So we missed the feeding cycle….

We planned ahead, up before the break of dawn. Summer is to short for screw-ups. So with fresh "live" bait in hand, we headed to my buddy’s pontoon boat early in the am. We had everything in order.

The checklist… cooler with ice, check.
Tackle box, check, rods, reels, line, check.
Beverage, check, fishing licenses, check…

We were street legal, make that DNR legal, even the boat horn worked and yes I had sun block on as Rosebud’s 57th rule so states, " Don’t leave home without it, Bud!"

The sun was coming over the trees and a little mist was lifting off the lake’s surface. Even the call of the loons was making this day very special. I was stowing the gear ready to cast off when my buddy tried to start the engine…
Crank, crank, crank and there was a hint of the engine firing. For the next 40 minutes I tried everything other than a major overall to get his engine started. Crank… cranks… nothing. My one morning of the week to go fishing and we are beached, boatless.

Well what were we to do? Right, use another boat, a boat which the owner said, "be my guest," who was out of town and we had the keys. So after another hour of jicky jacking around the two of us were out fishing by 10 am.

I am not going to tell you how many fish we didn’t catch, nor that the lunar tables said we were fishing in a low time period. But the word for it is skunked is used or zipped. But we were not… we were fishing a chain of lakes that on weekends is a complete zoo of boat traffic, jet skis but not this am.

There was only a mild wind (no bugs) no boat traffic and the two of us talked about old times… and after all what else is there… Ya, fish but who cares, we’ll nail them next week.