Three Svens

Be prepared!

I failed terribly yesterday...

Let's see, last week I killed the battery trying to control the boat in the wind. Sven Mark caught a few fish. I got skunked.

This week we moved to Wed. night so I could actually see my kids one night. So Sven Kirt said he'd bring his battery. Cool! I knew I was low on gas, so I made a mental note to get some from my mower/blower can. I forgot.

So Sven Kirt and Sven John showed up and we got the boat hooked up and I tested SK's battery and it worked. Sweet!

Do you have a camera? - SK-No! So I went to go grab our camera. Michelle left it on - plugged into the PC. It was dead. SJ do you have a Pearl? No! But I do have a camera on my phone.
Sweet!

Off we go.

We put the boat in and fired it up. Full choke, three pulls - off it goes. We motor out onto the lake and sputter, sputter cough. We're out of gas! No worries, I'll just zip us back into the launch and go get some gas. The trolling motor spun for a total of 3 seconds. And about 5 seconds with mine.

Get out the paddle...

I paddled us back to the launch and ran to the truck with the gas tank. Booked up to the gas station on the corner. They don't have 2-Cycle oil. So I got 2 gallons and ran back home to put the oil in.

Back to the launch - I hope there's still a parking spot - whew.

One pull and we're off for real this time. The hard clunking that I've been experiencing since the Clearwater trip was diagnosed by SJ as the clutch dog sliping. Hmm, I might have to pull that spring out and stretch it again.

We went down to the South East side and started drifting and casting. We got past the Surdyks dock and SK got a strike on a spinnerbait. It broke his line. He threw back in with the Booyah and got a strike. Fish On!

Is it a good one? Eh - no not really...
It was 7:10 and pretty dim light - dark water and the fish stayed down. Then I saw the fin. Do you want the net?

Well, it came up and we saw that it was a musky, um yeah - get the net!

SJ had the net open in a jiffy and SK brought it right up to the boat, SJ scooped it up and it went nuts!

We had everything under control, but the fish was really green. We had some help from the local homeowner suggesting we cut the line and let it go! Give me a break.

It did not have SK's spinnerbait in it's mouth, so there must have been another fish. As we drifted North we must have spooked something, because there was a big pile of bubbles that trailed off to deep water. Hmmm.

We took our time and she was fine. SJ's camera on the other hand was not. Equipment malfunction! Even taking as long as we did to get the fish out of the net - SJ couldn't get the camera to boot.

We measured - approximately 39"- and put her back in the water. SK kept her there for a while trying to give SJ's camera a chance to boot - but it was not to be.

Further down the drift, SJ masterfully hooked a Sunfish with his Mepps and SK caught another pike, but nothing for your's truly.

We caught up to a boat full of Musky hunters and decided to go to the NW side. The wind was a lot worse, so I had to keep the motor running to control the drift. In one of the transitions from backtrolling to drifting a big fish took a shot at SJ's spinnerbait but missed. Dirnt!

SJ did catch a bass along that drift. The light was fading and I hooked up the dead batteries to the lights. Mine lasted 3 seconds and went completely out. SK's battery lasted better, but it was pretty dim, so we headed in.

Fortunately on the return trip, there were no unforseen complications.

So I'm 0-fer August and September. Next Week!