spoonfed-1

All the scores for all the events plus the lake cup race is all up to date and final. Nice work proam committee. Thanks for your efforts. Glen

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Well Steve, I will usually run the pump before I leave the dock as the automatic bilge pump switch leaves a couple inches of water in the bottom when it shuts off. I more or less use this as a quick check as well. I am also kinda fussy about keeping the bilge clean as I have relativley good access to the area. Out on the lake I assumed when the pump stopped pumping , all the water had been expelled. Instead, I figure some crap from the bow area had been flushed back with water that usually doesn't ever reach it. It's been quite a few years I've been doing this without issues but as you see it only takes one time to create a serious situation. Also this is an old pump and from what I understand the newer pumps have screens in them to help prevent this type of thing. The experience has definatley convinced me a backup system is a great idea. I will install a backup high volume pump, 1500 gph, mounted slightly higher than the original. Had this been in place I don't believe this would have happened. It will be fully automatic with it's own outlet. The cost is minimal and the benifit is large. I don't think a wet test is a bad idea but a backup system and clean bilge would probably be better. Happy fishing Glen

Heres our box from Sunday morning. Glen

Thoughts and prayers Musky. Hope to see you back on your feet soon. Glen

Thanks to the guys of the Sodus Coastguard station from Team Spoonfed/NK. We started out fishing the Sodus proam Saturday morning at 5:30 am. We ran east about 6 or 7 miles to some fish we were on prefishing Friday afternoon. We got just about there and set rods. We had a good stiff west wind and a healthy Lake Ontario chop going. My boat design is a self bailing cockpit. It has a low transom to accommodate the outboards so in a sharp chop it's not uncommon to take waves over the transom. 95% of the water exits the 4 drains in the back of the boat but theres always a small amount that gets down into the bilge. Over the years I've grown accustomed to hitting the rear bilge pump switch once an hour or so and will typically pump out 10 or so gallons of water in conditions like we had Sat. morning. We trolled through the area and the fish we were on Friday had moved. After awhile I decided to pick up and run further west and get on some other fish we had found while prefishing. Before we did I hit the bilge pump switch and it pumped out water just like always. It ran for a while and when she stopped I turned off the switch. Everything is normal. We picked up ran west and set back up. We were into them right away and started hitting fish. About an hour later with 4 fish in the box I looked to the back of the boat and noticed a couple inches of water over the side drains and it wasn't going down as it should. I knew something was seriously wrong and got the crew pulling lines and riggers. The back of the boat was riding way to low in the water and the kicker wasn't pushing the boat as it should. I went to the back and opened a hatch and saw the water in the bilge was just about to the floor. I hit the bilge pump swith and nothing happened. Only thing I could think of was we must have hit something and put a hole in the boat on the run back west against the waves. In the meantime I got the 200 running and turned the boat into the chop and eased her up to about 9 mph just enough to get the bow in the air. Didn't want to hit her to hard and flip the boat with all the water in the bilge rushing backwards. Put out a mayday call and the Coastgaurd answered right away. Also a proboat in the area cleared there lines and immediately came to assist. Many thanks to Capt. Brian on Tall Tails from Mexico. Anyway we were under way and headed towards port being escorted by Brain and the situation seemed to be stable so I asked the coast gaurd to stand by. Within a short time I realized the situation was possibly getting worse so I asked the Coastgaurd for assistance. They responded and within a short time were on the scene and quickly and efficiently got the crew off my boat and onto theres. A guy from the coastguard then boarded my boat with a pretty heavy duty gas powered pump. This all happened while we were still underway in five and six footers. The young man that had boarded my boat with the pump didn't waste any time getting it going when he opened the hatch and saw the amount of water that was in the bilge. Anyway he got most of the water out and we proceded to enter the peerheads with the Sheriffs dept clearing the way of other boats. I turned the corner and the coastguard already had a trailer in the water at the launch. I drove the boat right up on the trailer and it was secured but left in the water. They also gave my crew a ride back to the marina to get my trailer and Chris Yards truck and we pulled the boat out. I inspected the hull and was suprised not to find any damage. Thanks to the super quick and precise action by the United States coastguard this situtation was secured to a point that it did not get any worse and there were no injurys or loss of property. They were a super bunch of very trained and skilled men and women whose only concern was the saftey of the occupants of my boat. A very sincere debt of gratitude goes out to each and every one of them from Team Spoonfed. I hope they enjoy the Salmon Fillets over there in Sodus. My team and the observer from Lucky Enuff also were a huge help in that everyone remained calm and did everything possible to get out of this unfortunate situation. After putting the boat back in the water at Krenzers we found the boat to be seaworhty and took out the bilge pump. All the problem was caused by a piece of crap got sucked up into the pump causing the malfunction. Just goes to show that even after years of no issues anything can happen at anytime. Got another bilge pump on order and will be going in as a spare emergency pump. Now for the good news. We weighed in the four fish that were in the box and Sunday morning we proceeded to take out our anxiety on those remaining Kings going 9 for 11 and boxing out at 9:00 am salvaging a 7th place finish with a 203 point box, Big Brown for Sat. and 2nd place in the overall Lake cup race. Not to shabby for sinking on Sat. After weighing in on Sunday we ran over to the Coastgaurd station to deliver some Salmon fillets. When we walked in I was asked what happened did she break again? My response was I told my crew we had to limit out early because we usually start sinking around 9:30. We all had a good laugh and we were on our way. Already looking forward to next years proam series to start. Happy fishing Glen

I have seen a couple teams trailer to the designated port in the past. Seems like a real pain in the a_ _. Probably well worth the dock fee with the time restraints and all. Glen

Obsever has been secured. Thank you for your interest. Glen

Team Spoonfed needs an observer for the Oswego proam. We pay $100.00 for the event. If you want you can prefish with us Thursday and Friday. Must be 18 yrs old and reliable. Got room at my campsight if you care to pitch a tent there. Please respond by PM or call 413 519-3019. Thanks Glen

I've run a Garmin color unit also for the past 6 or 7 seasons. No problems and it does the job. glen

You can drive a boat, sit in a boat that is being fished out of and as long as you have the legal amount of two rods per licensed angler you are completley withing the law. Of course the unlicensed person cannot in any way handle the rods. The net would be an interesting question. If you are not fishing you do not need a license period. The DEC would have to make sure there are licences to accomadate the number of rods being fished. Thats all they need to know. Happy fishing. Glen

Good work Dell. We had it the other way around. One area packed with mature Kings and one loaded with coho. Maybe four passes through in 2 days of prefishing at different times and had rods going every time. Come Saturday both areas were warmer and the fish were gone. Glen

Nice work Rod and team. See you this weekend. Glen

Thanks for the kind words guys. For the record the team name is Spoonfed/NK. Got to give some recognition to show our appreciation to our sponsor, Northern King. They been making some great products for a long long time. Also got to give alot of credit to my crew, Chris (Irish Knots) and Jeff (Empty Hook). They were phenominal out there. Makes my job a whole lot easier having a good solid team. Good luck to everyone fishing this weekend. Glen

Nice work Richard. Long haul for you though. How many hours? Glen

Definately looks like a keeper. Congrats. Glen

I believe they use 80 lb test ss cable. Glen

My boat does about 40 so if the top takes it on the water no reason it won't on the trailer. Just use a little common sense. Glen

If your subtroll is reading +1 all the time you should adjust the speed on it. Don't have time to post the precedure but it's in the directions for the unit. Glen

Nice..... I got sick of getting pounded 2 weeks in a row so I stayed home and fished a local pond out of my little boat Got pounded anyway. Back up next weekend. Glen

THe Browns will move deeper as the water warms. Their prefered temp range is 50 -60 but bait a more important factor to these crazy LO browns. I've caught them in water that was in the uper 60's more than once. Glen

Changed the name on mine. No bad luck and it catches a fish or two now and then. Glen

I have owned both and perfere the rollers hands down. Glen

Just love my outboards Glen

Saturday morning I woke up to a freight train coming towards my camper. Opps just the wind. Stuck my head out the door to try and establish a direction. Didn't work to well as the camper is down in a gulley and the wind usually swirls. Knew she was blowing good but got dressed and drove over to the lake anyway. Man was she crankin. Turned around and drove back to the camper. Needed a new gas grill so I made that my days project. Assembled the grill,cooked steaks, grill worked good. Sunday morning the wind wasn't as bad so I got ready and headed over to the lake. She was choppy but given the direction, WNW I knew I could get to a spot were I found a few fish last weekend and have a small area to troll with some protection. Running out sucked and I took a beating but sure enough there was an area calm enough to maintain a slow troll. Unfortunatley the water was like chocolate milk out to about 40 fow I trolled the break for awhile but it was to bumpy to hold a slow troll so I headed into 8 ft of calm water with 0 visability and trolled for an hour and a half or so. Picked up 2 small fish which given the conditions wasn't to bad I guess. One off a Chatruse and silver spoon, one of a flatlined black and gold stickbait. Felt good to be out. Glen