Avoiding Murphy on the Nelle

[albinotrout]

Well MaDfisher55 and I snuck out of the house about 6 :15 am and headed to Jordanelle Rock Cliff. We were able to leave Murphy behind for once and do a little fishin'. I had already put the toon away for the season after I was attacked by the pig plague last month thinking my luck has run out. After one call from Mark on Monday I was quickly convinced to pull it back out for another trip.

We hit the water around 8 by the time we got up there and set up. I tied on one of TD's patterns that I tied up last month for Huntington. I was planning revenge for the pig plague and the missed day on the water. I got one hit out by the buoys then nothing. I switched to the jackobugger, I ended up with two hits. Nothing wanted to impail itself for some reason. I found a nice cove filled with submerged trees and decided to see what was in there. I proceeded to throw the jackobugger when the radio crackled "I goty one and its about time". MaDfisher55 caught a 13" bow on an olive bugger. I stayed in the cove a little while for I was getting little tugs that felt a lot like perchies were trying to nibble the jackobugger. Nothing impailed so I switched the fly rod for the spinning rod and proceeded to throw a chartreuse jig. I ended up catching a tree and losing the jig after about 10 minutes of nothing biting. I put the spin rod away and pulled out the fly rod again and headed back to the buoys. I switched to a brown bugger, nothing, nada, zilch. So I went with my old standby. My own olive wooly bugger that has tested itself true so many times in the past and BANG!!!! A nice 16"+ bow smacked it and ran. [] I was able to bring it in but it got camera shy and jumped off the toon. As it did so it tried to impale the size 8 hook into one of my toons but alas it did not. After that it was slow again. I would guess that the fish were well fed overnight due to the full moon. We did mark a lot of fish hanging around the 18-26 foot depth. We would see structure on the bottom and schools of fish surrounding said structure but all seemed to have a case of lockjaw. We got on the water with a water temp of 48 and left with a water temp of 50. There was one other toon that showed up later in the morning and several boats including two powered barges. I saw one of the barges pull in a fish but nothing else. We left around 2-3 pm a little stiff and me with two dead batteries. One for the trolling motor and the other on the radio. I did have to change the batteries out on the fishin buddy part way through the day.
I thought we did good, avoided murphy and had a great day. But alas Murphy was not pleased that he got left home and showed up late. He decided to take out my fishing for the rest of the season. Pic attached. So I would love to head to Huntington on Wednesday with the rest of you, but alas Murphy has messed it up for me again.[mad]


Launching:


Returning in:


Murphy returns:

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[flygoddess]

WOW! Were is that on the boat and how the heck did that happen?
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[albinotrout]

Outside front left pontoon. Not sure how it happened but need to find a way to fix it.
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[Dryrod]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][#008000][size 3]Hi there albinotrout thanks for the story & pictures. Gota say that you hung in there at all cost. Perhaps at times I'm a bit too stubborn not to change flies after a reasonable period of time. Lucky for you that the hook didn't puncture the bladder.[/size][/#008000][/font]
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[albinotrout]

I went in to shore to see where the hook landed but it came loose. I think it was on the strapping. The tear on the cover is on the opposite side of where the hook was.
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[peter805]

Man thats some tear alright. You better try to figure
out how it happened . Don't want that again.[]
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[albinotrout]

I either bumped into a tree or rock. Anyone know how to repair theses things? Manufacturer not around any more and the one that took over wants nothing to to do with it. Boat is 15 years old too. So trying to figure this one out.
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[flygoddess]

I am sure you will have to take the cover completely off, try maybe an iron on and some aqua seal. The PVC coated ones, Duct Tape works, but cloth....you might even have to sew a patch on.
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[cpierce]

I think I would try and sew a patch in.

If you don't do it yourself, you might take it apart and take the cover to an upholstery shop. They might be able to do it for you. Just request a good strong nylon thread and patch.

Good luck!
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[kochanut]

i believe Outback (cant be sure if thats the company's name) sells patches for the covers, they are the sew on type that you also seal. they are 10 bucks for the kit.
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[davetclown]

Bummer,

I dont envy that repair,

Deffantly an inside job for sure, if you cant find any one who will make the repair for you try this.

you need to take the canvas off,

get new peice of quality tent canvas. that will extend a minimum of 5 inches from all sides of the rip.

make sure the canvas is completely dry.

Place some wax paper or aluminum foil down on an ironing board or similar flat serface.

lay the toon canvas out side down on the protective covered board.

shmear Shoe Goo around the area extending about an inch from where the end of the patch will be.

lay the patch on the glued area and roll with a rolling pin or dowl or any other smooth round serface.

allow to cure for several days at room temps with out moving...

this will make a perminate flexable patch. but wait your not done,

you will need to stich all the way around the hole about a half inch away from the rip with a quality waxed thread using no smaller than one eigth inch stich.

Now you can make an out side patch thay can be placed on from the out side. the out side patch needs to be an inch bigger all the way around, so if that is a one inch rip you patch will need to be 2 inches by three inches.

as with the inside patch, first glue it down in to place and allow it to cure before sewing. you want the glue to reach the end of the patch but not ooze out out pass the edge when rolled out.

Use a "T" stich from a quarter inch edge of the patch all the way around. again 1/8 in stich is best, any smaller it will help to cut the fabirc and to large the fabric will strech between the stiches..

the inside patch it to hold the blatter, the out side patch is to protect the tear and to prevent it from tearing again.

if any part of this is unclear or I left out info just drop me a note or ask here,
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