For my 10 year anniversary at work my boss gave me an amazing gift… a substantial budget for a new boat for myself. Literal tears were shed upon receiving this gift. I shopped around and ended up with a Tracker SuperGuide v16 with a 70hp Force 2 stroke. Leagues above my 14ft prince craft with the 9.9. Not only that, they got me Livescope Plus Bundle with LVS34 for the baot.
Holy $###!
My Forester could barely tow this thing but I managed to make the 3 hour drive home with it back in Early March. Enter anxiety issue number one. Now I have this wet boat but I’m afraid of overdoing it with my forester. Boat and trailer and motor are around 1850lbs. Forester tow capacity is 1500lbs. No good for long term. Well, little did I know Mother Nature was about to throw me a loop…. Driving home after picking up the livescope bundle that the Amazon driver deciddd to leave in the middle of my work parking lot bride a rainstorm,…. I look to see some ice fishermen on a lake by house, look back st the road, and SMASH!!! Biggest doe you ever seen, all my airbags blow, luckily I’m alone, I manage to pull over promptly without incident, exited vehicle thoroughly shell shocked from the airbags….. sat in the dirt and looked at the giant doe (must be pregnant), and count my blessing I’m still breathing. Car totalled. Holy crap I just finished paying 6 years of financing 3 weeks ago and the car paid off. Insurance was amazing I got a settlement real fast and found a reliable SUV with 5000lb tow capacity to take its place. Now I can safely tow any new boat. Wow…. Crazy how life is sometimes, usually on the receiving end of the $### side of the stick and suddenly everything comes up roses…. Just wow. That was 2 weeks ago.
Unbelievable…
Cut to today. Maiden voyage. Ice is out as of last 2-3 days. Buddy Paul comes up to help me launch the boat. Aimed to launch for 9am. Get to launch, go to raise the motor to disengage the transom saver…. No power. Dead as a doornail. Tested battery, all good. I figure maybe I tore a wire out of place when pulling the old electronics out from the old graph….. everything looks good, tried boater pack tried jiggling the wires tried the battery connect, nothing worked. Back to the house. We tesr apart the console for an hour and a half and trace every wire… nothing adds up. I’m about to give up, and I just so happen to glance at the top of the motor, with the cowl off, and notice a single 20a fuse….. what are the odds…. Check the fuse; BINGO! Dead fuse. Found a 30a use to at least confirm the issue, and voila; everything works now. So I buffed my neighbour for some fuses, we raided his nephews scrap car that lives in the driveway with the windows down all year… nobody is fixing that car so I harvest 3 good 20A fuses from it. Installed one, fired up the motor, all works well.
Back to launch; ROUND TWO. Back down to the ramp, unhook the straps, load the gear, go to lift the motor to remove the transom saver; DEAD. Nothing again! Check the fuse; BLOwN!! Tossed in another replacement and fired it up, no problem and was able to launch and successfully take off. The fuse did not give us any further issues.
It is now 1PM.
Got the boat onto plane, runs well about 25mph nice and smooth, water was like glass. Quick tour of the lake then onto the laker spot. Nonstop marking fish and chasing but they weee always just shy of the lure. I missed one hit. Livescope confirmed 3-5 lakers moving through at any given time… all bruisers. But just not quite the right time. We hopped over to the whitefish spot and it was game on. I landed 8 in about an hour. Kept one for dinner. Jigging in about 36-38fow. Fish were closer to bottom. Got them all on my high hook with 1” minnow imitation.
My son had a blast.
What a fantastic maiden voyage with just enough strife to keep me on my toes. Glad I know about that fuse now.
The season is only beginning and it is the dawn of a new fishing era for me. I feel so grateful.
Maiden Voyage for my “new” Boat, Of course, Mrs whitefish says hello
