Courtesy at the boat ramp

I told you of my recent experience at the boat ramp and figured I would share the correct and courteous way to launch your boat.

You drive for what seemed like forever because your all excited about getting on the water in anticipation of that first bite but please take the time to prepare your boat in the parking lot before you actually back down to the ramp, especially if there are others waiting to launch. That way when you get ready to back down all you basically have to do is splash the boat and go.

So you pull into the parking lot. First and foremost, don’t forget to put the drain plug in! In my tears of boating I personally have seen more than one time when people have forgot to put theirs in, it can be a humorous experience for others, just not to the boater. This is something that even the most experienced tournament angler can forget. I can honestly say that as of this posting I have yet to forget mine, knock on wood.

Next you want to remove your boat to trailer tie down straps, I have witnessed anglers in a hurry back into the water with the straps still attached and wonder briefly why the trailer wheel fenders are still next to the boat when its sitting in 6 foot of water, DOH! There is an urban legend mentioned at Snopes.com that talks about a blond that detached her brand new trailer from the tow rig and wondered why the thing would not get up on plane. This supposedly happened at my home lake, Lake Isabella CA but like I said, its just an urban legend. If you want a good laugh go to Snopes.com and type in Lake Isabella.

Don’t forget the transom saver. This is one I have to admit that I forgot to do, just once. It was during the colder months, February if I recall correctly. As I was prepping the Champion I put the drain plug in, removed the tie down straps and removed the bungee cord that secures the transom saver to the lower end then a friend showed up at the launch so we started talking and I forgot to remove the saver. I splashed the boat, fired it up and proceeded to idle out of the no wake zone. I attempted to trim down the motor but for some reason it would not go. I was thinking maybe it was just too cold and a little sluggish so I kicked it into neutral and started to trim the motor up, thinking maybe if I did this a time or 2 it would work. As the motor was trimming up I looked back and saw the transom saver on the lower end, for about 2 seconds, then watched as it fell free into 20 feet of gin clear ice cold water. I tried dredging it up for a little while then just went fishing. Now I always carry a spare one, just in case.

Now we proceed to loading the boat, I like to do this even before I leave home. Placing my rods and tackle in the rod lockers, ice and drinks in the wet storage. As well as hooking up the starting battery and trolling motor batteries. In the parking lot I’ll pull out the rods I’ll be using and tie them down on the deck. It is at this point that I attach my dock rope and boat dock bumpers if I’m fishing alone or with someone who is not experienced in boat launching.

Then I’ll attach my depth finders. I remember reading somewhere that you really don’t want to haul your boat with these in place because of the rough ride on the trailer the brutal vibration can cause issues with them. Then I tap the switch on the trolling motor pedal to make sure its working correctly and the speed is set to the amount of thrust I want.

WARNING, if you don’t do the above check you could be in for a rude awakening when you first place your trolling motor in the water and tap the power button only to be surprised that it on full power because the last trip you wore the trolling batteries down to almost nothing but with a full charge its quite the thrust. One time I ended up on the floor between the rod lockers because I didn’t take the 3 seconds it would have took to check this. The only thing I hurt was my pride. Lucky for me it was a time I was pre-fishing for a tournament and there were not a lot of people on the water,

The winch strap is next. There are mixed reviews on when to disconnect this. Me personally, I wait until I’m backed down to the water. People say the boat wont slide off the trailer but I figure the added 10 seconds it takes to disconnect it at the dock is worth it. Just don’t forget to disconnect. Once again, I speak from personal experience. When launching the boat I kept wondering, why wont the boat float? DOH!

Yes, the above may seem like allot of stuff but it really only takes maybe 10 minutes at the most. Now you proceed to back down the ramp, I explained how to do this in my previous post. If you have a capable partner you can back down, disconnect the winch strap, hop in the boat, have your partner splash you, fire up the motor and get out of the way to allow others to launch as your partner parks your rig.

If you need to tie off your boat to park your tow rig what I do is back the trailer about ¾ of the way into the water, jump out, pull the dock rope off the deck, with one side securely attached to the boat of course, tie one end to the dock leaving the slack line on the dock. The reason I lay the rope on the dock is because I don’t want it to tangle on anything in the boat or on the trailer as the boat comes off the trailer. As soon as the boat floats off I hop out, take up any slack line and snug the boat against the dock. If possible I’ll tie it off at the end of the dock. This leaves room for others to launch and tie off to the dock as well.

There ya have it. Follow these simple unwritten rules prior to backing down to the dock and it will help keep peace and harmony at the dock.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

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Launching the Boat

Hi everyone,

Sorry about being gone for so long but things have been going on in my life that took priority over my site and now that things are back to normal, I’m BACK!

Spring time is upon us and this is the time of the year that most anglers look forward to because we get to fish the fun baits, reaction baits, and the bass are known to cooperate but that is not my subject today.

Today I want to address a boating issue. Have you ever pulled up to a lake, prepped your boat in the parking lot and then got in line to launch only to find that the 3 people ahead of you in line have done nothing to their boat to prepare it for launching?

I have finally got to the point in life that I find it very entertaining. First off watching them back their rig down the long ramp to the water can be humorous, seeing them swerve the boat back and forth, backing down a couple feet only to pull forward several feet because they don’t have it straight or they have basically jack knifed the trailer. This is fine because we all have gone through this ordeal until someone taught us the trick on how to back your rig down to the water.

The quickest way to learn that I found is to place your hand on the bottom of the steering wheel, look into your rear view mirror. If your boat goes to the left turn your hand to the left and visa versa. After a little practice you can do it like second nature and launch your rig even in the tightest places with ease. I was able to practice this even more when I would arrive home. I had a long narrow drive way and kept my boat at the very end of it.

Back to the launch ramp. Then when they finally do get their rig down to the water they have not prepped their boat in any way shape or form. They proceed to take the tie down straps off and load the boat with all of the stuff from their tow rig, which takes another 15 minutes, all the while the bass are calling your name. They finally get their boat loaded up and mom realizes that she has to go to the restroom but instead of splashing the boat they leave it on the trailer as mom proceeds to take the long trek up to the restroom.

Finally they are ready to splash the boat in the water so they back it in and pull the trailer just barley out of the water while still blocking the access for anyone else and everyone proceeds to board the vessel. Next thing you know Junior starts to scream that the boat is sinking, yep, you guessed it, they forgot the plug! So once again the trailer goes back into the water, load the boat back up and wait until all the water drains before putting the plug back in.

OK, so you assume that all should be finally taken care of, the boat is floating, everyone is sitting inside of it and dad proceeds to pull the trailer back up to the parking lot, of course they left the boat tied up right in the middle of the dock instead of moving it to the rear so more people could launch but hey, they are almost done, right? Nope!

Dad hops into the boat and cannot get the boat to start. He is cussing and screaming about how well it worked the last time but as it turns out the last time was last year at the same time. Finally after about 15 minutes he decides that maybe it will start if he puts it back onto the trailer and leaves his whole rig blocking access to everyone. 15 minutes later he finally gives up and pulls out of the way.

So there you are, sitting for almost an hour watching this guy asking yourself, “Was I ever that bad?” I for on can honestly answer no to that question. Then someone that was waiting for only 10 minutes is so impatient that he figures he can sneak in and launch before you can. BACK THE TRUCK UP BUDDY! Yes you have every right to be upset but luckily for you it upset someone else even more and your not the one going to jail for pounding someone at the boat launch.

During the battle, as everyone else watches cheering the pounder on you see your chance to finally splash your boat so you take advantage of it. You back down, have your buddy hold onto the rope, splash the boat, pull up and park your rig, run down to the water, hop in, fire her up and take off all in a matter of 4 minutes and off you go fishing.

Can you guess who the above story recently happened to? Yep, twas me. But hey, it turned out to be a good day fishing and the opening act was pretty entertaining.

Thanks for visiting my site. Be sure to tell all of your fishing buddies and come back soon!

Until Next Time, Good Luck and Tight Lines To Ya!

[tags]Launching the Boat, Boat Launching, How to Launch a Boat[/tags]

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