September 2005Leading correspondent Papa Dweeb submits the following report:
"Superior Rookies"
It had been several years since I had fished the Great Lakes. A friend of mine had a boat and he took me out several times, which gave me a half a clue as to the whole procedure of Great Lakes fishing.
It was 2AM on a Wednesday morning when we packed up our gear and hooked up the 25' Cris Craft which a couple of buddies and I had recently purchased together. We headed for Lake Superior, knowing we were rookies but eager to learn....
We outfitted and set up the boat with down riggers, planer boards and all the right tackle for Lake Superior's lake trout and salmon. We had already worked out the bugs by doing a couple of dry runs on the St. Croix River. We were now ready for big water.
There was just 1/8 of a tank of diesel fuel in the truck when we left Somerset and the plan was to fill up in New Richmond, eight miles away. As we arrived in New Richmond we discovered that the station was closed. We figured no problem -- we'd fill up in Turtle Lake, another 20 miles or so. We got to Turtle Lake and to our surprise the stations were closed there also. Okay, we'd make it another 15 miles to Cumberland. The fuel needle had just hit empty, but I knew they were open. I was right. The Cumberland fuel station was indeed open. But no freaking diesel! Now we had to go yet another 20 miles to Spooner, pray we make it, and hope there's something open. The last two miles were uphill, making it very exciting as we knew we had to be draining the filter and fuel lines and running on fumes. The first station was closed. I thought for sure that one would be open! Fortunately there was a station right in the middle of town. It was open -- and it had diesel. The trip to Superior was still on! The tank on the truck has a 35-gallon capacity. I pumped in 35.15 gallons.
We arrived at the lake at 5:15AM and it was still dark. In fact, we couldn't see the bow of the boat even as we were standing in it. No big deal, as were set up with all the latest high tech gear. Our fish finder is complete with GPS maps, so we used this as our eyes to navigate out onto the big water.
There were 3' to 5' rollers on the lake -- and that was in the sheltered areas between the islands. We figured we didn't need to see how big the waves were on the other side of the islands ... so we fished. It was 6:00AM when we started. It was 3:20PM when we landed our first and only fish. You'd think one would be bored having over 9 hours with no fish. Not us -- that's why we had Dan drive the boat. Dan didn't know how to operate the down riggers and planer boards. We found out really fast that Dan also didn't know how to drive the boat. It's important to go straight ahead while trolling six lines, as it is very easy for the wind to take the bow of the boat and spin it right around. Cory and I made good use of the time -- 9 hours -- untangling lines and yelling, "Go straight"!
It was very exciting to see a fish on the line. Our efforts were about to be rewarded. One of the down riggers had tripped and I was fighting what appeared to be a lake trout about 50 yards behind the boat. It wasn't until I had it right behind the boat that I could clearly see this fish was a northern. Still a nice fish and all -- 28" and very healthy -- but we really had our hearts set on a lake trout or salmon. So we decided to pull in the lines and run to a new spot. In the middle of the run we noticed that one of the spools on the down rigger had backlashed and made a bird's nest out of 200' of 150-pound test cable. We learned to make sure that the down rigger clutch knob is very tight before transport! Cory and I were again kept busy and when we were finally done with the spool, there were only 20 feet of cable left.
It was 5PM when the boat decided to quit. I knew it wasn't going to start -- I just had a feeling -- so I brought in the lines immediately. I was right. We had totally drained our batteries and were dead in the water, in the middle of a huge bay with Washburn on one side of us and Ashland on the other. Three-foot rollers were blowing us toward the light house on the rocky pier of Ashland.
I envisioned myself timing my jump out of the boat and landing on an elevated rock as the boat got smashed on the lower rocks. I didn't like the look of that vision, as I saw a huge margin for error. So I suggested we call some people. We called Ashland Marina -- closed. Of course they were. So we called the Coast Guard. They were open.
We told them of our situation and they asked us if we had an anchor. Well, yeah.... They said to put out and it would stop us from smashing onto the rocks. Good idea! That was very smart. Before this I had only used anchors for fishing purposes. You know, to keep the boat in one spot because the fish are right there. I didn't realize you could use the anchor to, maybe, help save your life!
We had our life jackets on and, while waiting to be rescued, I felt a need to bring up the spirits of the others. So I started singing a little Gordon Lightfoot:
"Superior they said never gives up the deadCoast Guard says fellas, it's been good to know ya!"
It brought smiles to the others as we waited.
The Coast Guard rocks. These guys are very good at their job. They towed us into the Washburn marina. Our boat trailer was about a mile away; I suggested that Cory get the boat started while I walk to get the truck & trailer and bring it back so we can load the boat right here.
Upon my return with with the truck and trailer, I was very surprised to learn that Cory got the boat started and took off to meet me at the other launch. What the #@*??!!
So, we headed back to the other launch to find no Cory and no boat. We went down by the shore. It was now 8:30 at night. It was dark. All we could see were the lights of Ashland, 15 miles away. We hollered out, "Hey Cory!" He yelled back, "What?" I knew it. I knew he was stranded out there and there was no way I was calling the Coast Guard again. But we have to get Cory off of the water.
I went back to Washburn Marina where, after some begging, a very generous man offered to take his huge sail boat out to find my brain-dead buddy. I returned to the launch and there was Cory! The boat too. Cory had taken the anchor and repeatedly tossed it out as far as he could in front of him, pulling the boat closer to shore with each toss. He did this until he got the boat into waist deep water, then jumped in the lake and walked the boat around to the launch.
While putting the boat on the trailer, and between yelling and laughing at Cory, we contacted the rescue guy in the sailboat on the marine radio, thanking him and letting him know Cory was all right. He had to have been thinking, "damn rookies!"
So just when you thought the story was over, it isn't. We still had one more very important lesson to learn for the day. About two miles out of town I noticed a very high volume of sparks flying behind the boat. My first thought was that we'd lost a trailer wheel. Nope. We learned that when your buddy Cory is done using the anchor to propel the boat, one must secure it on the bow before transport. The anchor was following us, dragging on the pavement about 40 feet behind the boat. It was having no problem keeping up. Great -- now our anchor was defective too, as it didn't stop us for several hundred yards while going down the road.
We got home at 1AM. The trip had lasted 23 hours and hardly a minute went by without us learning something. My son Jason said it best on the way home... "This lake kicked our ass".
Well, we're not going down like this. We're recognizing what we've learned, making the necessary repairs, adding the proper back-up equipment, and going back in. It's just like the old saying,"Once you fall off a horse, you have to get right back on or the bike knows you're scared."
Someday, we hope not to be ... "Superior Rookies!"
Papa Dweeb - Michael Blue
Cory Breault
Dan Holt
Jason Blue
************ A special thank you goes out to The Coast Guard and the gentlemen from Washburn Marina who helped us. *************