TOPIC:

Wanted to get the boat in the water this weekend and today was the first chance I had for the shakedown run. Went out of Hammond after lunch and headed to the ship canal since I heard the bite had been good there this week and didn't want to run all the way to the G-Light (heard lots of boats there earlier and the bite had died). First the boat had no issues again and everything ran great. Put on a new side image fish finder over the winter and that thing was AWESOME!!! (and I didnt screw up the install). Main issue I had with fishing was I couldnt get the boat down below 2.6 to 3.0 even with the kicker turned to idle so put in the trolling motor and was able to keep a nice 1.8 to 2.1 going. Had one hit that pulled the planar board out but I lost him before I got him half way to the boat. My second hit was hard and basically just stopped the planar board. By the time I got the planar to start moving the line snapped and off went my thin fish and my big fish. Figure it was a laker or a brown since it didn't hit like a big Ho or a King and just seemed to hunker down. We fished from about 1:30 to 3:30 when the winds shifted and I wanted to get back to Hammond before it got too gnarly out there. Shakedown run with no boat issues and first day back out on the lake made for a pretty good day. The wife even said she was glad she came out and now she has the itch to get back out there have to love a woman that loves to fish with you.
Oh and I am kicking myself for not putting the big boards out - I think I would have gotten both fish in had I not been lazy and went with the inline boards rather than the big boards

No boat issues? I call that a win for sure.

Other than why the high speed with the kicker? That seems odd! My only issue was I blew a tailight in my tow vehicle and it somehow affected the trailer's tail light. I'll figure out that one later this morning.

BNature wrote:

Other than why the high speed with the kicker? That seems odd! My only issue was I blew a tailight in my tow vehicle and it somehow affected the trailer's tail light. I'll figure out that one later this morning.

the 9.8 HP kicker may be a little on the big side for my 175 and the winds were already starting to blow so figure it was just the wind blowing me along mostly. Sorry about the tail light; that stinks. I know on my old Jeep I had a harness that ran off of one of my tail light wires; maybe yours is similar and that is why (long shot but only thing that seems it might connect the two issues).

I'll figure it out. Just part of the fun of towing with a "classic" vehicle. (It's a '93.) On the other hand, I don't need to go to training school for a week just to change the tail light.

My f250 (96) has a fuse for each side taillights of the vehicle...... that also fuse the trailer!

gotter fixed. It was a bit tricky in that I had gunk inside the vehicle tail light and a burned out trailer light. road ready for morning.

BNature wrote:

gotter fixed. It was a bit tricky in that I had gunk inside the vehicle tail light and a burned out trailer light. road ready for morning.

Good to hear Mike - go get em tomorrow!!

Sounds like a great first trip.

No boat issues is definitely a win. Glad you got out ed.