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Well it was a chilly Sunday morning; we met at McDonald's at
8:00am before heading to the St. Louis Bow Hunters 3-D tournament, the first
of many this year. The scores from the Tournament were all over the charts.
Some of us had good days; some had not so good.....The final scores have yet
to be posted. Time will tell.
During the shoot, Mark mentioned
that the Walleye had been
biting near the Winfield lock and dam on the Mississippi
and asked if we wanted to do a little fishing after the tournament.
Myself, never having been Walleye fishing, or having ever fished on the Mississippi,
took Mark up on his gracious offer. Jason
mentioned that if they were going to take his boat, he needed to
stop for gas!
After a few diversions and 20 minutes of trying to get Jason’s truck
started, we were off to the Mississippi for Walleye '06. A couple hours of
fishing with nothing to show for it and the sun was getting low in the sky
we decided to head for home. Well, we made it all of about a 1/4 of a mile
down the river in our 8 mile trek back to Dalbo….when we ran out of
gas. I can only assume that in all the earlier diversions and perhaps a few
mis-calculations, someone had forgot all about the gas. Instead of Walleye
'06 this has turned into a quest for gas!
After hooking up the trolling motor, we decided to make a run for it on battery
power alone, which Mark then tried to catch the boat on fire by burning the
battery cables. As we were tearing down the river at somewhere around 3 miles
per hour, another boat that had been fishing in the same general area as us
came flying by and pulled up to a private access ramp just down the river
from us. This was our only opportunity for gas. The sun had already slipped
below the levee on the river. The air began to get colder and colder. As we
watched this other boat load up his trailer at the access ramp, we could only
hope we could get there before he left, it was to late the boat was on the
trailer and he was pulling away. I thought our dreams of gas had just been
crushed.
Turns out, Joe’s navigation of the trolling motor got us their just
in time. Mark jumped out of the boat and asked the guy, "Do you sell
gas?" "No" he replied Mark rephrased the question. "Do
you have any gas to sell" "yeah, I have 5 gallons for $12.00"
Mark still
wondering what the difference in the two questions were, told him we will
take it!! Who has any money became the next dilemma, but, fortunately we were
able to scrape up just enough to pay the guy and fill the tank!
With a full tank of gas and the calm, glassy state of the river the
rest of the trip seemed easy. Although we did not get to catch any
fish we were able to be outdoors and share in this crazy experience. We were
able to enjoy the nature the river had to offer, Seeing Eagles, Ducks, Geese,
Owls and one BIG a** Beaver!
Walleye '06, the Quest for Gas
~ Brett
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