Things you just have to learn the hard way, once

[martinbns]

As may of you know in my first two years on LOTW I lost two lower units, so this year I added a Kicker which came in pretty handy sunday of opening weekend.

On Sunday we were having a great time, all be it not stacking up the walleye. Everything was glorious as we moved from spot to spot, as we pulled up about 200 yards from our last spot of the day which is about 20 miles from home almost in Sunset Channel I turned off the big motor and went to drop the TM and realized I was still a fair ways away from my waypoint so when I went to turn it back on all I got was a loud constant beep and warning flash on the Smartcraft gauge, on fuel, battery and temp. So it's 5:00 PM, Sunday of a long weekend, no cell service where we were and this didn't look good. Clearly something bad had happened.

There was still power to everything, we pulled the owners manual and the Smart Gaurdian system has kicked on on our Verado. So down goes the Kicker and we start for home at 5MPH. After about 30 minutes I decide to go to Wylie Point Lodge instead home in Kenora as it's only maybe 6-7 miles away. One of their guides took a quick look, obviously knowing what to look at. Loose battery terminal had set off the system.

I never looked at the battery as there was still power at the dash. Apparently this is relatively common.

Kicker was well worth the $6,000 and keep a socket set in your boat.

Monday hit a wake wave a little hard and my Terrova deployed at about 30MPH, I saw it start to happen and killed throttle almost instantly and the Terrova is no worse for wear.

Always employed the safety ring when on plane.

In the middle of the day we were fishing some back bays for Pike and I was using a doctor spoon, thanks to Mike Borger. Caught several over the two days, had a couple of huge one's follow or hit that I missed. Had a decent probably 30' hit, run a little ways then I lost it, as I reeled it back in I realized the hook had come off the spoon, odd since the split ring looked to be in perfect condition.

Check your lures condition a bit more often...grin

So many of you will chuckle at the experiences of a new but avid boater and fishermen, but these are some of the things we will still be chuckling at 10 years from now.

[labsrus]

Glad they all worked out

On our first trip this year, I had run the motor at home with muffs on for water, mother started right up no problem.

go to put trailer in water raise motor up. Launch and go to lower motor, nothing, no click nothing, look at throttle , move it a bit, check safety switch and it fires right up.

Go out to lake run to a few different spots fish for a couple of hours. Go to start motor to come in, nothing again.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!

Check all the same things, all look OK, still no start. Go to check battery compartment and notice that nut on terminal is missing. Glad I had a spare nut in my tool box. Replaced it and all is well with the world once again.

[vassago]

Great post! Good learning experience! Did you take your batteries out of the boat for the season? Re-installing batteries in spring seems like a common point where potential problems (self induced) pop up. When setting the boat up I missed the ground lead when hooking up the trim motor resulting in 'wimpy trim' symptom. Managed to diagnose pretty quickly...

Reconnect everything in spring the way you disconnect it in the fall.

And also last weekend...After launching the boat for our first outing at Big Whiteshell Lake, i drove the truck and trailer back up to the parking lot. As I briskly strolled back to the launch, I see my buddy flagging me down to hurry. My initial thought he was eager to wet the lines by our 8am target, but then he started waving both arms, so I picked up the pace and RAN!

By the time I got to the launch, water was 1/2 way up the cockpit floor and sinking fast! You see, I recently changed my setup routine. I used to insert the plug from inside, but unscrewing the splash well lid is a real PITA, so now instead I insert the plug from the outside. Problem is, there's a couple of holes there to plug. We managed to beach the boat quickly, move the drain plug over and pump the water out. The experience left us rattled for the first 1/2 hour but all stress melted away as we started hammering the walleyes for the first time this season!! Hopefully that's it for f-ups for the season!

The drain plug goes into the very bottom centre hole, NOT the livewell drain!

[IdahoGuy]

Originally Posted by vassago

Reconnect everything in spring the way you disconnect it in the fall.

Yeah....electronics don’t work real well when one connects both leads from the electronics to the same battery terminal in the spring. Took a bit to figure it out.

[K Gonefishin]

When trying to either get on the trailer at a busy launch or dropping a guy off to go get your truck.

Do NOT pull up behind one or worse two boats power loading at the same time, happened to me in my first FLW, my boat got pushed back and ended up into a dock taking out a sizable chunk of my my rub rail thankfully not the boat.

[That Minnesota guy]

Before unhooking your batteries take a zip tie and zip all the wires together for each terminal post.

[WallyWarrior]

Originally Posted by That Minnesota guy

Before unhooking your batteries take a zip tie and zip all the wires together for each terminal post.

Good tip. I tape all of mine, but same idea.


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[kaptainkrunch]

I was thinking about stuff like this on the way home from a fishing trip last week. In this hobby of ours, it's crazy the problems you can run into just making simple mistakes or oversights. Isn't this supposed to be relaxing down time?

[martinbns]

My boat is 2 hours away, I want to bring just a couple of sockets with me to make sure all the batteries terminals are tight. Any idea what size the nuts would be? Not sure if they would be standard, nothing else seems to be on a boat.

[Husker525]

1. Always remove the transom saver PRIOR to unloading the boat into the water.


2. When fishing a new river system below a dam, make sure that you watch the water levels, as letting out water can hide sandbars. When they quit letting out water, the level can drop 4', leaving said sandbar 6" under the water, invisible in murky water, causing you to beach your boat on a sandbar at 20 mph. Then you might have to try to unbeach a 1500 lb boat in 40 degree water, in a current, with your 10 year old son commentating over your F bombs and 10 locals on the shore Instatweeting your misfortune.


Lessons learned and never forgotten......