What a day !!

[Grute Man]

Hit Bald Eagle Saturday at 7:30 and fished hard for about 3 hours -- trolling lindy rigs, jigging slip bobbers, casting for bass/northern...and got one teeny tiny crappy that was all speckled up.  So Momma Grute meets us at the beach with the other kids so we can do some tubin...I no more than get out in the middle of the lake with 2 girls and notice that Im takin on water - FAST!!!  So I try the bilge -- nothing.  So I switch fuses and try again -- uh uhh.  So we fire that mug up and hauled bass back to the beach.  Thank GOD we made it.  The girls sat all the way up front which helped.  First thing I checked was for my plug and it was gone!!  Id been fishing all morning so I know it was there.  I guess it got knocked out at the beach or something.  So I run to the quick stop and they don't have em.  So I run to Bald Eagle Boat Rentals and they don't have any for sale but loaned me one.  Nice fellas there.   :rock:  So today I went Fleet Farm and bought 2 plugs and I'll be checkin out the bilge/fuse situation soon.  Didn't get home till about 4:30!!  From 10:30-4:30 messin around with that.  That was tiring and stressful!!!

Oh I did see some loons who were not shy at all.  They swam right up close to us and I got some GREAT pics.  I'll post em later.

Glad we made it though and I don't have to change my name to Sunk1too.   

Grute

[Spinach]

Always carry an extra plug in your tackle box! Especially if the plug is an "outty" They can be pulled out by logs, cattails, reeds or even plain old weeds.

When you got the boat on plane, the water level should have gone down, unless you had so much water that you couldn't get the boat speed up?

Thanks for sharing your near disaster..... Same thing happened to me in my Lund about 8 years ago, ever since then i carry an extra plug in my tackle bag, that way no matter who's boat I'm in were somewhat covered!!!

[mopho]

 you can always change it to a screw in type  plug.  they  are much more stable in the accidental pullout  situation

[Realtree]

That doesn't sound like a lot of fun Grute Man, I'm glad that you were able to get the family (and the boat) back on dry land safely.

That is a very good idea to keep an extra plug in the tackle box...I remember my Dad always had one in his box growing up and I wondered why when we already had one in the boat. Makes sense now.

Keep on boatin' Grute Man, and thanks for sharing your adventure with us. Hopefully it will help someone else to be proactive in case they run into the same type of situation down the road...  

[Grute Man]

Thanks for the tips guys.  I was going to just keep it in the boat but now I think I will put it in the tackle box.  And for everyone else, think of it as insurance.  Those plugs are cheap but not a swamped boat.

[GirlGuide]

Holy crapola Grute...that must have really been kinda scary I would think.  Great idea, about the extra plug...I'm going to mention that to my hubby.  Better to be safe than sorry, that's for sure.  Thanks for sharing and glad you guys all made it to shore okay.  GG 

by the way..what are you doing up so late?  passed your bedtime....Im going to go in the chat room, if your still going to be up for a bit..join me!!  gg

[rchaze60]

WOW BRO  glad everything is ok .... now the question is ????? is the plug on the inside or outside? mine is on the inside but then again i also have a spare just like the prop now well I am glad everything worked out

[Grute Man]

Sorry I didn't make the chat room GG.  Did some stuff here, ordered some ATV parts then watched the news -- or Snewz I should say.  I didn't make it till the end.

RC, my plug is an external.  It would be really hard to get to it from the inside.  Its a tight area and I got my batteries and gas tank all right there.  I gave these new ones a turn or two and when they go in, its really tight.

Thanks for all your thoughts.  Im really glad we made it back too.  One of the kids is a friends kid so I was even more scared.  Well we made it and with a lesson learned.

Grute

[GOGETTER]

GRUTE:  Sounds like Murphy was on board the boat.  Dad always said Murphys law is :  Anything that can go wrong will!!  Old Murph is always with me.  Thanks for taking him for the day!!!!  :) ::cheers::

[Grute Man]

Old Murphy has been permanently uninvited!!   

Where ya been?  Haven't heard from you in a while.

[GOGETTER]

Reading the forums!! dreaming about Pheasant, and deer hunting and fishing.  Not getting out fishing as much as I would like but I have a Montana Missouri River trout fishing trip coming up in September. Yea Haw!! Geno

[Grute Man]

Sounds like fun.  Better take a plug with you just in case. 

Grute

[GOGETTER]

I hear ya man!!