The Domino Effect by: Pb

I am sure everyone has experienced one of those days when everything seems to go wrong. If you have not had the pleasure of
living one of those days, this story will help you to better understand the experience. It has been a long time since I have had a day on
the water that was filled with trouble. The last time was in July when my dad and I almost sank our boat due to the battery crushing
one of our bilge pumps and not finding out til the water was almost over the back of the boat.
The] cold weather this winter, along with deer season, has kept me off the water since late November. When I heard the weekend
news report and saw that the temperatures were going to get into the mid-sixties, all I could think about was going to Lake
Guntersville and battling some monster “greenbacks.” I received a call the next day from one of our prostaff members, Ben, who was
also wanting to go try his luck on G. We set-up a trip for Saturday morning and it was all I could think about the rest of the week.
The trip started out a little hazy but flawless. I got about 3 hours of sleep the night before but that is plenty when you are
anticipating bashing some largemouths. We made it to G a little after daylight and launched in Spring Creek. We decided not to run
too far due to the fact that it was just above freezing. This turned out to be a great decision. We had fished for 10 minutes and Ben
stepped off the front deck to change a lure when he noticed water coming out of the vent in the bottom of the boat. He immediately
asked me what the water was from and from experience, I knew it was not good. I flipped open the back hatch to find the batteries
floating in water. We threw down our rods and fired up the motor. In our favor, we were able to get the boat on plain and get the water
out. We trailered the boat and discovered that the hose had been left off the aerator when Ben was trying to repair it earlier in the
week. It was a relief to see that it was fixable and we could possibly be fishing again within the hour. We had no tools or pipe so we
headed to the Dollar General to see what we could “McGyver” and get back on the water. We walked all through Dollar General to
find nothing that we could legitimately use to plug the aerator. We went to plan B which was improvise at all cost. We ended up buying
a candle, pack of balloons, and duct tape. You might find this comical or think that there was an obvious “better” fix. In our defense, it
was the only thing that worked the rest of the day.
With our chests poked out, feeling pretty good, we re-launched the boat to continue our adversity hurdling trip. We fished on for 3
more hours without any problems except the fish weren’t biting. This is not a problem for me, more like the norm that I have come to
live with. In our defense, we threw everything in the boat at them at every depth and structure that we could think about. We had not
tried a ledge in deeper water yet so we rolled out to the channel around 11 o’ clock. We fished all along the ledge and even tried
drifting in shallower. No luck. We decided to pull up the trolling motor and go to a creek across from the channel.
This is when the nail went into the coffin. Ben turned the key and nothing happened, not even a click. We figured that we had
blown a fuse when the battery got wet. Ben checked everything in the hatch and it all came back good. We checked the wires to the
switch and it was good. The part that had us stumped was that all of the electronics were working except for the ignition and power-
trim. Since Ben nor I are mechanics and we had exhausted all other resources, we called the water patrol. I guess they felt sorry for us
and arrived with the tow-buggy after about an hour.
Supposedly the water patrol has a rule that they can only tow you to the nearest launch. We were not going to argue good help but
they towed us in the opposite direction from our launch and then took Ben back to his truck at the other end of G. I trolled around
the launch until Ben made it back. I fished, of course, but all I could think about was getting out of that boat and getting back home.
Ben finally got to the launch and I trolled the boat onto the trailer. We knew the power trim wasn’t working but we figured it would
have a manual release. We got the boat out of the water to find there was NO manual release. So now we have the launch blocked
trying to get the motor off the cement. The only option we had was to load up the back of the truck with bystanders so that the prop
would quit plowing the cement and re-launch the boat.
At this point we were officially dead in the water. Ben used his last life-line and phoned his dad, “Coach” Joe. We sat at the launch
and waited for Joe to drive an hour to help us out. There is something to say about experience. It is something that I have wanted
ever since I was a kid. The problem is that time is the only thing that can help you obtain it. After 3 minutes, Joe had the boat running.
It was a bitter sweet feeling to have the boat fixed but at the same time I felt like an idiot that he just walked up, looked at the motor,
and it fearfully fired right up. All he said was “check the simple things first boys.” The ground screw vibrated loose at some point
during the day and was our achilles heel.
To say the day was eventful, is a far cry from the reality of it. The next time I have a slow day fishing or maybe miss a few hook-
sets, I will reflect back on this day and remember that it could be worse. I do not if it will be the worst day that I have on the lake this
year or ever but it will definitely be one that I will take with me to the end.

-Pb