My cloud over my head is still there. Today it appeared all was well but the first sign of bad news was we realized we did not have a net. When we launched all went well and we got there across the river in good shape so we thought if all we have trouble with is not having a net we will be doing well. We had drawn boat 76 so we were in the third flight. Colby's boat is an older Stratos and it has seen some better days however for a fifteen year old to have a bass boat is something to be proud of. emoThumbsup Our main spot was up river a ways so we got under way and had several boats pass us. Finally getting there we found five other boats already there. emoRolleyes We took a spot and starting casting. Right off I had a spot that was right at 12 inches then a small large. That was it. We kept waiting for the guys in front of us to troll forward but some guys were in front of them. Everyone was kind of pinned down. emoDoh That is about when I noticed the trolling motor not having much power. emoConfused Within the hour we had almost slowed to a crawl. The trolling battery I think has come to an end. An Everstart from Wal-Mart bought in 2006. Either that or it did not get a good charge. We decided to leave there and head for the Harrison area. Got there and first cast produces a 2+ LM and that was it there. Moved again and got on some decent spots. Had very little trolling power and had to kind of drift with the slight breeze we had. Managed several in there but again no size. We had one good one slam a blade on me but it got around a pole and came off. emoHoppingmad Colby did manage a couple keeper spots in there also and we had managed six keepers in all but only one LM and the rest spots. Decided to try and move again but this time after getting out in the main river the boat would not come up on plain. emoBang Try as we did the up trim had gone out. emoAngry Now we have no trolling motor and no trim. Hard to motor and had to go slow to keep the front end up. emoScratch Went to an area I think had some good bass but we had no way to get around. Tried to drift fish and managed two more LM on blades there. I feel if we had a trolling motor and could have positioned the boat we would have done better. I tried paddling but to paddle a bass boat is about impossible. We hit one more place but found the wind too strong and the boat would not stay where we wanted to be. emoMad We went back to Chester Frost at 2 oclock to wait out the weigh in. We had till 4:30 being on the third flight but we were spent. emoBooHoo
We ended up with 15 bass in the boat with 8 keepers. The problem with them were they were all just keepers. Our total weight was 9.57 with our best five. Did win the top youth prize of a free entry for next time as well as placing in the prizes for a $50 gift certificate. emoThumbsup Considering what we had gone through we thought we did well. emoBigsmile We were about center of the pack so we still beat a lot of folks with everything working.
We caught our fish on shakey heads, blades and jerks.
Someone at the ramp showed us how to bypass the switch and was able to get our trim to come up with a srew driver. Thanks to whoever that was. emoWorthy We had no idea how we were going to get it on the trailer.
I am feeling my age tonight and my arm is very sore from paddling. emoGeezer Jmax
We ended up with 15 bass in the boat with 8 keepers. The problem with them were they were all just keepers. Our total weight was 9.57 with our best five. Did win the top youth prize of a free entry for next time as well as placing in the prizes for a $50 gift certificate. emoThumbsup Considering what we had gone through we thought we did well. emoBigsmile We were about center of the pack so we still beat a lot of folks with everything working.
We caught our fish on shakey heads, blades and jerks.
Someone at the ramp showed us how to bypass the switch and was able to get our trim to come up with a srew driver. Thanks to whoever that was. emoWorthy We had no idea how we were going to get it on the trailer.
I am feeling my age tonight and my arm is very sore from paddling. emoGeezer Jmax
