Dropshot, Nickajack CFF #5, Bass, 5/30/15, Dusty MccCormick

[Dropshot]

Started out in cave lake and within the first couple of casts Dusty had hooked, and lost 3 fish on a fluke. Could not get a spook/sammy bite so I started throwing the same bait and quickly caught 4 small fish. Moved over to the old bridge pilings and I quicly caught 4 more, including our 1st keeper, a spot in the 2 pound range. After fishing that area we looked at the gas gauge and made the fateful decision to run to Mocassin Bend, with the intent on catching some larger fish. Made it to the bend and quickly started putting two more keepers in the livewell, which gave us 3 spots, a 2.6, 2.1, and a 1.9. We caught 8 more fish, and I lost a largemouth in the 4-5# range before starting to head back. Looking at the gas gauge we thought we would have more than enough gas. That is when the fun began. Heading back we encountered three cruisers side by site and after hitting their wake I lost (literally) the console transducer to my Garmin. Then as we made it towards Sullivans, we figured out we were wrong on the gas computation. As we hit the straight away coming up on Bennet's lake, we ran out of fuel. Tried to flag a people down with no luck, and after talking to Tow Boat, found out it would be over two hours before they could possibly be onsite. We kept trolling. First trolling motor battery died. We kept trolling. Finally made it to Hales Bar with trolling motor barely working. Put Gas and Oil in boat. Engine would not start as the fuel bulb would not tighten. Tried several things until luckily fuel finally started flowing and made it back to shellmound despite fuel issues all the way back (bulb would not stay tight; dusty had to lay on back deck and pump the bulb). Put boat on ramp, threw fish back in lake, drove home and got home at 5:40pm. At the end of the day, here is how it played out by running out of gas:</p>

1. Lost big spot ($30)
2. Lost Garmin transducer ($100)
3. Dusty missed planned engagement
4. Whatever else wrong with engine ($$$)
4. Missed Church, which made wife that more mad at me...</p>

</p>

Caught total of 19 fish on fluke, drop shot, creature bait, an jig.</p>

 

[SlabDog]

I would say, it's all uphill from here, but I don't want to jinx you because I can tell you from experience it can always get worse!! So I won't say it. I do hope your luck improves.

 

[EricM]

emoDoh emoDoh

 

[Jmax]

Good Lord, and I thought my day was looking rough. Hope the motor issue is an easy fix. I had that same thing happen at the G. Ended up being the fuel pump had gone bad. Had to replace it. Jmax

 

[reeltime]

Hope your luck turns around! At least you caught some fish

 

[elwestb]

I'm sorry to hear about all the bad luck and problems Patrick. When we heard about it at 2 pm, it was our understanding that Tow Boat was on the way and you would be taken care of. Again I'm sorry.

 

[Gator]

Tough luck. I'm surprised Tow Boat couldn't get there quicker.
Hope the repair is easy.

 

[ChooChooSnakeMan]

Wow, sorry for the bad day. Perhaps the fuel pump issue was caused by it running without any gas in it or maybe it picked up some trash from the empty tank. In any case I hope it isn't an expensive fix. I've always thought that no other consumer product could make it as fragile as our outboard motors are. Think about it, the saying that it isn't a matter of if they will break but when seems to be so true. And breaking is often as Oldman experienced complete destruction. The typical outboard runs only 40 - 50 hours a year with 100 hours being a lot of use. If any car company tried to sell a motor vehicle with the reliability of our outboards they wouldn't stay in business. Well, I've vented and again Patrick sorry you had all the problems.

 

[VBCJunior]

I had the same problem with my gas bulb and it wound up needing a new choke