OK, here goes. First a little background. You know how sometimes when you have too long of amount of time between trips and then when you do go you are kinda rusty and things don't go so well? My last tourney of the year is tomorrow at a power (nuclear) plant lake.  We fished this same lake last year at approximately the same time of the year. I won that tourney. So Thursday I decided to run out there and see if those fish were still in the same places. They were, sort of, but they were smallies instead of blacks.
     You have to go through a guard gate and have the boat inspected and they issue you a pager  upon entering after you sign in. You must wear a pfd at all times when on the water. As a result most guys wear an inflatable as do I.
     So I motor over to my first location which is a shallow flat in a small cove with some isolated wood.  Somehow grass has started growing there. Don't really know exactly what it is but it has wispy strings and the leaves on the plant look like number 4 or 5 willow leaves. Well my experience tells me that when there is an abundance of grass the fish will use that more so than the isolated wood. Regardless I rigged a rod with a little brown jig and a #11 Uncle Josh chunk, another with a 10" grape worm, and another with a small spinnerbait.  I couldn't get anything going on the wood so I figured maybe I'd better fish the grass some. I didn't want the Uncle Josh to dry out while I was fluking the grass so I laid the rod on the deck with just enough line out the jig and chunk would trail on the water surface alongside the boat.  The grass began fouling my prop and that coupled with the wind made it tough going.  I pulled up my troller to pull off the grass and as I was doing this I heard a rattling clanking noise. I looked over my shoulder and saw the jig and pig combo bouncing wildly. I dropped the troller and quickly grabbed the rod and it had a 14" smallie on it. What a surprise. That's the beginning of the story.
   After releasing that fish and fighting the grass and wind a bit more I got discouraged because it just seemed the boat wouldn't go very well in the grass coupled with the wind so I decided to try somewhere else. I trolled out into the open and fired up the outboard to take off and the boat was sluggish. Instinctively I hit the bilge switch and man what a spray. This was not good news and could only mean one thing. I left the outboard idling while the bilge pumped for a good while, finally getting it all pumped. I was the only one on that end of the lake and did not want to go all the way back to the trailer to fix this. It was just too time consuming. So I stripped all the way down (and I mean all the way). I slipped over the side of the boat and put the plug in. After getting back in the boat  and towel drying off and getting dressed I prided myself in solving this issue and being completely dry and the whole process only took about 10 minutes to do. Little did I know at the time it was all for naught as there was more to come. Did I mention how stupid I felt when I realized my error with the plug ? I don't normally remove them.
    Now I'm back fishing again  and I've discovered a new spot that looks pretty sweet.  I've still got the jig and Josh combo trailing on the surface at the side of the boat so it won't dry out while I am throwing a fluke. A small keeper smallie eats the fluke and I happily swing it aboard. I've got the rod under my left armpit and both hands on the smallie trying to remove the fluke so I can release it when all of a sudden I heard it again.... that strange clanking rattling sound. I automatically, nervously looked over my right shoulder to see my curado/ST Croix Avid combo diving under the surface. I had no time to think as I dropped everything and dived in immediately and grabbed the combo just before I lost sight of it. At the same time my auto inflatable PFD was exploding .The combo  had a real nice smallie attached to it, approx. 17". Upon surfacing I flung the rod up on the boat deck and the smallie released itself while airborne on the way to my front deck.  I paddled over to get my hat floating on the surface and got back in the boat fairly quickly. As I got in the boat and sat there sort of dazed about all that had happened in the last 20 seconds I got the final blow. I sort of had my head in a down position and leaning sort of towards my right shoulder when the right side of my PFD finished inflating with a burst strong enough to pop it out of the fabric covering and gave me a neck snapping blow.  There I sat completely soaked to the bone after all the trouble I had went to earlier not to get wet. I took the batteries out of the pager and tried to dry it out but it never came back on. When I checked out they didn't mention the pager and neither did I.
   From now on when I am trailing a pork chunk in the water so it won't dry up you can bet the rod will be strapped down.




                 

It was all worth it. Today I didn't win the tourney. I got second but it was enough to win angler of the year in the club. It's only bragging rights so that's my bit-o-brag.

Jigman I try not get my wells wet in a paper event and  I hadn't thought about laying it under my tongue. Is that how they do it in missoura?We'll see. Ha ha.

I have never experienced those type things on the water Get, but i have had a few bad days on the water where fishing just doesnt go right and i either lose stuff O-B and/or break stuff all day or the boat breaks down. I'm thinking you have created a new level, bwaaa!

P.S.- The Mudshark story is indeed funny, if you havent read it.

Now I think I understand why people from Missouri talk so funny!

Because it's pork they hold on to it longer.

 But at least I can keep my clothes on!

Try not to think about it.

On a serious note I tried to buy a rearming kit for my auto inflatable by Sospenders which I originally bought at BPS. They don't carry it anymore and the clerk looked up a place called West Marine on the internet that has one for $75 plus shipping. I am not happy about that. Still trying to decide what to do.

I remember when I was a kid and we had small 15' tri hull ski boats . If we left the plug out we would just go cruising and the water would run right back out as fast as it ran in. Trailering might be a better idea now at today's gas prices.