I have been invited to go fishing nearly every weekend for the last two months. I went once-About 6 weeks ago or so I floated down the Caney in the SSMinnow4Now with Caneybuff and Leo one day. That's it. Otherwise I have been incarcerated by Sherriff Hon E. Dew every Sunday.
This Sunday was no different. Almost. About halfway through the projects for the day, Sugar Callous said-"It's too nice outside. Let's take the boat out this afternoon."
So we did. It was late so we chose close. Launched at the West Fork ramp on upper end of JPP. I think the odometer in the truck says it's 17 miles from the house.
Sugar Callous settled into the bow seat for a boat ride in the sun while I cracked the whip on the mighty 15 horses from the stern. They were begging to run, it was nearly uncontrollable. They had obviously been in the stall for too long. With a rip and a snort we were off like a herd of shetland ponies.
I have been wanting to see if I could motor upriver to Nice Mill. Didn't make it. The lake is down and I'm not sure how far up river we got before we ran into a shoal that I didn't feel like lining over.
Headed back down river and ran to Jefferson Springs ramp. Passed lots of fisherman, never saw a fish on anyone's line. Graphed some bait balls and some fish between the bridge and Jefferson Springs ramp at about 25 feet deep in 30 feet of water. Tried jigging a bucktail for a bout 30 minutes. No luck. Broke it off. It was time to head back to the ramp.
Handling Waves--Being still unfamiliar with the handling characteristics of the RiverHawk I took it easy when meeting other boats. Except once.
I had cut some wakes on a 45 diagonal at about half throttle and got a little spray on us. The next one I thought maybe if I stay on the trottle we'll crest the trough. Nope. There isn't quite enough power there with the boat loaded like it is. Just after the mid point of the boat got on top of the crest, the nose headed down.
Didn't stuff but it did cause a huge splash that soaked us both. It was fun and funny. We both cracked up. Sugar Callous looked like she had stepped out of the shower. It was a welcome surprise on the warm day.
The boat handles well but could use more power and/or less load. I'm trying to lose weight (
) and Sugar Callous weighs less than any of my fishing friends. The fuel tank is only 3 gallons. The battery charger could probably be a couple of pounds smaller, but that's about it.
When sitting still or idling along and other boat wakes came rolling along I never felt concerned. The little boat just bobs up and down with them. I was seated. If standing, I would probably be wishing I had a knee brace to lock into during those times.
