Trying to not type too cranky here...
Went to Cachuma today, woke up at 0600, arrived around 0800. Ranger at the kiosk had me take the boat off the car and unravel it for the Quagga inspection. Then roll it back up, put it back on the car, drive a couple hundred yards to the washdown station. Take it off the car, unravel it, wash it, roll it back up, put it back on the car...take the outboard out of the car, flush the outboard with their hot water...outboard was being stubborn to start and stay on but we got it going just long enough to get the water to flush through the coolant system. Put it all back in the car and went another 100 yards to setup near the ramp but it was still gonna be a haul to dolly the boat by hand to the water. Did it, I'm young.
Super not stoked on that start, took like an hour longer than I wanted, and a gigantic pain in the @ss to deal with quagga inspection and their system with the inflatable setup. But I got the boat in the water, outboard didn't show the same fickled nature once in the water.
Rolled out to the shallow end of the lake, hoping for spawning bass with the full moon and the Spring and all. Didn't see any bass bedding, but they were boiling intermittently. Bounced between a dropshot worm and a spinnerbait til I got the skunk off in the sticks with a short green bass. Made me feel better.
Not long after, I noticed I had a pinhole air leak in my boat on the waterline. That's what I get for fishing the sticks I guess. Not a critical issue, it'll be just a dab of Gorilla glue at home but still not great to see.
Felt like the bass weren't really happening, but with a fish to my name I figured I'd make a run to the deeper, clearer end of the lake and try carolina rigged roboworms and maybe troll for trout while I eat a sandwich. I make the move and after about 2 miles, my motor stutters and dies. Woof. Yada yada yada stall-start-stall-start. After Plan B, C, and D went out the window I was headed for the ramp while the engine was working. Half a mile short of the ramp, it cuts out and won't start back up. So I rowed half a mile.
So I'm looking for a shop that'll give the ol boot scooter a good look-over. Definitely avoiding lakes with quagga inspections from here on out as long as I'm doing the inflatable thing.
