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[size 2]Arrived at the Strawberry marina ramp at 10 AM. Loaded up all the gear in the boat and was about ready to launch when my son asked me where the drain plug - aaaaaah - laying in the driveway at home. I had taken it out and set it on the trailer frame. After about 30 minutes of waiting for someone to show up at the marina store, we borrowed one from a kind fisherman. Finally we launched the boat after turning on the GPS so we could find our way through the thick fog bank. So much for the forecasted 15 to 25 mph winds – the water was like glass for most of the day. Well we thought all of our troubles were behind us, not, we got about 300 yards out when the impeller went out. Got back to shore with the electric and replaced the impeller with my spare and found that when I had drained the water out of the impeller a couple of weeks back, I had reversed the intake hose with the discharge hose. –" I should know better" – anyway after cussing and apologizing to my son for screwing up 3 hrs. of our fishing trip we headed out to the rest of a great day of fishing. We caught some nice cutts and one rainbow, the biggest a healthy 25" cutt witch I released to go and eat all of those stinking Chubb’s.
The fog burned off about noon. Mud Creek was starting to ice up. The marina ramp was mostly clear of ice and snow, and as we were leaving at dark, a forest service officer was checking for fishing licenses and fish.
We were fishing with white colored ¼oz Jigs. Water temp. 40.[/size]
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Hi dreamweaver,
Nice report.
I always say that everyone with a boat must soon or later launch without the plug in. It is the only real way for them to get a true appreciation for the importance of the plug. It's almost like a right of passage. dreamweaver, if you haven't done it already you came really close that time. Maybe next time. [  ] Personally, I swamped my boat right in the middle of Lucerne Marina at the Gorge. I had quite an audience. Luckily for me my friend, who was driving the boat to the docks while I parked the truck and trailer, had the presence of mind to get it to shallow water before she went all the way down. Neither motor went under far enough to cause damage. We drained the water out and went fishing. No fish that day though, unfortunately.
m
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It can be frustrating when we have one of those mornings when nothing goes right. But at least you got into some fish. I am glad to hear you released the 25" cutt. If we all practice catch and release strawberry will get back to what it once was.
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Don't feel bad, I launched once without the plug in and my town barber just happened to be there. The whole town probably heard. That's one reason I bought a pontoon boat, no plug to forget.
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Nice report, at least you finally made it out to get some fishing in. I would say it had to be a good day.
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I agree sooner or later your gonna launch with-out the plug. Happened to me a few years back at the berry. On our way up to the berry I was telling my buddy how great the boat was running since I had it tuned up. Well to make a long story short we launched the boat and was heading to my favorite spot and noticed the boat just didnt seem to have the power and I couldnt get it on plane.MY buddy said I think were taking on water... I tod him ya I knew the boat does take on alittle bit but not to worry it was normal... A few minutes later another tap on my shoulder...How much is alittle water? I turn around and the cooler and the tackle boxes are floating around in the back of the boat. Holy Cow! We headed to the closest beached and ramed it up on the shore. I knew instanly what had happened.
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[red][size 3]I dumped my friends ski boat off for him and was parking the rig at Hyrum one afternoon. I went down to the docks and he sure seemed extra friendly, flying by 100 miles an hour waving like crazy. Yep, plug didn't do any good in the ashtray. He said as long as he kept it flying it didn't take on to much but as soon as he slowed down it was a mini waterspout, looked like an inside out jet ski. So he drove around fast, got glared at for making to much wake inside the buoys, but managed to get it back on the trailer to drain it out and try again. [/size][/red]
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hi pontoonfool welcome to to site
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Hey there pontoonfool,
Welcome to the boards. Sounds like you fish and float! Great combination.
JapanRon
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Hey, welcome to the board pontoonfool! I'm a fellow tuber. I just ride in a doughnut though. I'd like to get the super fat cat or something like that, but the budget is just too tight.
Looking forward to your posts in the future!
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I've left my plug out sooner AND later. But they're cheap, so I keep a couple extra in my boat's glove box all the time. Plus, I could always borrow one from one of my livewells.
This thread is also a great reminder to install an auto bilge pump. When you back your boat into the water and see a big stream of water shooting out the side of your boat, that's a good indicator of something amiss.
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Hey there pontoonfool, welcome to the BFT message boards site. I always lvoe to hear about other people crafts. Come by and fill out a quick survey about your craft. Maybe you might want to post a picture of it. here is a link. Just click on it and I'll be watching for your post.
![[Image: idea.gif]](http://www.bigfishtackle.com/images/gforum/idea.gif) [font "Verdana,Arial,Helvetica"][black][size 1][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=81020;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"] New poll for week of Nov. 16 (water crafts) [/url][/size][/black][/font][url "http://www.bigfishtackle.com/cgi-bin/gforum/gforum.cgi?post=81020;sb=post_latest_reply;so=ASC;forum_view=forum_view_collapsed;;page=unread#unread"][/url]
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Having an automatic bilge pump installed on my boat was one of the best improvements that I made to it. I would forget to turn it on often enough, and then I would always forget to turn it off.
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anybody up there fishing from the bank ? any idea how deep the snow is
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Sorry, a clarification, when I said a pontoon boat I meant a 18 foot Playbuoy with a 50 hp Merc. I love it, I just wish it had a 4 stroke.
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[size 2]Aquaman, yes there was guys fishing from the shore, I seen some fishing by the marina parking and some on the south shore of the marina bay. We were fishing the mouth of the narrows east of the marina. I’m not sure how much of a hike it would be from the highway to the mouth of the narrows, but if a guy was to fish off of the north point as you enter the narrows I’m sure you could catch some nice fish. The snow was 8 to 12" deep.
Life’s a dream when you’re fishing![/size]
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thanks for the info trying to figure out where to take the kids day after t-day
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I forget to put the drain plug in mine all the time. I have an oversized bilge pump. I've had 6 inches of water in the bottom of the boat above the floor boards and turned the bilge pump on and pumped the boat dry in less than tweny minutes with the plug still missing. When we camp on the boat, I pull it into shallow muddy/sandy water. Pull the plug and let it sink until it settles and doesn't rock and move with the waves and put the plug back in. In the morning I turn the bilge pump on and float away. Bilge pumps are a relatively cheap upgrade. On todays trip I had a blow out on the trailer tire on the way there, forgot the tire chains and found the boat ramp to be solid ice, left the tackle boxes home and only had the gear tied on the poles, left the fish finder with the tackle boxes, and got into white caps and a snow storm on the lake. To top it off my wife dropped my favorite pole in the lake in 70 feet of water (not recovered). If you ever snag a pole in the canyon just south of Linwood bay, let me know. I guess I know what I'm getting for Christnas.
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Wow -- it might be time for you to consider a checklist that you go over before leaving home (like I always do -- sure cuts down on forgetting things), and before launching. I can't imagine what type of boat you have that you would want to intentionally fill it up with water overnight.
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It's a Ranger Bass Boat. I only fill it up below the floor boards, which are prety high in the boat. Usually I leave the equipment in the boat and don't need a checklist. This time the wife cleaned the boat for me while I was at work (it needed it) and brought everything in. The trailer came with 4-ply tires that only accepted 35 psi of air, but the trailer recommended 50 psi. After the blowout I replaced the tires with 6-ply load bearing tires.
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