It was a cool and rainy July day when…

By Bob Zettler

July 28, 2014

I am getting ahead of myself here. Anymore it seems I live for the weekends this summer. I’ve had a bad track record since last Christmas health-wise and have little vacation time available to use during the week as I had in recent years. As such, I try and cram as much as I can into the weekend. And short of hurricanes and tornados, I go fishing every weekend and have managed to since the end of the worst turkey season in decades for me personally. But I digress already.

This past weekend was no different as I looked forward to heading over to Lake Shelbyville either on Friday after work or sometime well before sunrise on Saturday. Why you ask? Simple, I had a commitment to help my friends enter the waterfowl blind draw at the Sanganois along the Illinois River on Sunday that I simply could not miss so that left me with just Saturday to fish.

I usually start getting ready on the Wednesday before and try and have everything in the Jeep and ready by Thursday evening ready to roll at 5 PM Friday, or thereabouts. That means I have to have clothes laid out, trolling motor batteries fully charged and loaded, liquid refreshments, and all other items in the Jeep so I can leave from work. As my luck would have it, I had another night on Thursday with little sleep and decided to head home at 5 PM so I could catch a couple of hours rest/sleep before heading over to the Lake. You have to understand that I have to be in Findlay before 10 PM in order to get ice and my minnow fix as no one else that I know of is open again until 5:30 the next morning. And if you know anything about me then you have heard how I can spend umpteen hours on the boat and most times fish at night and well into the next day when I go. Why you ask? Because I love to be out there!

Anyway, I had been to the doctor that afternoon and he had prescribed me some antibiotics for a reoccurring health issue and I was going to fill it that night before I got home but was just plain beat so I simply went home and to bed. Even exhausted and under the weather I still couldn't sleep, another issue I have been combating for more than a year, so I left the house shortly after 8 PM. That should allow me plenty of time to get to Findlay and get some grub on the way there for supper and breakfast. It was nice to see gas lower than it had been in quite awhile so with five McChicken’s at my side I made it to Findlay well before 10 PM. Bought enough minnows for me and another person and headed to pickup my boat from storage.

I started storing it at Leprechaun Landing this summer where it saves me wear and tear on the Jeep and money on gas – I get a third less mileage with the boat attached. Now the bay I have is extremely narrow with maybe a foot or less clearance on each side so I am extremely careful getting it out and especially backing it in but this time I was there and back on the road in record time. As I had the minnow container sitting on the front seat of the Jeep, I decided to go ahead and put it in the boat so my seats wouldn't get soaked. Something I have done dozens of times before, except this time I placed it on the bow deck instead of the main deck. However, I did prop it in place with the tackle box!

I had debated where I was going to fish and put in the boat right up until I arrived and after consulting with my buddy Brian, decided to try Whitley Creek as it was just up the road and would put me closer to several good places in that east arm and the Findlay Marina area where I planned to spend my night. I hadn't been there in a couple of years and never in the dark and after making it to the parking area where all I saw were raccoons staring at me from all over and discovering they had absolutely no lights, I decided it wasn't wise to leave my Jeep and trailer in a parking area (off the track), so I turned around and headed over to Bo Woods. For some reason I stopped at the main road to check something and to my horror saw that the eight dozen minnows were gasping for air all over the front of my boat! That damn bumpy road had thrown my tackle box and minnow cooler over and there was maybe two-dozen minnows alive in just two-inches of water.

Jumping into the boat I began scooping ALL the minnows up and putting them back into the cooler – this took some time as they were ALL OVER the place! Now I have nearly eight-dozen minnows floating and swimming in those same two-inches of water. I knew I needed water and right now, so I headed towards Bo in the hopes that maybe that gas station on the way sold minnows or I would stop along the lake and grab some lake water. My biggest concern was even if I got water, would the different temperature of whatever water I obtained kill off any survivors? I mean the ones that had lain dormant on the floor could still rebound but what will new water do to them…

Thankfully, the station carried minnows (now I know I can arrive later), so I bought a dozen and they filled my cooler with water. Within minutes all but a couple dozen were swimming about so added some blue additive and it looked like I was good to go! Made it to Bo where there were just a couple of trailers and pulled up under a light as I had planned all along to work on the boat while I was there. First, I finally replaced the broken windshield with one I bought from eBay. It came with no directions but they said it had all the mounting hardware. Right! Only it didn't but I was able to use to ones from the broken screen. Always improvising! Then I had to repair some stripped out screws on my roof and redo several reels and poles. I took my time for as soon as I arrived the wind had picked up and I HATE the wind!

Finally I was done and went to put the boat into the lake. Damn wind had picked up again and it was blowing right into the ramp so as usual I attached the rope and backed the trailer into the water holding onto the rope through my driver doors open window like I have every time I put in alone. Walked the rope around the Jeep and tied it to the ramp before pulling the trailer out of the water. THUMP! You have to be kidding me! Somehow the rope had got caught on the trailer and broken leaving the boat to float off. Just minutes earlier I had decided not to turn the lights on the boat and now I feared it would float off and get hit by someone in the Stygian darkness. Threw it in park, applied the emergency and much to my relief discovered the boat was getting blown right into the ramp!!! Hallelujah!

Re-tied the rope together and secured the boat to the ramp before parking my rig in the first and closest parking spot in the lot. That way when I am exhausted the next day, I do not have a long walk! Came back to the boat, fired it up and took my time heading towards the Findlay Marina as it was pitch black out. I did stop and cruise a little through a cove or two to see what I could on my fishfinders so it took me a long time to make it to the Marina. As I did not want to wear out my batteries – I have two for the trolling motor – I found one area where there was little wind, light over the water and a place I could tie up to.

Now this summer I hadn't caught many Overs during the night except on a few occasions but tonight I did hook a couple, in addition to a bunch of 7”-9” Crappie. But around 3 AM I hooked something bigger, much bigger and it was game on. Now the area I was fishing was not very big AND there are countless steel cables hidden in the water where you have to be careful about and this Bad Boy was not about to surrender! Then Brian called. As we chatted, with the line running off the reel and me trying to keep it off any hang-ups, it happened. At about 30 minutes in on my Sam Heaton Crappie pole, the fish must have wrapped around a cable for it wouldn't move except I could detect a tug-of-war going on under the surface. I had hopes he might unwrap himself and left the line taught for awhile but about six minutes later it must have gotten cut and that was that. Still, it was exciting and I just wish I could have seen the fish as he never made it within eight-foot of the surface. Que sera. Que sera…

That was the big excitement for the evening, of course, other than the minnow cooler foaling over and the boat breaking free but as light started to break I decided to head across the water to my first spot after seeing the first boats of the day speed by to the north and to the south. Unfortunately, with a south wind I was having a bear of a time staying on a spot and even finding my markers for that matter. So I decided to try Beckett’s Cove. Amazingly, no one was there yet and it was approaching 7 AM. I decided to work my way towards where I am told there is some excellent structure and as I continued to fight that south wind, I was at least catching a few Crappie. I am about half way there and another boat comes screaming in and settles right on where I was headed just 50 yards away. Damn. He knew where he was going too and threw out marker buoys right away. As I was busy in my own efforts, I cannot tell you how well he did as I only saw one small Crappie that he landed, but he stayed there for 45 minutes or so.

As I hadn’t done as well as I hoped, I thought I would at least try No-Name Cove and whatever else I could find around there. That was a wasted hour or so as I only had one bite and nothing to show for it, so I headed back to Beckett’s and looked for underwater structure and Crappie. It was getting late in the morning and Noon was almost there but I was consistently catching a few here and there so I stayed on them. I had eaten a sandwich earlier but a Coke Zero or Gator-Aid sure sounded good! Nope, I will take a break in a minute as I am sure those Overs are just about to pop loose. This went on for a couple of hours and in hindsight I realize I should have taken that brake for it was now in the 90’s and humid! I had been without sleep for quite awhile but I just wouldn’t quit as I had heard from Brian and others that with an approaching storm they ought to start biting!

ob·ses·sion noun \äb-ˈse-shən, əb-\ : a state in which someone thinks about someone or something constantly or frequently especially in a way that is not normal

: someone or something that a person thinks about constantly or frequently

: an activity that someone is very interested in or spends a lot of time doing

Yes Folks, that’s me! I be obsessed as the weekend before I had stayed on the boat 23 straight hours and now I had been on the water around 13 but I knew the big-uns were there and just waiting to jump in the boat with me. And that rumble in the west, it’s probably just one of those cigar boats opening up on the Lake. Yeah, just keep deluding myself on that too. So here I am having been out there without liquid refreshment for hours, no lunch, shirt off in the sun since Noon and I finally notice the dark clouds building in the northwest. Got out the Cell and checked Raindar and saw a line of bad storms almost there with another line one county behind the tail end of the ones about to rain on my parade.

I didn't want to get caught up in the mess at the ramp with everyone trying to get off the Lake at once as I hoped the storms were just going to cut the north edge, so instead of deciding to weather them commando style, I went ahead and put up the roof and began putting up everything I could into dry-bags or the like. Unfortunately, just as I was almost done, the rain began and so did the lightening…

For whatever reason, as a novice when it comes to boats and boating, I decided to make my way around the corner to the Coalshaft Bridge and safety. There were already five other boats hanging out there so I felt comfortable in my decision. This is where it gets interesting as not only is it pouring down but the lightening was hitting all around – and I mean close! Pretty soon it was just one other boat and me and both of us were right next to the bridge’s piling when it happened – lightening hit the bridge right above us – “%$*@ me” I said out loud and no cared. No one even looked me as were all just thankful to be alive. Quickly putting on my lifejacket - so when I did get hit by lightening and my body thrown from the boat, I wouldn't drown at least – I watch as they decide to park it on shore and load up onto their trailer right there at the Coalshaft parking area leaving me all alone…

It wasn't over as lightening hit in the woods a 100-yards away and then the winds picked up. And they really picked up. I had kept my motor running so I could stay under the bridge but now it was all I could to stay there right up against the piling. At one point according to the NWS we had gusts of 45+MPH and the rain was coming down in torrents to the point I couldn't see the other end of the bridge. Did I mention I was all alone?

After maybe 20 minutes of this, a boat screamed by and when I saw a slight lull and lighter sky, I decided to make a run for it too. With waves crashing over the bow and whitecaps from the Perfect Storm (well, maybe not that high), I finally made it to the ramp but not before another bolt of lightning hit in the area. God’s way of reminding me of either my Dark Cloud luck or Natural Selection was around the corner…

As I plodded my way to the Jeep, praying another bolt wouldn't end my days (and nights), I discovered the front end of my Jeep had been hit! The license plate was all crunched and the new license plate holder broken in pieces. Criminy, I parked there right up front and away from the next possible rig and someone still hits me. Talk about Dark Clouds…

And someone had placed a damn advertisement on the windshield. I am so tired of these unsolicited flyers that I grabbed the soaked paper and was about to rip it up when I saw it had a note on it. You got to be kidding me, the person who hit me left me note? Well, I’ll be, he did, apologizing for his son’s action and providing me his name and phone number. Grumble, grumble. I guess I can’t complain too much as my Dark Cloud has a silver lining after all…this time! And, after all I am alive, soaked but unharmed, and I am headed home early by my standards – it was nearing 5:45 PM now. Loaded up the boat, gas it up on the way back to the storage, able to back it in the garage in under 15 minutes and headed home. Safe at last…

Not quite as it seems one of the reasons I had been having trouble sleeping and other issues was I had developed a tooth abscess and by Sunday I was really out of it. Yet, I made it to the waterfowl blind drawing and home again, complete with antibiotics to help the recovery. It has been touch and go, and I still need a new dentist, but I am alive and will hopefully get through this health obstacle soon…so I can go fishing again this weekend!