Fishing Day 1 with Clayton and Todd...April 14, 2023
by Capt Juls on 04/14/23I was well rested from a good night's sleep, and got up early, to give the dog's some attention before I had to leave. The pup is getting used to the words, "I have to go to work, and you have to stay here. I gotta go fishing, and make some money honey, so you can live". He's much calmer than the first few times I left the house for hours on end, so that's progress. :)
I headed into town to gas up and get the ice for the cooler, before heading to the White Caps to meet my crew. Clayton and Todd flew in from Bismark, ND to do some walleye fishing this weekend. They are mostly doing catch and release, because they don't want to take a ton of fillets on the plane ride home, so they are selecting the good eaters and letting the big girls live another day.
We fished the west side of the islands, this morning, and had 8 in the boat before my Ulterra lost its pairing ability, causing me to not have any controls to operate the unit. Grrrrrrr! If I didn't have bad luck this season, I wouldn't have any luck at all, it seems.
I called Matt Wieland, our local Minn-Kota repair service tech in the area and asked him if he knew what the problem might be, hoping I could fix it on the water, and keep on fishing. However, after a few "try this...is it doing this...can you do that?" questions...he said it needs to be brought in. And, because, I didn't have any controls, the shaft was up in the air as high as it could go. I left it that way, instead of trying to do a manual stow on it, because that is a pain in the butt to do on the water, and it wouldn't hurt anything to keep it up there in the air.
My friend, Chris Utter, was down here from Wisconsin, fishing with his friend, Lyle, and working with us on the water this morning. He offered to take my crew fishing with them, while I got the Ulterra looked at. I was thankful that they were able to keep fishing, even if I wasn't going to make any money today. I would have hated to see them sitting on shore after traveling so far to get here. Thanks, Chris! You're the best!
On my way to see Matt, I decided to just replace the Ulterra with a Terrova, instead. I called him on my way over to his building, and asked if he could find one on such short notice, and to my surprise, and relief, he was able to. He went and picked it up, then installed it in short order, saving me once again. Thanks, Matt! You're the best, too! :)
We had caught 8 nice walleye before this all happened, so at least we had some fun this morning, before my morning fell apart. And, they got a very long day of fishing, because they are still out there with Chris and Lyle, so I'm sure Clayton and Todd are happy too.
We will hit the lake again tomorrow, and hopefully Sunday, before the winds show up, with a cold front, that will knock out my Monday and Tuesday trips.
Sorry there's no report to report....it was one of those days....again. Deep sigh.
Stay tuned.....
Capt Juls
Comments (0)
