The events of this past weekend's tournament is the inspiration of this article as well as a video that is being passed around on social media. I can't take credit for the title as it came for an old Tim Allan movie "Galaxy Quest", but it really is a good motto to remember when bass fishing. Not all tournament or even all fishing trips are perfect. This past weekend during the Bayou Bassin' League Tournament on Halls Bayou the control cable to the trolling motor broke pretty early in the day. Some folks might have called it quits, but we didn't. It took some time to figure out I couldn't fix it to work right so I "Redneck Engineered" a solution that kept us fishing. It was lucky for me this was a team tournament as I had my hands full controlling the boat with the rigged steering system that consisted of a pair of channel locks, three screwdrivers and a bunch of duct tape. With it being a team tournament, my
teammate John Fitch had the lion share of the fishing to do. John really did more than his part to put fish in the boat. I
on the other hand was distracted with
trying to keep the boat positioned
and that took one of my hands when ever the trolling motor was running. So I missed and lost some fish that
might have made a difference in the final outcome of the tournament.
However when a lot of guys would have given up completely, we hung in
there and weighed in a limit for 4th place.Being prepared for adversity is the first step to making sure you can keep fishing when things like this happen. The first thing you need to do is keep some tools, plastic tie straps, spare fuses, wire nuts and above all some duct tape in your boat at all times. You never know when those items come in handy and will bail you out and keep you fishing. It is also a great idea to keep a first aid kit on board your boat as well. You never know when you or someone on your boat will get cut or get hooked by a lure. Of course you will also need to have all the required safety equipment in your boat. It is required for a reason and you should check it regularly to make sure everything is in good working order. Believe me it won't be any fun if one of those items are needed but it doesn't work correctly. In fact it might save a life one day!!
Another very important thing is everyone in the boat needs to have their life vests on at all time the big engine is running. Even more important is for the person operating the boat to always have the kill switch hooked to his/her life vest. At the speeds we travel in our bass boats, even the smaller aluminum bass boats, things happen fast and in a blink of an eye you can be in big trouble. If someone gets thrown from the boat, especially the operator, the life vest will protect you in more ways than one, and that kill switch will make sure the boat doesn't come back and run over you. Also the kill switch will keep the boat near you so you can get back on board. Getting back on the boat quickly is very important if someone is injured or it is cold out.
In closing remember that "Never give up, Never Surrender" really means to be ready at all times for anything bad to happen. So be ready if things go bad, but also give yourself peace of mind knowing that you are ready!
Until next time, Tight Lines and Take a Kid Fishing.
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