The Boat is Back

Example of a Bow Fishing Boat

After 4 weeks of being in the shop I finally picked up my boat from Frankie's on Friday night.  It was pretty hectic at the dealership as they were sponsoring a Bow Fishing Tournament for carp, dogfish (bowfin), and gar.  The tournament started at 10:00 that evening and ended at 10:00 the next morning.  It looked pretty interesting as they had 37 team entries which drew which lake they were allowed to fish on, which keep the amount of traffic on any one lake to a minimum.  Bow fishing carp consists of going on the lake at night with a special boat rigged for this type of sport.  Generally there is a platform for the shooters, lights to shine into the water, and a generator to power those lights for an extended period of time.   Once the sun goes down the carp cruise the shallows in search for food.  Using the lights, it's pretty easy to see the fish but it takes a knack to actually hit them with an arrow.  The water causes the light to refract and if you are looking at a fish under water its actually closer than they look.  Therefore you must shoot below where the fish appears or the arrow will go right over the fish.  It takes a few shots to get a feel for how much refraction verses the depth verses the distance and most people tend to miss a lot of fish at first.  When I was about 15 we all had re-curve bows and in the spring the carp would come into the back sloughs carved out from the meandering Buffalo River which ran through Eleva.  Carp Slough (later we named it Northern Slough) was a favorite spot as it had a wide opening into the river and the carp would be in there thick.  Today carp shooting is much more advanced and it looks like fun as you can hire a guide to take you out for a few hours.   Well, when I got my boat home and started putting it back together I discovered they had given me the wrong stern light.  Back up to Frankie's in the morning, I arrived just in time for the weigh in.  Set up like a bass tournament, all the guys lined up as they drove their boats into the shop area where the guys would unload their fish, count and then weigh the largest.  To win the tournament, you had to bring in the largest fish.  In case of a tie, the number of fish brought in was next.  All together it was a slow night as a cold front came through and the wind made the conditions tough.  326 fish were shot and the winning carp weighed 34.18 pounds, a monster.  I was thinking about grabbing a couple of the smaller ones to take home and smoke but with having to get the boat ready and dealing with the rain,  I decided it would be too much work.

Rockin' and a rollin'

The boat looks great and pictures would not do it justice.  My earlier post showing the damage included a number of deep gouges in the gel coat, which is poly-flake to make it nice and glittery.  The finished product looks just like new and you cannot even tell there was any damage.  It's impressive what they can do as I feel like I got a brand new boat back.  Of course, for $6400 I suppose it better look good!  The nice thing is it forced me to reorganize the boat, vacuum out everything, rearrange my rod storage, clean up the anchor storage area, and throw away all the stuff that seems to accumulate over time.  With everything back in order the plan was to head to Mille Lacs on Sunday and see if she still recognizes me.  Sunday morning was greeted with rain, something we have been inundated with lately, and by the time it lifted north a 30 mph wind took it's place.  Too rough to fish I decided to simply drive my motorcycle up to Lundeen's and finish some electrical repair work that I had started the week before.  Going up Hwy 47 I arrived at the lake stopping at the Scenic Overlook just north of Isle, MN.  I'm glad the boat stayed home as there were 4 - 5 foot rollers coming into shore, it would have been extremely uncomfortable fishing in this wind for sure.  It turned out for the better as it gave me enough time to fix both Bill's commercial coffee maker and cappuccino machine the right way and not just kludge it together. With my mission accomplished it looks like next week will be the first time since opener that the boat will be out.  I have made arrangements with my friend Hondro to meet him at Mille Lacs on Saturday, providing the rain stops.

This Friday is our annual ENA golf tournament where we raise money to help families of children who are suffering from cancer or other devastating conditions.  We raise close to $25,000 each year and this is our 12th annual.  Our projections should put us at over $300,000 raised for a great cause.  The nice thing is we give 100% of our proceeds as everyone works hard as a volunteer for the simple satisfaction that the work is gratifying.  The garden is a mess as we have had at least 10 - 12 inches of rain during the last 2 weeks and every time I try weed or plant the mud swallows my shoes.  It looks like my second crop of sweet corn is going to be pretty late.  On the other hand, as I said last week, those onions are blue ribbon bound!