First Boat Launch

Last winter Dad gave me his old fiberglass john boat and told me I could fix it up. It was an old boat with a "small" leak and he had not used it in a long while, but it had a nice trolling motor and a good but old 26HP motor on it.

I took it to a local boat repair place and once they looked it over the estimate was about $1,200 to fix it up. Dad said I could probably buy another boat for that so I put the repairs on hold. Then my buddy Ronnie and step son Kodey decided they could get it running a lot cheaper than that.

They are both handy so they started to work and for just a few hundred dollars we had a good boat,  new battery, no leaks and a duck blind option to boot! My son Will moved over to Branson with me so we were ready to try her out. The rain and busy schedule put our fishing plans on hold for a few weeks, but finally a nice sunny week end during deer season provided us a chance to try her out.

I thought you might want to see him again

It was sunny but windy and the wind was out of the east. I recalled Dad always saying, "When the wind is from the east the fish bite the least," and I remember our Boundary Waters trip when where I caught my BIG 5 pound smally when the wind was blowing out of the west. But we just wanted to get this boat in the water and try her out.

I was a bit nervous because I had never been the one to back up a boat and get the engine running and go fishing. I always went with Dad and he took care of all the boat backing and engine starting so this would be my first time to "be in charge," which turned out to be scary.

This is veiw of the lake from K-Dock

We decided to go over to K-Dock on Bull Shoals Lake and see what we could catch. They have a small conservation department dock and boat launch we knew we could use. I was in shorts because it was warm but the day was coming to a close and the wind was making it chilly. When we reached the boat launch there was a boat pulling out and I waited until they were done because I didn’t want anyone seeing me back the trailer into the water in case I had problems.



This is where we launched from

Amazingly, I backed it down the ramp like a champ and stopped at the edge of the water to load up. We loaded our snacks, tackle and poles into the boat, then we took off the stabilizing bar that holds the propeller up when you’re traveling and Will got in the boat. I slowly backed the boat into the water but it wouldn’t come off the trailer. I got out and Will was franticly paddling to try and break free but couldn’t. I told him I would try to back down faster, so I pulled the suburban up the ramp and hit reverse and slammed on the brakes at the edge of the water.

Still the boat would not break free. I did it again but this time I went further down the ramp and had the water all the way up to the muffler on my 2 wheel drive suburban. By this time my worst fears were realized as two other boats were waiting to get off the lake and we had a small audience watching us trying to launch our old john boat. I gave it one more big reverse but still the boat was on the trailer. About this time one of the fishermen standing on the dock waiting to get his boat out of the water yelled forcefully and sarcastically, "You left the strap on, and you won’t get the boat off like that! You need to take that off!"

Looking down Will and I noticed that he was right and we felt really stupid. I pulled the boat up and tried to loosen the strap, but it in my embarrassment and haste could not get it off. The same guy was yelling it’s all jammed up now and you will probably have to cut it. He walked over and looked at it and we all pulled and tugged to no avail. Believe it or not we didn't have a knife anywhere. He said if we would get out of the way he had a knife in his boat we could use. I humbly pulled my rig out of the way and he pulled his big nice Ranger boat out and we used his knife to cut our strap and then we waited for the other boat to take out as well.


 

I just wanted them all to leave and then with no pressure we would launch our boat. While the other boat was loading up he told us to be careful because it was getting dark and it was windy. Once he saw we didn’t have a depth finder he added that the lake was down and those shallow spots were dangerous.  He warned us to be careful. I could see him laughing at us rookies as he walked away.

Once they all left I carefully backed the boat into the water and with no strap it easily slid right off the trailer. As I looked back at Will in the boat I remembered Dad telling me to make sure I put the plug in the boat before I launched it. With all the excitement because of the audience and light strap I couldn’t remember if I had put it in or not. I called back to Will and asked him. He asked where the plug went and said he couldn’t tell. But he did say there was a lot of water in the boat.

Just then I remembered I probably hadn't put the plug in. I told Will I would back the trailer back down and to paddle back on the trailer as fast as he could. He did and I pulled the boat out of the water and we let it drain out and then put the plug in. Whew-problem solved!

Will boat after cutting strap and putting plug in.

We then launched the boat and I got in and we were ready to crank it up. I flipped the choke and turned the key on our new electric start switch and it turned over but wouldn't fire up. By this time the wind was blowing us across the lake and we couldn't get the motor running. I wasn't worried because Ronnie had told me that tolling motor could pull the boat anywhere.

I quickly gave up on the big engine and dropped the trolling motor in the water and fired it up. It took me awhile to learn how to steer but Ronnie was right, that motor pulled us wherever we wanted to go. We decided that we would not worry about the engine and just use the trolling motor. I headed towards a big bluff across the lake that looked like it would block the hard east wind. We passed through a shallow section and never hit the bottom and then cozied up along the bluff.

The win was not as bad along the bluff but we didn’t get any bites. I was following the shoreline and getting further away from the dock when I looked at my watch and decided we better head back because I didn't want to try and load the boat up in the dark. Since the trolling motor was slow that was a good decision. By the time we made it back to the dock it was getting dark but the new lights sure looked nice on the boat.

We had very little trouble getting it out of the water, but while I was putting the strap back on I realized we shouldn’t have cut it. Instead of pulling the latch to loosen the strap all we needed to do was press the latch in. So much for the smart guy in the Ranger boat! We pulled out just as the last rays of sunlight were disappearing over the horizon and headed for home.

I stopped to get gas for the suburban and while it was filling up I looked over the motor under the lights and realized the fuel line was not hooked up. I guess that explained why the engine never fired up. On the drive home Will and I laughed about our mistakes and talked about the east wind, the guy cutting our strap, no bites and our plans to do it right next time.

Unfortunately, our second trip presented some engine problems and was not very successful, but I will tell that story another time.

Thanks,

Rod Jetton

      

Day Three –Part 2, Looking for the BIG one

After I lost that monster smally I was disappointed.  He was so close and he got away, but when you are fishing as in life there is only one thing to do.  Keep casting.  You can’t catch a fish staring at the water with your pole across your lap.  

Courts and Grant paddling in the rain

We kept hugging the shoreline and throwing our lure into every crag and good-looking fish hideout we could see.  Dad and I led and Courts and Grant followed.  We did catch server nice Pike that we knew would make for a tasty fish fry that night but no big small mouths.  

Our goal was Bald Eagle creek and we were getting closer.  It was still a cloudy and overcast day and we had been catching fish so I was excited about getting to Dad’s secret spot where even Mom had caught big fish.  When we finally saw the creek I changed lures to a giant yellow rooster tail, as Dad gave me the final instructions on being ready to catch a fish.  He said Mom almost caught a fish on every cast 20 years ago, which added to my pressure.  

As we started up the mouth of the creek there was a huge rock on our right side and Dad said, “We always catch one here.”  Right after he said that I made a perfect cast to the edge of that rock and sure enough hung a nice Pike.  That made me a believer on how much of a honey hole Bald Eagle Creek was.  

Dad kept paddling and advising me on where to cast and I kept catching fish.  The water was really shallow and we could easily see the bottom as we headed upstream.  The grass and lily pads were thick against the edges and the Pike were sitting underneath them and attacking my lure with each cast.  The trick was to cast as close to the grass as possible without getting hung.  

We tried to stay quiet and cast without snagging but there were several casts where I threw to hard and caught the brush.  Each time Dad would have to paddle over to my snag and he would say, “You can’t catch fish getting hung up,” or he would ad, “Your as bad as your Mom at casting, can’t you cast any better than that?” 

Courts and Grant followed us up the creek and Grant was having a ball while pulling them in.  I don’t know how many we caught but we started throwing the “small” ones back.  We finally reached a point where the water was so shallow we had to stop and Dad parked our canoe so we could hike up to Beaver Creek and check out the Beaver Dam.  

It was only a few hundred yards to the Beaver Dam but there was no trail and it was an adventurous hike through rocks, brush and millions of mosquitoes.  I took my pole hoping to catch a monster fish in the Beaver Pond and when we reached the Dam it was a beautiful pond that looked like it should be full of very large fish just waiting to be caught by an adventurer brave enough to blaze and trail through the brush and mosquitoes.  Unfortunately, I didn’t even get a bite.

We headed back to our canoes, stretched our backs and headed back down Bald Eagle Creek.  After a very long day sitting in the canoe it felt good to get up and walk around, but the mosquitoes were so bad I wanted to get out in the breeze over the water where they didn’t bother us as much.  

Grant with his Big One

We had another fun time catching fish all the way down the creek and we were almost back to the big rock with Courts and Grant in front of us when Grant hooked his biggest fish of the trip.  He was trying to pull it in and his drag was screaming while Courts and Dad were coaching him on the finer points of fish catching.  I took the camera out and got the whole thing on film.  Grant pulled him into the boat and help up a very nice Pike for the photo op. 

It was getting late in the day so we headed back along the same shoreline for our campsite.  Dad kept paddling and I kept fishing but I was anxious to get back to the spot where I had hung my monster small mouth.  I wanted another chance at him and thought maybe he would bite again or his wife or Dad would be there to jump on my line.  Dad caught a few Walleye and I hooked a Pike or two as we got closer to the “spot.”

A couple of coves up when we were really close to shore I made a short cast off the point of a cliff that didn’t look very special and hooked a fish.  I was trying to real him in but my drag kept slipping and Dad looked at me and said, “Son you have to tighten that drag some or you will never get these fish in.”

I was thinking he was right and about that time he broke the water and I understood the reason the drag was slipping, I had another big smallmouth on the line.  As soon as Dad saw him he told me to get the net.  This time the handle was out and ready and I wasted no time in getting the net and scooping up my trophy small mouth!

He was BIG and I was happy!!  All the disappointment from losing that other smally was washed away.  I very carefully put him on the stringer and after that all I wanted to do was get back to camp and show Courts and Grant.  Of course after I calmed down and thought about it I made the point that as big as he was I knew the one that got away was even bigger.  

Me with my Monster

It was a somewhat uneventful trip back.  Dad caught another small walleye and we had to paddle against the wind across the last part of the lake to get to our campsite but I wanted to weigh and measure my fish. 

Dad left his fish scale at home because he thought it would be too heavy to trek in.  At his age every ounce was a burden so we didn’t have an accurate way to weigh my monster.  I got a 5 Pound bag of potatoes that Mom had sent and held them in one hand and my fish in the other.  They seemed about even to me and Courts double checked my accuracy and confirmed the weight.  It measured almost 19 inches and we estimated it was 5 pounds.  

I can tell you it made for a giant fish fry.  I love fish and I have eaten a lot of good fish in my life, but I don’t think fish can ever be as good as they are after a long day on the Boundary Waters.  There is something about frying some fresh fish that were just caught out of a lake that is so clean you can drink the water straight out of it,  in pure coconut oil that have been dipped in Mom’s secret cornmeal mix.

We had a wonderful evening sitting around our campfire and ate fish till we couldn’t eat any more as we watched the sun set in one of the most beautiful and peaceful places on earth.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day.  I learned that when the wind blows out of the West and it’s a cloudy overcast day, GO FISHING because fish do bite best when the wind blows from the West!  Next year I will volunteer to carry the 2oz fish scale into camp. 

Rod Jetton- Boundary Waters Day-3-Part 1, Catching Fish!!

I’ve wanted to write about this day for awhile but I have been very busy.  Each morning Dad would get up early and take Courts out in a canoe and they would fish.  I would get up, find a nice rock to sit on, read the Bible and thank the Lord for such a beautiful place. It seems like when there are no phones, TV’s, or radios, it’s easier to talk to God.  It just seems like he can hear you better and I know I can hear him better with all the cares of life on hold.

One of Grants fires in the rain

After that, I started pancakes while Grant built a fire.  Like most young boys, Grant loved building fires.  He hunted wood, chopped wood and kept the fire going even in the rain.  Dad and Courts got back about 9:00am and we finished breakfast.  

It was an overcast day and the wind was blowing out of the west.  Dad has always repeated that old wives tale that says, “Wind from the East, fish bite least. Wind from the West, fish bite best.”  Well I never really thought much about it but this trip to the BW has me believing.  

We paddled up across Bald Eagle Lake, which is the lake we were camped on, and then we turned to the east and fished up the north side of that big cove.  We went right back by our first campsite on this route.  We picked this location because Dad said that back when he brought Mom to the BW’s, they fished that cove all the way back to Bald Eagle creek and that Mom caught more fish that day than ever before.  Dad also added, “I caught my biggest northern ever at the end of this cove.”  That had Grant, Courts and me all excited and ready to hit that cove!

The purple line shows our route from our campsite to Bald Eagle Creek

The great thing about fishing with Dad this year was he let me sit in the front of the canoe while he sat in the back.  He likes to catch walleye, so he would let his line out and troll while he paddled.  This allowed me to fish without having to paddle, unless he got hung.  I was living the life of Riley up at the front!!

We rounded the first outcropping and turned into the big cove and I started fishing.  Dad had given me a hard time about bringing a big dip net I bought, because he said in all his trips he never brought a dip net.  I’m an optimist so I packed it in anyway.  The only problem with this net was the handle had a release button that had to be pushed to get it all the way out.  I had it in the canoe but I had not released the handle yet.  This would prove disastrous!!

Another major concern was my lure.  That morning when we were rigging our poles dad had me put on the red and white dare devil he caught his big northern with over 20 years ago.  I told him I didn’t want to use that one, because if I got hung and lost it, I would never hear the end of how I lost his best BW lure.  He insisted so reluctantly, I put it on while I said a prayer that God would not let me lose this lure.  

We fished about ½ mile along the shore as dad paddled, but had not caught anything.  We came to a small inlet that had two big rocks sticking out with some water in the middle between them.  It was the kind of spot I just knew a big fish was in.  I was a little worried about the cast because occasionally I would over cast and hit the rocks and dad would rib me for scratching the paint off his best lure.  

I carefully flipped the pole and made a great cast with the dare devil landing perfectly between the rocks where my dream fish was waiting.  Sure enough, WHAM, something hit that lure and the fight was on!  I started reeling him in not knowing how big or what kind of fish he was.  I could feel the front of the canoe pull to the right as he took a run out to open water.  Courts and Grant were also to our right and they watched the whole episode.

Just like the old days dad was coaching me and by this time I knew he was big.  He was getting closer to the canoe and dad said, “Wow, he is big you better get the net.”  As I was reaching behind me with one hand trying to grab the net he jumped out of the water and that’s when we could tell it was the biggest smally we had ever seen. The small mouth bass get big up there and they have a brilliant gold color to their bodies.  Even though it was a cloudy day I can still remember the brilliant shine to his scales as he leaped out of the water on the final jump.  

I was reaching for the net, he leaped, we saw how big he was, the hook came out and he was gone.  I just sat their staring at the now calm water that was being thrashed by my monster smally just a second ago.  It was so sad and it happened so fast.  Courts chimed in about how big he was and dad said, “Wow that would have been the fish of the trip, if you would have caught him.”

I just sat their disappointed gazing at the water, but after a few seconds I quickly made another cast between the rocks… nothing happened.  He was gone and I had missed my chance.  Of course, they now started ribbing me about my net not being ready and how I had let the state record smally off the hook.  I just kept quiet, kept casting and made sure the net was ready for the next one. 

I think I’ll finish this post later.  There was a lot of action on day three and it will take more than one post to cover it all.   

Thanks and God Bless,

Rod Jetton

Here is a short video of our campsite the first night.  You will hear Grant chopping in the background! ha ha            

Rod Jetton- Boundry Water First Fish

I was re-reading the posts and trying to find spelling mistakes, which for me is like looking for 4 leaf clover in a field of clover.  When I realized I wrote the day BW post and didn't include a photo of the first fish caught.

I'm working on Day 3 which was the day we caught the most fish and I caught my monster, but here is the photo of the first fish.  This big northern was caught right off a rock ledge where our first campsite was.  It was when we were going scouting for a new campsite.

This was the first fish caught

 Oh, I almost forgot to mention that I caught the first fish.  ha ha

Rod Jetton-Day 2 in the Boundary Waters

I am writing this after the fact of course but I did take good notes about our activities.  As I said, our first day we had perfect weather.  No wind, sunshine and a perfect day to arrive and set up camp.  Did I also mention that i caught the first fish that day?  Well that night it started raining and the temp dropped and our tent leaked.  Dad and I shared his old tent and this was the same tent that leaked back in 1982 when he brought me to the BW.

This time I had a nice iso mat to sleep on and I only used a Pancho liner because it was so warm.  My sleeping bag was rolled up and didn't get wet.  In 1982 we were on the lake fishing and Dad wouldn't let me put my poncho on because he said I could get dry cloths when we got back to camp.  Of course when we got back to camp my bag and cloths were soaked.  This time all my stuff was dry but Dads bag did get wet.

Not only did it rain that night but it was pouring that morning.  We hung up a tarp to keep us dry but the wind was blowing hard, which made the rain impossible to avoid.  We couldn't build a fire and times like that make camping miserable.  That's when Dad said he thought he was getting to old to come up there and hike in.  He said I would have to bring everyone up next year. I was thinking I don't want to come up and sit in the rain next year.  Thankfully the rain stopped but the sun didn't come out and the wind started really blowing.

The good news was how the wind dried everything out and blew the mosquitoes away, but the bad news was it kept us from fishing.  We tried to go out, but only made it to the island about 1/2 a mile from our campsite.  When you were behind it the wind was blocked and it was nice, but once you were unprotected from the wind it got rough on the water.  And when you have 2 guys who weigh hmmmm lets say alot in a canoe with big waves its a bit scary.

So we stayed on shore and took a nap with no mosquito's bothering us while we enjoyed the afternoon.  We did fish from our campsite but didn't catch much.  The Courts, Grant and I found a trail and hikes to another cove where the wind was not blowing and did some fishing.  We didn't catch much but Grant did catch the biggest lake perch on our trip in that cove.  After that Grant got hung and lost the only lure we had so we decided to hike back and Courts thought he knew a quicker way through the woods that would come out on a different trail.

I don't know if you have ever hiked through woods that have never been logged and probably have never had a human walk through them but it is rough.  Tress were blown over everywhere and the moss was thick and spongy.  There were pockets of stagnant water where finally figured where all the mosquito's came from.  While we wondered around on this "short" cut we were sweating and being bit and Grant was getting tired.  After quite a while we ended up on a cove where we could almost see our campsite and we took another cut through the woods, got off track, overshot our campsite and ran into the same trail we stared our journey on.

Fortunately it was a short and easy walk back to our campsite where Dad was wondering where we were.  We had left him sleeping when we went on our hike and he had no idea where we were.  Once home we started dinner and ate fresh caught fish some grilled potatoes and more red beans and rice.   

Finally, we read Proverbs and had our devotional then turned in about 9:00pm when the sun went down and hoped for better weather.  Here are two short videos, one of us in the rain and one showing how big the waves were.

    

Rod Jetton- Keeping Fit In The Boundry Waters

Well I took a break from trail running during our fishing trip to Minnesota.  The good news is I definitely got in some workouts and i am way out of shape.  The boundary waters are a group of natural lakes on the Canadian and Minnesota boarder where you have to hike in and they do not allow engines on boats.  It is beautiful and the water is so clear and clean you can drink it right out of the lake.

Posing with the timer on

What the rules mean is that you have to carry everything you need for the week including your canoe.  Our first hike or what they call a portage was a 280 rod jaunt (about 8/10 of a mile) into the Boundary water Canoe Area (BWCA) from the road.  It took each of us two trips to get both canoes and all the gear to the water.  I carried our 64 pound canoe on my shoulders with a food pack on my back for my first trip then I jogged back and strapped two packs on the front and back of my body with several other things in my hands.  Needless to say that was a good workout but I was pumped up and full of energy with all the excitement of getting there.

Dad with all the gear he brought with him

 
We then paddled all the way through three big lakes to our campsite.  It was about a 4 mile trip, which was another good workout.  First, there was Little Gabro, then Gabro, then into Bald Eagle.  There were some rapids going into Bald Eagle and with all our gear in the canoe we had to get out and carry it over a few rocks and into Bald Eagle Lake.  Of course once we got to our campsite and unloaded everything we decided we didn't like it, so we scouted around and found a better one and had to reload everything and transport it over to the new site.  All in all, it was a full day of hiking, paddling and loading gear.  If you look at the center and bottom of the map below you can see the lakes we were in.
 

Map of the BW with all the lakes showing

That was day one and I will continue this tomorrow.  Thanks and take care.

Rodney Jetton

 check this link out for more photos

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150213692999693.329284.560729692