crazy night on the chick.....with pics 11/13/2006

[CRAZYHORSE]

Well it all started off innocently enough. Crazyhorse meets Too Tall and Propbender at the Skull Island for some evening cattin. As we pull up Propbender is bank fishing and lands a scrappy largemouth on a grub, see pic. We are thinking this is a good sign right?emoCool Well maybe not so much. We hit a couple of of our regular spots and then Crazyhorse hooks up with this 25lb blue in 40 foot of water on cut bream. The fish fought real hard, and I thought it was probably 10 lbs bigger that it was. I was thinking "Hall of Fame" baby!emoHoppingmad Not to be this time but still the highlight of the trip. At about 10 p.m. we called it quits and headed back to the ramp, and that's when things got real INTERESTING. We were buzzing across the lake at about 30 mph, Propbender at the wheel, when WHAM, THUD, THUD, THUD, CRUNCH. Obvious to everyone we had hit something VERY hard. Propbender screams out
"Get your lifejackets on, we're gonna sink!"emoConfused I'm thinking"holy smoke", its like 40 degrees and i have on carharts and everything and it's pitch black out, not a boat in sight and we are at least 300 yards from where we need to be. After a few minutes of "What are we gonna do now?", we realize that we are in like 1 foot of water!! What we had hit was basically land.emoScratch Good to know we are not sinking, but still a pretty big problem. Anyhow we manage to get un-stuck and fire it up and the prop is absolutely mangled. It's wobblin like a madman, but it gets us back to the ramp. I jump out to get the truck, and then the trip takes another downturn.emoBang As I get to my truck i see that my window has been busted out and my truck has been trashed. Not only mine but also Propbender's too!!
Called the law and they did their thing. Fortunatley they didn't get much, some fishing rods, my gym bag, minor stuff, but still I'm out for the window and stuff. The rock in Propbender's truck was the size of a basketball!! A little after midnight we hit the road (Cold!!). Had a little explaning to do to the wife, but all is ok, could have been worse. Cops said breakins had been bad at wolftever too. Anyhow, stay in the channel and watch where you park. CRAZYHORSE

 

[Buoy-Master]

Good Grief man! Sorry about all the problems there. Atleast mat'l things can be replaced but your safety cannot. You guys got back ok so theres a big plus!</p>

I can't for the life of me figure people out that do these kind of things...2 things I will not put up with is a Lier and a Thief! </p>

Hope everything works out for you guys.</p>

 

[flip1up]

Man that sux. Last year I put in at suck creek and fished late into the night a few times. It worried the crap out of me. I guess the best thing to do is put in at a marina and make the run. That still dont guarantee nothings going to happen. Glad yall made it in alright anyway.

 

[Fishheadspin]

i was at wolftever yesterday and noticed several piles of glass in the parking lot. Maybe we need to form a posse to start patrolling the parking lots! I hate a thief! i am afraid i will catch one, then i will be in for murder myself!

 

[DHaun]

Sorry to hear this CrazyHorse but glad you all made it back safe. Thanks for posting the report - I am sure it will be useful to many to know which ramps to avoid at night.

 

[RangerRob]

Fishheadspin - 11/14/2006 10:31 AM

i was at wolftever yesterday and noticed several piles of glass in the parking lot. Maybe we need to form a posse to start patrolling the parking lots! I hate a thief! i am afraid i will catch one, then i will be in for murder myself!

Amen. I had a friend some years back that worked at Hamilton Place and kept getting his Jeep broken into. One day when he was off work, he grabbed another friend and they sat in the parking lot in the other friend's van close enough to watch the 'decoy' Jeep. After several hours, three different guys were beat to within inches of their lives after trying to break into the Jeep.

Sorry to hear about this C-Horse. Is that ramp lit?

 

[minner]

What a crazy night. Glad you guys are alright and weren't thrown out of the boat and hurt.
Sorry to hear about your vehicle too, hopefully they'll catch those losers that did it.

 

[CRAZYHORSE]

just fyi the ramp is not lit. on that side of the lake there is basically no light and the ramp is a little tough to spot. we through the spotlight up there at one point and actually saw the thieves screaming out of the ramp lot. but of course we were stuck in the mud so there wasnt a whole lot we could do, and didn't know at that time for sure that we had been got. our boat will only run about 30, i can only imagine it would have been much worse if we had been peeling it back at 70+!!emoDoh

 

[hog daddy]

glad youall are safe but hate to here about the damage just goes back to youre raisings the thugs that done this dont fish i bet

 

[TennesseeTalker]

Special word to those that travel the lake .. especially at night!!! Take heed because now that the water level is and will be dropping there will be surprises where you least expect them. Please be safe!!!

Crazyhorse .. sounds like a CRAZY night!!! Glad you are okay from the land jolt and sorry about the truck. I know that has to suck.

TT

 

[ranman]

Man that sux!I'm glad you guys are O.K.

 

[rsimms]

emoSorry But congrats on the "25 lb. high spot of the night."

 

[Guest]

The Skull Isl. ramp definitely needs more patrolling. Last winter while putting in there to crappie fish we counted 9 doe carcasses that had been stripped of the meat and tossed out. Some still had the ropes around their necks. A buddy of mine had his truck broke into, well they smashed his driver window with a soccer ball sized rock and stole 3 gospel cd's, while we were fishing a crappie tx. in April of 2005. They threw the rock hard enough through the drivers window that it broke the armrest on the passenger side. At the time we heard the same story from the cops.... That there was alot of breakins going on at wolft. also. Skull Isl. is tricky to navigate in the winter. Stay betwen the bouys near the ramp and run real slow as you veer left toward the last set of bouys right before the channel. There is a BIG flat top rock out there near the last set of bouys. During winter pool it is right around the waterline or just below it. It is probably 5-8 ft in diameter. As you are heading out toward the channel-- beware off to the right there is a long row of stumps just before the channel. Last Thanksgiving they were actually sticking out of the water.

 

[Fat Albert]

CH, sorry to hear of all the troubles... If they were ever to get caught the old fashion tar and feather would be a good teacher. glad you all are safe.

 

[NRG]

I launched there back in aug or sept, fished till lil after dark, I didnt have a spot light went back and forth for over an hour trying to find the ramp .. if it hadnt been for nuke plants lights Id still be out there going in circles. I didnt realize there was no light at that ramp.. and I just stayed longer on the water than I had planned.. then when I did find the ramp .. couple of hs kids where getting it on in a honda.. freaked em out when I hit the lights to reel in the boat.. wow what a show that was emoToast

 

[Liveliner]

Sorry you guys didn't catch the thieves. You fellows are pretty big guys. What would have been a good report would have been that their ride went sailing down the ramp. Let them feel some grief of some damage on their ride. Then I am sure they would have liked a little swimming as well.

 

[MadBomber]

Bummer on the Prop and the breakin, but, glad you guys are Ok. You might want to take your engine in and have the prop shaft and drive shaft checked for straightness. I'm convinced that what I thought was only prop damage lead to complete lower unit destruction a few years later.

 

[tellico jim]

Man' sorry about all of the trouble!! Glad you all are all right! Great fish!! The best way sometimes is to" BAIT THE CROOKS " which is Blount Co. lingo for sssstop thieves. Make an easy target then hide away and watch. It takes time and sometimes it pays off. Just keep a cool head and make sure you don't end up in jail!! The best time to act is now when the action is hot and they are not expecting anyone to be around.The other option is request more patrols. Luckily here on local lakes several officers fish and they cruise the ramps all they can. Still, its hard to watch everything 24hrs a day.

 

[Fishheadspin]

i live about 2 miles away from that rampand have used it a lot. Everytime i leave mine truck there i have a bad feeling about it. I have seen the county patrolling there several times but like you say they can not be every where.

I am ready to start "bait it out" when ever someone else is ready to go along! I HATE A THEIF!

 

[CRAZYHORSE]

We had gotten to where we used that ramp quite often as well. We are only cattin' so we just jump over to the nuke in like 2 minutes versus hbsp or wolftever. We try to get out once a week, and I'm not ready to let some coward take away my privelege to put the boat in whenever or wherever. I talked to a police officer who is a friend and he said these guys will smash a window out for anything at all. I've got the FBI (Federal Birchwood Investigators) on the case so maybe I'll get lucky and get a name or something. It was probably kids or meth-heads or something. Thanks for all the good commments guys. I'd say be careful, and keep your eyes open. We'll catch them sooner or later if this is a regular thing. CrazyhorseemoMad