08-04-2002, 05:37 AM
I went out to Willard tonight (Saturday)and took my wife. She has had very little experience operating boats but she's getting pretty proficient backing the trailer. I decide to let here operate the boat for the evening and I'd tend lines. Just a nice easy evening out fishing with the misses. <br><br>Everything was going pretty smoothly when around 8:30 pm the wind starts to kick up a tad and the sun is behind the Promotory mountains. I was dragging a slide planer and decide to bring it in. We had three lines out. I started reeling in the side planer, there was a lot of drag from the swell, and the darn thing popped off the releases. No big deal right? Just reel in the lines, swing around, and pick it up. All in a days fishing or so I thought.<br><br>I told the wife to slowly swing the boat around while I reel in the rods. I also told her to keep an eye on the side planer because it was disappearing between the the swells and combined with the low visibility of dusk, we might lose track of it.<br><br>While I was bringing the the side planer rod in,(two still remained out) She swung the boat around too quick and the lines got under the boat. Here we are lines under the boat, I'm trying to reel like a mad dog and she has no idea what going on. Now I know all you old salts can finish this story. Right on! one of the lines starts wrapping up in the prop! I start yelling to cut the motor. The swells are starting to get bigger and the wind is starting to pick up with a lot more authority. I power trimmed the motor up and lo and behold one line is wrapped to the lure around the prop and the other line is tangled in the line in the prop.<br><br>Now, being an old sea dog, I whipped out my trusty knife and get the lure and the swivel unhooked from the motor. after about a dozen unwraps, the tangled line is freed with lure intacted. Now it's time to get the wrapped line out from around the prop.<br><br>Now any experience swabby who's worth his salt and ration of rum has seen and dealt with line wrapped props. That line has a way of snugging up and getting in the hardest places to cut free. Also the 2 ft swells do not make this any easier to free. To make this long story a little shorter, after about five minutes of hacking and gouging and pulling I get all the line free.<br><br>I get the motor down and started and guess what? My side planer is no where to be seen. With the swell, the wind, the white caps and pending darkness no sign of it anywhere! I follow the wind a while and swing the boat around and head into the wind trying to locate the lost planer. I kept this up til darkness won out. We head back to the marina everything intact except one side planer.<br><br>So if any of you mateys are out and about in Willard Bay and find a yellow Offshore Left Side Planer with the flag up washed ashore in the rocks or drifting aimlessly you now know the story. Actually with the strong south wind, I would guess it's up against the north dike, north east of the island.<br><br>Oh, and by the way, my wife said she was sorry I lost my thing....... <br><br>