Was hoping for a nice day of bank tangling today since my boat won't be ready until next week (maybe). Got to WB North about 0730. Got out to my usual spot on the north outlet point. Noticed the water level is coming up some. The high hump just out off the boat ramp that was exposed about 6" last weekend, is now underwater. Probably not by much though. Saw a couple guys out there today in a small boat that were pushing themselves off of that hump with boat paddles.
The wind got pretty brisk, so I moved in to the marina area near the Ranger dock. More sheltered from the wind, but no joy on the fishin end.
Left WB about 1415, and just for no reason, got off the I15 at Smith & Edwards, noticed that the "Closed for season" sign on the Willard Bay South Marina sign was gone. So.....I took a detour to check it out.
Yep, the white gate is open, and the gate at the park entrance shack is open too. Did a drive by up around the ramp area. Water level is still pretty low, maybe enough for very small boats, yaks or tubes. The left hand dock has a small corner in the water, right hand dock is still mostly dry. Give it another week with the inlet open like it has been, there may be enough water to put my Tin-Can in.
So the trip to WB this weekend wasn't a total loss. Caught one HUGE Carp Friday, and found out the South Marina is open today.
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Looking at your photos it shows me the water levels have come up quite a bit. The channel marker buoys were high and dry last time I walked out there. It's good to see it rising. Glad to know the gates are open as well. Thanks for the report.
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r2u2, Last time I was at the south marina, was in mid august last year. That left hand dock was almost where it is now back then. It's shallow there, but the far corner of the dock that has the most out in the water is just deep enough to put a small boat in bow first. If you let the boat swing right or left of that corner, and your prop is down, you WILL chunk it on some nasty boulders. The photo attached has my little 14' Lund with the stern tied to the dock. What you can't see, I had shut the motor down, tilted it to my shallow drive setting, and the bottom 2 inches of the skag was sitting right on top of a big rock. That's just about how deep it is right there today.. Nice thing is, today the water is coming IN, and last year it was dropping by the day.
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[#0000FF]Thanks for taking the time to do a looksee...and to post a report and pics.
I have launched my tube in slightly shallower conditions...and have never dinged my skeg.
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I launched my boat today at that same dock you are tied to. I launched by myself, backing in and letting the boat come off the trailer then pulling it back with a rope. When pulling it back the bow bounced off a rock then beached it self just as I pulled it up to the dock. Just bought this boat last fall, a 19' Larsen. The marina was 3' deep the channel heading out was 8'-9'. Once out in the main body of water it was 10'. This new boat of mine seems to have a governor that slows the boat down in shallow water. It would only go 8 mph and run at 1100 rpms, when in gear. Running it at a higher rpm an alarm would go off. I thought that happened at strawberry 2 times last fall but wasn't quite sure why it slowed down, not being too familiar with the boat. I'm about 99% sure that's what was going on.
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MGB - I would recommend you have that motor checked. Is it and inboard with an outdrive ? Or a total outboard ? My first boat had a 115 HP 4 stroke Merc. Now, it never actually happened to me because the boat was brand new. But I remember reading in the Motor owners manual that it had what was called a "limp home" setting. If there was something wrong in the motor that could cause drastic damage (like running on low or no oil, or the water impeller damaged ) the motor would automatically governor itself down to a lower max PRM that might allow you to "limp home" without totally destroying the motor.
But whatever it turns out to be in your case, you sure don't want to be out in the middle of a lake, and it just give out altogether.
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Ya, that did cross my mind. The motor is a 2003 135 Mercury optimax out board. It ran great last fall. In know it's not low on oil. When in neutral the rpms will rev up like it should. .?????
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Ah you got a new boat , Have to look harder for ya now
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I got a 17 foot larsen I bought last year with a 150 mercury. Does your boat have the smart craft controls on the console?
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Thanks for the report. Looks like I gotta get my toon out and go up there for a couple hours.
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What exactly is the smart controls ?
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Randy, I will send a pic of it.
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They are the digital gauges below your tachometer and speedo, not sure if yours is the same but it will show you water psi, oil press, temp, etc. Usually if you have low water psi going through the motor it will cause the problems you are having. I have had just about every thing go wrong with mine.
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Hey Mike, good to hear you are still kicking, it has been a while, thought you had given up on Willard. What kind of set up do you have on your new boat? Electric bow mount, gas kicker, down riggers? It sounds like a good sized main motor. One of the members of the site works at a dealership in SLC, he has been known to answer a few questions about motor problems. Send him a PM and see if he can answer your questions about your motor. His user name is [url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/community/community.cgi?do=user_page;pg=user_profile_view.html;username=MERCURYMAN"]Mercuryman[/url].
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I have no digital gauges. The water pump seems to work fine, it pisses very well. I should take it in and have it checked out so nothing serious becomes of it. Is yours an out board or in board ?
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I haven't given up on Willard. Going to try and get out more this year, like the good old days. I have a minnekota bow mount with co-pilot,still have my 4 stroke 6 hp Mercury that I'm in the prosses of getting mounted. No down riggers. The boat is a 190 SEI Fish n Ski. The boat ran fine last fall,didn't miss a beat. Started it for the first time Saturday since November and it kicked right over. It has had very little use. I wii contact Mercuryman.
Thanks Curt
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Outboard. Dont know if layton is too far for you but Ek customs works on alot of larsens and mercs.
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I live in Ogden. Layton is close enough.
Thanks
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When did you move to Ogden? Since you live so close, we will have to get out this Summer and do some fishing.
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Always have lived in Ogden. I work in salt Lake most of the time. Ya, need to do some fishing fore sure.
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