Pacemaker Fishing Forum

John Nguyen and I met up at Lander to drop off a truck as we were going to float the Brunswick to Lander stretch of the UP. It took a while to get to the ramp at Rt. 15 was jammed before sunup. It seems that they were doing a half marathon at one of the wineries and they forgot to tell the Sheriff's office. FAIL! Luckily John took the northern route form Arlington so he was only delayed a few minutes.

It was a chilly start.....but it was a beautiful morning.

I had on long pants and sleeves as well as a fleece vest.



We started the float and the water was low and fast so we each tried to find some riffles to work.



About 40 minutes in (with no hits), I was floating a small rapid/riffle and BANG! I hit a rock. Normally I just bounce off them but this time I was wedged. I got off easily enough and continued fishing.

Then...I started feeling wobbly and could not understand why. Maybe the current was faster than what I thought? Maybe I got whiplash?

The wobble got worse and then I noticed that I was sitting almost at the water line. Not good. I was taking water. I went to pull off at the shore but I noticed some geese in the water but they weren't moving. Then I saw a couple of shotguns so I decided to head back to the other side. That was a tough trip as I almost went over a few times.

John called out to me but I was making a beeline to the shore.

Once there, we inspected the bottom as best we could but found nothing except that my hull was full of water.

Since we were only about a half mile from the ramp, I told John to continue the float and I walked, well waded, back to the ramp.



One half mile in 25+ minutes, against the current.   

Once there, I emptied the yak out (with some help from two very kind teenagers) and took it over to River Trail Outfitters in Knoxville since they have done some work for me in the past and were only 20 minutes away. The yak had a big gash at the scupper.

I then came back to Lander to wait for John and shortly thereafter, he came back. He had only caught 1 fish. Then at the ramp, he caught this guy...



I caught none while waiting for him.

So we left but not before hitting the BBQ place on 15. This time we had brisket and fries and it was top notch!! 

Back on 15 I went and I crawled home. Some more traffic mismanagement. I should have taken the MD route and crossed at White's ferry! What a pain!

I finally got home and Debbie said there was a message on the phone that the yak was ready. WHAT? I called, and sure enough it was ready. They thought I might still want to go back out so they fixed it. What service!

Interestingly, we are going to dinner tonight at Grandale for our anniversary. It's 12 minutes from the yak place so I will have the yak back tonight!

All is good! You just never know what to expect when you go fishing.....