Lake Guntersville Wildcat
March 12, 2006
By: Lance Granger
Well, we had the wildcat today and were joined by two guest boats. Chris Jackson
(of Fins and Grins guide service and he also fished with us at Martin one year)
and Chris Herrod were the boaters. Bo will have to fill you in on there non
boaters? I got a name twice and still don't remember. Bo had a guest named Dan
Church who I know from years ago (worked at Vestavia Country Club with me). So
we had 5 boats total.
Bill and Russell had an interesting pre-fishing Saturday. The ramp at Goose Pond
apparently drops straight off at the end. There are vague signs saying Caution
but they don't say "Caution, massive hole". Russell backed the boat in. Bill was
in the boat and pulled away. As Bill tells it, his SUV just kept getting deeper
and deeper instead of pulling up the ramp. It got close to the back hatch so
that is pretty deep. Russell gets out and gives the international symbol for WTF
(hands raised to shoulder level with palms pointed at the sky and a shoulder
shrug). They find out that the trailer has gone into this massive hole and is
bottomed out on the frame. They try 4wd and nothing works. Bill calls a wrecker.
The wrecker parks at the top of the hill and runs a cable down to the truck. He
tries to winch it out and nothing happens. They get in Bill's truck, put it in
4WD AND have the winch pulling. I'll try to do this justice. Bill said "The
trailer looked like a Nuclear submarine shooting out of the ocean". Apparently
all the pressure of pulling that tire against the flat side of the concrete ramp
just made it explode. That WAS enough to get the trailer moving though. Bill can
tell the rest if he wants I couldn't resist sharing that much. I think we need
to start a new thread of damage that happens at our tournaments.
So.. Bill and Russell pre-fished for half a day and I believe Bo and Dan got in
a decent day Saturday. Benson and I arrived in time to drink. The cabins are
pretty nice at Goose Pond by the way, nicer than the lodge. We got up and met at
the marina at 6:00. Chris and Chris were there (with their non boater guys). We
all start putting in and guess what....... Chris Jackson's friend backs up too
far and Chris's brand new iClass Skeeter trailer is bottomed out on the ramp
same as Bill's. So... one of the guys got in the water in nothing but his
skivvies (Bo has pictures) and takes this log and jams it under the tire and it
worked!! The funniest part of the whole thing is Crawford standing up on the
bank with his flash going. It looked like the kickoff at the Super Bowl. After
all that, we went fishing and actually launched on time. We had a great day for
it. Wind wasn't as bad as it was supposed to be, it stayed cloudy most of the
day.
Bo has all of the official weights. Mine and Benson's concern was that the guide
and the semi pro guy were going to come in and embarras us. Bo made sure that
didn't happen. Bill and Russell held their own as well. I want to say Bo and Dan
were in the 12lb range. They won big fish, and 1st place. Bo was kind enough to
give Chris Jackson the trash fish. I didn't explain the trash fish picture thing
before we launched, not used to having guests. I think Chris said he caught a 12
lb cat. Benson and I finally caught some fish on the demon waters of G.
Unfortunately they were all too short. We even caught a spot.
We found out Goose Pond has a pretty cool weigh in and holding station. Of
course it takes two hours to fill up BUT.. it has a pipe that goes back down to
the lake so you can slide fish back into the water, pretty cool.
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