into one little smallie on a tube, but other than snagging those shad which were so thick the water was black, there was no action to be had. Tried trolling around... snagged shad. Jigging - snagged shad. Spinnerbaits - nothing at all but the occasional, yes you guessed it, snagged shad.
The weather was supposed to calm down as evening wore on. NOPE those waves grew and we were fighting much harsher stuff coming back to the launch.
We did make it back in one piece and the motor did run well after the gas tank/line replacement.
I'm glad we finally got out fishing.. but it was a terrible, uncomfortable day for the most part.
Makes for a great story though!
