Let’s start with the good 
. Finally ventured out onto the Black after all the high water and debris has dropped. We started off in a little bay and just hammered the bass. Granted most all were dinks, but it was fun 
. I got the most action off of a smaller blue/chrome floating rap. Here is the bad part. I caught a 13 incher and went to get the hook out and you can probably guess what happened. I got a nice treble buried in the thumb. At first I just looked at it kind of dumb like until I realized what was going on. Then I am thinking, how am I going to get the fish off before I can even think of getting the hook out. Luckily the fish came off pretty easy. All I could think about was when Blue Fleck posted about his experience not too long ago. Problem was I didn’t remember the technique on how to get the hook out “nicely”. I just grabbed my handy dandy Leatherman and yanked it right out. Let me tell you, for a little while I thought I was going to wet myself 
. I didn’t know skin could stretch that far 
. But after a hard steady pull with the pliers it came out and my thumb is actually in pretty good shape. Now, here comes the UGLY. While coming back to the Black from Dresbach, I encountered some pretty good waves from some big cruiser boats which sent me way airborne several times. After I got through all that rough water we were just about to go under the railroad bridge when the strangest thing happened. All of a sudden, the trolling motor just up and came apart 
. The part that holds the powerhead on busted off sending it into the water. At wot, it didn’t last long. All I have left of a $600 trolling motor is the base, the top head of the shaft, and the foot pedal 
. Hopefully the pic will turn out.
Gander Mountain wouldn’t replace it and Minnkota wasn’t open, so now I am sitting here depressed 
. You can clearly see the part that broke causing all the damage. Good thing is Minnkota is one of the best for customer service.
June 27, 2004 at 2:47 pm
#1214755
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