Last Updated on September 28, 2018 by Terry
*Don’t skip my last comments at the end of this adventure. It has been verified that I have set a world’s record!
The folks that read my fishing book may remember that I tell a story about losing the motor off the back of the boat. People ask me, “How can you lose the motor off the back of the boat so many times”?
Actually I found it to be very easy. The guys I’ve always fished with and I are like kids at Christmas when it comes to going fishing. Can’t sleep the night before, forget things, just being in too big of a hurry. It’s called passion. Sometimes those overlooked details can devastate a potential great day.
We’ve done a vast portion of our fishing in Oxbow Lakes just off of the many rivers in Arkansas. I still do. Swamps, sloughs, snaky little potholes, anywhere that might hold some fish. Sometimes they are very hard to get into.
Back in the day, we would drag a small flat bottom through the woods to get to a lake. I even built an axle with motorcycle wheels that fit over the top of my boat so that when you got to the place on the river where the oxbow is located, you set the wheels on the bank and take the motor and gas tank out of the boat, and drag the boat up on the axle and roll it through the woods to the small lake.
Just whatever we can do to get to a fishing hole that not many would attempt. It takes a lot of concentration to remember all the little things while going from river to lake, lake to river, and such. For some reason, tightening the motor back onto the boat was the one little detail we seemed to forget the most.
1. Dunking the Motor
One afternoon, a friends and my brother (Allan and JB) lost their motor (Dave’s motor) in an oxbow lake in east Arkansas. Someone never tightened it up before they left the launch area. But, away they went, full throttle. They were even discussing whether they should slow down in the shallow lake.
Suddenly they hit a stump just under the water. The motor jumped straight up and off the back of the boat, pulled the gas line loose, and settled on the bottom about four feet deep, still running till it choked out. (Drowned) That was a big YES on the slow down idea.
Submerged motors are easy to find, just look for the fuel bubbling to the surface. Then you decide whose turn it is to go in after it and he then slides over the side of the boat.
A motor taking that kind of abuse will have to spend a few days in the shop under the care of a top notch mechanic getting cleaned out and tuned back up before putting it back into use. In other words, it ruins fishing for a few days.
2. Bobbing for Motors
I took a young fellow fishing at Maddox Bay one Saturday in the 90s. He informed me he had never been fishing. I should have directed him to someone who was a little more careful than me while on a fishing adventure but I thought surely I could get him home all safe and sound without any consequences.
He knew nothing of preparation, so I did all the work myself. Just before launching, I took the motor out of the truck and set it on the back of the boat. I don’t know what happened next but I never tightened the motor to the boat. I hooked up the gas line, told him to climb into the operator’s seat, and showed him how to crank it up.
I backed the trailer down the launch ramp with him in the seat. When the boat floated off the trailer, I pulled up the hill to the parking area. I was walking back down to the shore line watching him pulling the cord until the motor started. He was having a little fun motoring around killing time while I approached.
He suddenly turned the motor sharp toward me and gave it full throttle. The torque on the motor and the angle caused it to jump straight up and off the boat. It was going full blast and I can still see the motor breaking the fuel line and traveling about 5 feet before it sank. I was truly impressed that the motor could travel that far before sinking.
The water was 6 feet deep. I scanned for the sheen of fuel on the water surface and then tip toed around the area until I found the motor with my feet and went down and pulled it over to the bank. We loaded up and headed for home. Another fishing trip down the drain, literally.
A few days later when I picked up the motor from the shop, the mechanic asked me if the motor had been under water. I informed him that the motor had been stolen by the troll that lives under the bridge crossing McHenry Creek and I wasn’t sure what all he had done to it before I recovered it.
3. JB’s Motor Doesn’t Float Either
On another trip to Round Pond with my brother’s boat and motor we were slowly motoring up a slough full of stumps and logs. Of course we hit one.
Camp Boss: AHHHHHHHHH!
Me: (turning and looking toward the back of the boat) NOOOOO! Not again!
Camp Boss: “I can’t hold it!”
Me: “Don’t let go!”
Camp Boss: “Help!”
Me: “Rats!”
Me: “It’s only a few feet deep. I think it’s my turn to go in and get it.”
Camp Boss: “Don’t tell JB!”
Meanwhile, next day:
Mechanic: “Has this motor been under water?”
Me: “You know, I’m not sure. Some Gypsies took it and I just got it back.”
4. One More Time
Motor loose. I hit a stump. Motor hops up and off boat. Motor does all it can to keep running and stay above water but sinks after a run of about 4 feet. Fortunately, we do most of our fishing in small boats with small motors in shallow water. Again, I look for the fuel surfacing and go over the side to retrieve the motor. I head to the mechanic’s shop.
Four days later as I was picking it up:
Mechanic: “Has this motor been under water?”
Me: “Have you ever heard of bigfoot”?
A quote from Dr. Seuss comes to mind: “It’s fun to have fun, but you have to know how.”
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*Don’t forget to take a look at my You Tube channel for the series of catching a lunker bass on ten trips in a row! (And counting) It is referred to as The Streak. It has now been established that I have set the world’s record of continuous lunker catches. I can prove every catch with videos.
Verification of this exciting world’s record was done by asking my friends and family if they know anyone who has caught lunkers on ten trips in a row. They know of no one and they know a lot of very accomplished fisher peoples. That’s good enough for me.
