UB's 2023 Rally at Guntersville

[FD]

I started this over here so everyone can follow along with our trials and tribulations....or libations, you be the judge.

I just rolled in after 10 hours on the road and got unpacked.

Who's ready for dinner?  I may have overcooked a bit.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Oh boy,, you're cooking?! Lmao!!

[D.W. Verts]

It's what happens when you have a big bass boat with a huge rod locker. It just is.

Dale

[FD]

Day 1

[FD]

The first one is on the board.  About 10 inches....😂

[J.W.]

Y'all catch some for me while I'm over here at work! 

Can't wait to hear about day 1 on the water.

[Capt. BassinLou]

You gotta catch one to catch 2. Wtg!!

[FD]

Apenland and I fished today.  5 total in the boat before lunch with 2 over 3.5 lbs.  Frog, swim bait, trick worm, and vibe.  We couldn't even spell pattern today.

[Capt. BassinLou]

Nice ones, Capt.

[J.W.]

Nice work there!

[Donald Garner]

Glad you guys had a successful outing.  Tks for sharing those pictures with us also.

[caddyjoe77]

Great to meet a few new faces.  I think we can make this better by starting the planning early. 

[Terry G]

Thanks for sharing!.

[Princeton_Man]

Well, I would call this a limited success trip.

A good time was had by all. I only remember one other trip to Guntersville when the fishing was tougher and that was the staff Snowmageddon trip when Guntersville got 8" of snow and we fished in 30° temperatures. Friday was a bust for me and George.

Saturday started out with a plan to beat the large tournament, launch at 0400 and make a run to South Sauty. Then depending on the bite, we'd work our way North. Well, the Garmin Auto Guidance system is generally pretty good, but it doesn't take grass into account when plotting a course and I chose to run 30-45mph (a bad decision). The water intakes clogged with grass, the temp alarms went off, I immediately backed off the throttle shut it down. I instantly realized what happened. I raised the motor, with our flashlights and my retractable Frabil net, George was able to clear the intakes. Since we were in 6-8' feet of water and out of the grass, I tried again. Got on plain quicker and hammer down, but the water pressure started to drop, so I shut down again. Once again George cleared the intake ports and this time I decided to use the trolling motor to get out of the grass and just head North in the primary boat lane, then work our way back to South Sauty. We got to within 15 feet of open water, but even with the grass blades it was clear we weren't going to get off the grass with the TM. We were still in about 6 feet of water and George suggest using the big motor, then clear the ports once again. We did, but in doing so I spun the hub on my prop. Once we cleared the ports and I tried to take off, I realized what had happened. I sent FD and Joe text messages letting the know what happened, then since the bass were swimming all around us, we decided to fish until sun up, the prop wasn't so bad that I couldn't idle back to the ramp. So we fished, once the sun was up, Bass started blowing up on bait in the grass, and George caught his first frog fish. 


He would have had a second one but he forgot to wait before setting the hook. The action only lasted about 15 minutes, then it was over. So we idled back to the ramp (about 3 miles), loaded up, went back to the cabin, changed props, then returned to the water. George came up with the idea to just work the shoreline and coves with cranks and T-rigs and with the forecast calling for quite a bit of wind, I went along with the idea. It paid off for me, I boated two fish on th eT-rig. I didn't feel the first was worthy of a photo, it was probably a pound and a half. The second looked like a four pounder, but only registered 2lbs.12oz. on the scales.


The frosting on the cake was on our trip back home. For those who don't know this about me, I'm a hub greasing fanatic. I usually carry a grease gun in addition a 9mm on all my long trips. Before this trip, I checked and repacked them. Every fuel stop includes feeling the hubs for any heat and eyeballing the tires for unusual wear. I made one last stop just about 15 miles from home to top off the fuel before entering West Virginia. George checked the hubs and said they were ice cold, the tires looked fine. We entered W. VA. passing through the East River Tunnel and were just 6 miles from home when the trailer's left wheel bearing started smoking heavily. I backed down and was attempting to get to the shoulder when the wheel left the trailer. It bounced around on the bridge, missing all the cars and trucks. 


I called the county 911 center and and asked for some traffic control, then called Progressive for a tow. 90 minutes later and no tow, I asked the deputy to call for a tow.

George returned Monday and helped my start making repairs. Fortunately the spindle wasn't seriously damaged and while we were at it, we replaced the spring shackle bushings which were badly worn. Adventure over, back to work on Tuesday.

[J.W.]

Dang. I hate that you had all those mechanical issues. Sounds like you were turning ratchets more often than reel handles. I'm glad your trailer didn't get more messed up than it did.

[caddyjoe77]

Jim, glad to hear that everything worked out and that you were so close to home!!

all in all great to see everyone.  I was still beat from my own trip to DC that week. 

fishing still not great.  we need some rain to break up those mats.  the wind is just blowing them together instead of apart 

[apenland01]

Wow Princeton, that's crazy!  So the sign and glide didn't perform as we had discussed on the porch earlier?  That would be good to know...

[Mike Cork]

Wow... Jim this is definitely one you won't forget...

Thanks for the posts. I was out all weekend but enjoyed catching up.

[Princeton_Man]

Wow Princeton, that's crazy!  So the sign and glide didn't perform as we had discussed on the porch earlier?  That would be good to know...

I will certainly follow up on Progressive's response and handling of this claim. I contacted them once I had my tow bill in hand and agent that initially took my call and the information was a complete failure. If there was a lower score than zero, I would give it to her, she tried to brush me off, suggesting that my trailer wasn't part of my boat policy. I had to raise my voice, assured her it damned well was,, and that I wasn't paying Progressive over $500 a year to have deal with a complete idiot like her. She submitted the claim and gave me a claim number. End of conversation.

I've been contacted by their claims handlers who asked that I submit my photos of the damage and receipts for repairs. They first wanted to send someone out to inspect the damage, but I told him we were at the very moment making repairs and had plenty of photos. He said he understood my need to be back on the water (for tournaments). 

Depending on the final outcome, I may be switching insurers. Yesterday, my boat shop informed me of some of the recent problems they've had with customer's claims with Progressive. Pretty scary stuff.

[Princeton_Man]

Wow... Jim this is definitely one you won't forget...

Thanks for the posts. I was out all weekend but enjoyed catching up.

For me, although not quite as much fun, this one goes on the shelf with Snowmageddon.

[J.W.]

Hopefully the insurance woes ended with the hassle you had on the phone and it's smooth sailing from here. 

[Donald Garner]

Guys tks for sharing the trip with us.  Wow, glad to hear that there wasn't any real serious damage done to the trailer or boat.  Jim, good luck getting the insurance company to paid for getting the repairs completed.