One More Boat Tale
Dateline 04/13/98
In June of 1990 I bought a used Stratos 181 with a 150 Johnson motor. Linda and I took it to Lanier Saturday to try it out and I caught several nice spotted bass, locating enough to place in a club tournament the following weekend. It was a good start and I liked the boat, especially the big casting deck, but almost fell overboard the first time I reached down to wash my hands in the lake. The front of the boat was high above the water.
Six months later in January we had another club tournament at Lanier. I ran up the lake early that morning to fish where I had found bass the summer before, taking only 8 minutes to make the seven mile run. My partner caught two nice spots that would be big fish and first place later that day - almost a lifetime later.
We noticed the wind was picking up as we fished a north bank but did not pay much attention to it. About two hours before the end of the tournament we decided to try a place across the creek and found out how big the waves were when we left the protected bank. It was too rough to fish so we decided to head back to the weigh-in area.
As soon as we hit the open lake I knew we were in trouble. The swells were huge and the wind was blowing spray off the top of the whitecaps. There was no way to run, we had to plow through the waves. Although I had on a full rainsuit, I was soaked within minutes. When we hit a wave it was like someone was throwing five gallon buckets of water in my face. Nothing I could do driving the boat helped.
I really got scared when I noticed the motor would disappear under water when the wave closed behind the boat. I knew if the water drowned out the motor and it stalled, we would quickly be capsized by the waves. I looked for a place to beach the boat but the huge waves were crashing into steep rocky banks all around us. With both bilge pumps running full time, I plowed on, hoping for the best.
It took a little over an hour to make the "run" back to the ramp. The boat performed well and kept us on top of the water. Only once before had I been worried about sinking my boat in the rough water and I never want to get into that kind of situation again. When we got in I found a dry pair of pants and a tee shirt, cranked the van and sat with the heater running until weigh-in. It was the earliest I have ever come off the water in a tournament.
The next month my luck turned around. In a club tournament at Jackson in early February I had only one strike all day, but it was a good one. I landed a 9 pound, 7 ounce bass, my biggest every, on a Suddeth crankbait. It held up for big fish of the year and won a plaque that reminds me of it every time I pass by. The fish was released to spawn and pass on its genes for growth!
I fished happily out of my Stratos until buying a new one last month. One reason I got a new Stratos was the way my old one held up to rough use for almost eight years. Maybe I can set a new personal best from my new boat!
Have you ever owned a boat? What are your experiences? Tell me about it. Do you have some fishing stories related to the boats you use? If so, you can also post information about it for others on my message board - you must register to post but can read the board as a guest. Also, if you have a story about buying a boat, or anything else about fishing, let me know about it at fishing.guide@about.com. for a "Fishtale"or discuss it in the chat room on every night at 8:00 EST. Tell others what you like.
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