Long Point Bay Bass Opener Derby

[Rich]

Well if it could go wrong, it went wrong leading into the derby.

 

An invincible swirl of bad karma hit friday night. I haven't used the big boat this year, and stupidly assumed everything would be fine. Went out to check it the niht before, and the hole in the bow I patched last year was coming off. The patch is essentially a ton of JB Marine Weld and an aluminum plate to keep it from bursting. If the protective plate comes off, that JB weld will pop, no question in my mind. My steel boat wouldn't float long with a 3 inch gash. So I redneck fixed it, unloaded a can of rocker guard on the patch, and sure enough it looked good enough to hold for a day to fish, then go get it welded up right.

 

The patch was the only thing that worked just fine all day.

 

I go in to pay for the ramp when we get there. Come out and my face becomes horrified as I see Brandon launching my boat. I didn't put the bung in yet, and sure enough nobody thought of it. So I dash like an olympian to the boat, make a 3 foot leap off the dock and wreck my ankle in the process, and get the plug in as fast as I can. Not too happy at this point. I bail 2 feet of water out of the boat, tie it up and hook up the motor, beginning to curse.

 

Pull, pull. Nothing. Profanity ensues. Pull, pull. Check spark plugs, clean points. Pull, pull, nothing. Send buddy off with my last 20 bucks to buy new spark plugs. A half hour passes. New spark plugs in, good to go now. Pull, pull, nothing. It's flooded.

 

Profanity.

 

Drop electric motor down.... Into a gob of floating weeds. It gums up. I pull string for bow mount, it breaks off. I throw rope into boat and yell more profanity and say we're going home. The electric comes to life, like a slap from God saying "go fishing."

 

We leave the marina very slowly on the electric motor, dodging cabin cruisers and bass boats on the way out.

 

We hit the shallow flats, and everything we went through became worth it. The fishing was on fire out there! Bam, 10 min after the derby officially starts, I got a decent one . 3.51lbs... On the bay, thats a hawg. Take her to the weigh in, on the electric. I'm in 1st, but it's only 9:30.

 

Head back out and fish an unreal amount of water with only my electric. I say we have to go back cuz we're running out of battery. We got lots of small bass all day. I say as a joke "pull the rope, we'll just push start it!" ... One pull, she fires up. We have life!!!!

 

We cheered as if we had just won the Bassmaster Classic. It was a miracle. after that the motor ran just fine all day, better than ever actually.

 

And in the end at 4pm, my fish held up on the leaderboard anyway. It was an 8th place finish but only 0.31lbs shy of 1st place. I'll take that 8th place as we earned every last bit of it.

 

What an opener.

 

[Musky or Specks]

Thats some perseverence Rich. I woulda been into the beer after just a couple of the problems and said screw the fishing.

[EC1]

Good that everything worked out for you!

Congrats on 8th!

[SlowPoke]

Hardcore.

I'm ready to pack it in if I'm low on smokes.

[Rich]

Hey, problems or not its always better than sitting inside the house rotting.

 

Its just a lot more expensive most days.