The official what I did today that was fishing related thread...

[john c]

We got the boat tucked away for the winter .  Come on spring.

John

[Dog]

Had a minor outpatient surgery so I can sit more comfortably. while not life or death, I justified the surgery by telling myself it was fishing related... Now, I'll be able to stay out longer on the water and win the Crystal Head... It's on like donkey kong in 2015, the trophy is coming home to state college! (as soon as I recover fully that is...:-)

Wow . Too bad.  Sounds like it could be a real pain in the A$$

@RHYBAK you have no idea

[Dog]

watched @rambler 's 2014 TBL video with Flag to prepare for 2015.

[Greg]

I posted last week that I dropped the boat off for the winter... got the phone call from the Marina... "hi greg, regarding your boat... did you know one of the axel's is severly bent and this destroyed the left tire?  you need a new tire and axel before you head out on the road in the spring".

When I got the boat out this year, it was a new battery and a new custom canvas tarp.  Next April, it will be another large chunk of $$$.

Remember, BOAT is just an acronym.... it really means ...

Bring
On
Another
Thousand$$$. 

sheesh... just venting

[Dog]

I posted last week that I dropped the boat off for the winter... got the phone call from the Marina... "hi greg, regarding your boat... did you know one of the axel's is severly bent and this destroyed the left tire?  you need a new tire and axel before you head out on the road in the spring".

When I got the boat out this year, it was a new battery and a new custom canvas tarp.  Next April, it will be another large chunk of $$$.

Remember, BOAT is just an acronym.... it really means ...

Bring
On
Another
Thousand$$$. 

sheesh... just venting

@Greg
sorry to hear this... Hopefully you get out on the water enough to offset the these unexpected expenses.
How the heck does an trailer axle bend? That'd be my first question... especially if you keep it stored in their (secured) lot.
I mean, axles just don't 'severely bend' without some sort of impact, ya know?...

[Greg]

Ya, how does an axel get bent... well it probably got bent on the road between Matawa headed up to Kipawa - actually it was on the return trip.  I have been taking that road for 8 years since I bought the boat in '06.  Other than that, the boat is only used around Ottawa and east of Ottawa to get on the river - all nice smooth pavement and a cement boat launch.

The road after Matawa is what I would call an old logging road, it is a twisty, hilly and bumpy road with lots of pot holes (however, there has been a lot of repairs done and I found it better this year).  I never did post a trip report, but on the way home this year on Wed, August 27th, I had a little incident which almost gave me an accident in my pants, I was following a small hyndai about 200 yards back, the hyndai was slowly expanding the gap and creeping away from me.  I was feeling pretty confident on a nice sunny day and had such a good 5 days fishing, I was just trucking along, and then I lost sight of the hyundai around a corner, and 3 seconds later, I came around the corner and had to nail the brakes hard, two deer were running down the side/middle of the road.  I doubt the Hyndai had even seen them as they seemed to have just came out of the bush.  One of the deer flew into the bush and the other went right in front of me.  I was in an all-wheel ABS lock by this point and looked in my driver's door side mirror and saw the SIDE of my boat - the trailer was jack-knifing.  Uh-oh...  lucky no one was coming the other way at that exact moment.   I then let off the brakes a little trying to swerve to avoid Bambi and bring the boat back in line with the truck, it worked but the trailer did snap off the road in the other direction a little (lots of dirt and dust) and I heard a very loud BANG - I believe the passenger side tire/rim hit a pothole sideways on the shoulder and then the trailer came into alignment, and by this time I had slowed down to 10km/hr and Bambi was long gone.  I stopped a little later, checked the tires and tie downs on the boat and could not see anything wrong so I continued on home to Ottawa.  That loud 'BANG' stayed with me a while, and now that the shop has reported issues on that side of the boat, I am putting 1 and 1 together.

Who knows... but honestly, I have never had a problem with the trailer and the tires were original so it might be time to replace them anyway, and after about 10 trips to Kipawa and back, and other local fishing, plus a few other trips, to have a repair somewhere along the way is ok, at least it is a pro-active preventative repair while the boat is in for storage and not on a day when I was on the way to go fishing.

[Dog]

@Greg

2 things come to mind reading your explanation...

1) I need to read about the rest of your trip if it was exciting as your time on the road! haha.. post a report and some pictures if you find time this winter.
2) You're a better man than I. My first instinct would have been to steamroll bambi. Law of gross tonage always wins...
Also, most times a car deductible repair bill would likely be equal to or cheaper than off-season trailer repairs and I'd get some venison jerky out of the deal. haha. You have a good attitude about it though so good on you. I hope you have no more surprise calls from the marina during the repairs.
-Nate

[Greg]

Ha, here are a couple of thoughts...

#1 - the rest of the trip was pretty relaxing, which was exactly as I wanted it.  Got there on Saturday and a heat wave hit, very hot until Tuesday.  This didn't help me catch as many walleye as I had hoped, I could see them on my fish finder down at 50 or 60 feet but just couldn't hook them up.  It cooled down by Tuesday and got a few on Tuesday so that was ok.  However, I did catch a high number of lake trout, some good results there - not as big as I had hoped but still ok.

#2 - to hit the deer or not hit the deer... well, I was alone on a pretty remote road so I didn't really want to get into an accident and more importantly, it was my wife's truck... n'uff said. 

[Dog]

Ha, here are a couple of thoughts...

#1 - the rest of the trip was pretty relaxing, which was exactly as I wanted it.  Got there on Saturday and a heat wave hit, very hot until Tuesday.  This didn't help me catch as many walleye as I had hoped, I could see them on my fish finder down at 50 or 60 feet but just couldn't hook them up.  It cooled down by Tuesday and got a few on Tuesday so that was ok.  However, I did catch a high number of lake trout, some good results there - not as big as I had hoped but still ok.

#2 - to hit the deer or not hit the deer... well, I was alone on a pretty remote road so I didn't really want to get into an accident and more importantly, it was my wife's truck... n'uff said. 

n'uff said indeed! haha

[pike mike]

Took a ride out to my family cottage on Lake Erie and pulled up my 14' aluminum from its summer spot on the breakwall ,storing it in a safe spot up on top of the 60' bank beside our cottage. 7 years ago my childhood 12' boat was chained by the nose piece to a wrought iron railing standing upright 50' back from  the waters edge and atop a 5' breakwall . A huge winter storm on Dec 30 sent waves up far enough to "eat" my boat .All that remained was the the nose piece still locked to the wrought iron railing .Would never have imagined water getting that high but ........ it did . It also washed away an area of soil on top of our 8' breakwall  10' deep ,10' high and 150' long (again on top of an 8' breakwall) .Quite the winter storm ,the likes of which I have never witnessed in 51 years on Erie 

[RHYBAK]

Looks like I'll be shovelling snow

[Dog]

Looks like I'll be shovelling snow

@RHYBAK does this mean you're preparing for ice fishing as well? haha. We got some scattered flurries here that bordered on virga as Unc would say but nothing that laid on the ground.

[RHYBAK]

I'm prepared already.
Rods are in the bucket.
Sled is in the garage.
Hand auger is there.
Boots are dry.
Bring on the ice.

[puckster_guy]

I'm sitting in the Tem rose having just ordered breakfast. Just got back from an almost harrowing drive down Maniwaki. Packed snow on a layer of ice. I have goos snows on the drive was "fun". Just packed away the boat and crap down for winter..what a sad day. Lol

[Dog]

@puckster_guy  glad to hear you got out ok in the jeep! look forward to seeing any pics if you snapped any...

@RHYBAK I know who to ask for ice fishing advice! Although I notice the most critical piece of equipment is missing for keeping warm, whiskey! haha