Season opener could have been better

[allingeneral]

The other day, I went on my first fishing trip of the season. It was a chilly, breezy March day, but being ready for Spring as I was I decided to go for it. The temperature was about 45 degrees but the sun was shining brightly. I thought that I could find a nice area out of the wind and let the sun keep me warm.

I had spent the previous day getting the boat ready for its first outing of the season. Charging the battery, cleaning, vacuuming, etc. I got the fishing poles out of the garage and made sure that they were ready to go. I made sure that all of my legalities were loaded up such as life preservers, throwable float cushions, air horn, fire extinguisher...it all looked great! I was ready!

Off to the river we went. I backed the boat down the ramp and launched without incident. We rode to my favorite fishing hole about a mile down-river. A nice little bend in the river where the channel is deep. The catfish love to congregate here. I tossed the anchor out as the boat began to drift downstream with the current. Suddenly, the boat stopped drifting and we were held in place tightly by the anchor. The depth finder showed that we seemed to be in a good spot, although the water was a little shallow for my liking. We were in 20 feet of water right next to a drop-off into the channel that went to 50 feet deep. I wanted to be out a little further into the channel, so I went to pull up the anchor and try again.

Hm! The anchor seemed to have a tight grip on something. I looked to the river bank and spotted a large tree laying down into the water. As I continued to free the anchor, things were not looking good. We decided to stay and fish that spot for a bit. After an hour of catching nothing, the anchor just had to come loose. I fired up my Evinrude 115 and circled the anchor a couple of times, hoping to dislodge it...to no avail. It just wasn't going to happen. I had to cut the anchor rope and leave my nice Danforth anchor on the river bottom. By this time, I was a little more than displeased, but I thought to myself.."Self, it will be alright...we'll just go buy another anchor before we come back out next time.".

I decided to just go for a ride down the river a ways and head back to put the boat on the trailer. I got about 2 miles downriver and turned around. The wind was blowing about 30mph which made for a harrowing trip back up-river. The tide was lower than I had ever seen it. I was just taking it easy on the way back, trying to stay warm, when the next thing I knew, I heard a *ker-thunk*! I looked behind the boat and saw what every boater hates...I was digging mud! *sigh* I put the boat in neutral and trimmed the motor up so I could gently dislodge myself from the mess I had gotten myself into. Once I was back in the channel, I trimmed the motor down and took off. Everything seemed fine, so I scooted back to the ramp and loaded up to head home.

Once I got the boat out of the water, I went to check things out. I had gouged up two blades on my prop badly enough that the prop will have to be replaced. *UGH!*

So it wasn't a very good first run this year...I'll be searching online for a new propeller and an anchor sometime in the next few days so I can continue my adventures. Maybe next time, I'll at least catch some fish!

[catfish-kisser]

Wow! That was a cold fishing adventure you went on! Maybe you'll have better luck next time.

I recently went fishing with my 2 sons. My six year old caught his first catfish! We used the "Catfish Bites" recipe in the forum here and it was awsome!

Looking forward to some more fish tales here.