I’ll try and keep it short as possible, but so much happened it might be difficult. This is a long story, I thought we had agreed to keep all this to ourselves, but as Slipknot, Salty and Big Dave all gave some hints I’ll have to fill in the gaps and show my innocence.

As some of you may know this was the big weekend when I would try my new 32’ foot Pontoon boat trailer out and moved my 26’ boat to Winni. A firm believer in Murphy’s Law, I tried to prepare myself for anything and everything that could go wrong, not even close my friends. Keep in mind, I have never taken this boat off Squam in 3 years I’ve owned it and never owned a trailer for it until this past weekend.

Left for the Lake at 7:30 Saturday to pick up the trailer, brought Thy (originator of the Pimp Spoon) along with me in case I needed help doing what I was told was a “one man job”. I could have use 4 more guys.

Well 3 of us, a passer by, seeing we were in need of help chipped in, got the boat on the trailer, not bad. Once we got her loaded we found the bunkers were 3’ too long, wicked tongue weight, Problem #1, we’ll fix it later. Stantion had to be moved back 34”.

The trailer had no “guides on the back” boat swung all over when loading, made it near impossible, but we managed, Problem # 2. (bought a set, but had no clamps)

In preparation for the big day we decided to put her in Winni Saturday afternoon, to work any more bugs out. Managed to get her in without much of a problem at Shep Browns. Well she managed the rough waters from the heavy boat traffic fine and we moved to the big lake side of Bear. Might as well fish a bit as we had er in the Lake, we had never fished Winni alone and had no clue where to go in that area but we tried, well we caught 4 Salmon (all nice ones about 3 pounds, and 2 smaller Lakers in like 20 minuets, WOW this is going to be a fun weekend.

Took the boat out, had a near a disaster in doing so, that I wont go into, but got it on the trailer, did I mention when parking the trailer earlier, Thy backed it into a rock (or something) and broke a tail light lens. Problem # 3.

Got her back to the Camp without any more trouble, except where to park this huge load overnight, we managed somehow to park it, Problem # 4..

I’m sorry guys and gals, no way to keep it short and I’m leaving out allot of small details too.

Next day we set out for Winni, I asked Thy if we should lay the rods on the floor, “nah they be OK”, sooooooo we left them in the overhead rod holders and of we go.. Stopped at Cumberland Farm to gas up and noticed the rod hanger fell down and there were 11 rods and reels all over the place, exactly what I thought was a possibility. Problem # 5.

So now we laid the rods on the floor, all but 6 that Thy put in the rod Holders, all 9’ foot rods. I thought for a moment, no bridges between here and Ames, they’ll be OK, off we go.

In all the confusion I forgot to buy ice, called Big Dave and asked if he could pick up some on his way. While talking to Dave, a call comes in from Slipknot. When I got off with Dave and I hit redial to call Slipknot back and who do you think I got, Slipknots wife (woke her up) not sure why it didn’t go to his cell instead of his house ?? So I woke up his wife Becky at 4:30, I’m getting pretty good at that, Adrien at 3:00, Travis at 4:30 on other fishing days.. Problem # 6.

Finally got to Ames farm and on the ramp where we met Slipknot, he said “what’s this”, as he grabbed some mono hanging off the side of the boat ??? Must have hit a low branch or something and a lure grabbed it, etc. bottom line while “trolling along Rt. 11”, we un-spooled two reels and lost a whole rod and reel combo, nowhere to be found. Problems 6, 7 and 8. Three CF’s and we hadn’t had the boat in the water yet, a record I know I’ll hold forever. But I did find out later that Salty had trolled Rt. 11 before too, so I wasn’t the first one to achieve that.

Finally setting up, we had about 9 fish in the boat before we could get 6 lines out, including a double and a triple, 1st time ever on my boat for a double, let alone a triple. Details of actual fishing will be in another post, but this was more fish than I had caught in Squam the past two weeks or so combined. And NO Bass or W. Perch all day I might add.

Well we had many, many laughs, no more real clusters. The radios had as much action as the fishing. Matty (a true Gentle Giant of the sport) was out there chatting with us al morning as well as Roof Rafter who had a stripper (or so he said) on board from the night before (they were allot of fun) Big Dave and Robert, and 13 other boats in the area.

While I had both my hands on my rod and reel bringing a fish, somehow my favorite net goes overboard on the other side of the boat, I had nothing to do with it. Problem 9 (I’m loosing count)

Well 30 fish later and the rain was falling pretty good, we decide to call it a day at 1:00, great day fishing, my best day ever, in spite of it all.

Took 5 of us to get her back on the trailer but we won the battle. The guy at the ramp says, “you need guides on that trailer”. I had bought some the day before and had no “u bolts” to attach them with yet, so I says, “I do but they are in the back of my truck” he says “well, that’s the best one I heard all day, ###@$%#@&^%#@, WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY DOIN THERE, ETC. THEY BELONG ON THE TRAILER ???????? I wont tell you what I said back to him, but I was about to loose it soon.

In the parking lot we decided to move the stantion for the winch/crank, etc. back 34” so that the boat would set better on the trailer. Many thanks to Dave, Robert, Thy and Slipknot
for hanging in there with me in the pouring ran to make this fix, they are all super guys and friends, “1” problem fixed. I asked Thy to make sure everything was secure and off we went.

Big Dave and Robert agreed to follow me back to Squam in the event any more problems came up, at this point we all figured anything could happen., and it did. Phone rings, Dave says one of your side panels is waving in the wind, problem #10, no big deal we stopped and secured it. Another call comes in, it’s Dave, we’ll be along, stopped to pick up your safety oar that fell off the back on the boat, problem #11. (I thought Thy had secured everything)

Aubuchon didn’t have any “u bolts”, so we have the guides clamped on temporarily.

All in all, only 1 problem solved, some others can never be solved, and Mr. Murphy is alive and well. As you an see I had nothing direct to do with any of these problems, it was all Thy’s fault or Murphy’s Law, I was innocent.

John S

hi john ive been waiting all weekend to hear how it went.im sorry to say but this was one of the most entertaining reports ive ever read.at least the fishing was good as for the other stuff it would hard to repeat so hopefully the problems are behind you and it will be smooth sailing from here on out.good luck in the future and thanks for the laughs. rich

Yes i would have to agree i was laughing my A__ off also LOL Just to point out a couple things might have been left out but that's a story for another day LMAO, We did all have fun out there (At least some of you caught fish LOL ) (Knew i should have gone out with my other 2 Amigos LOL) But part of the report was incorrect!!!!!!!! You actually had your first Double on that "Huge" boat of yours on Squam with Me and Amber LOL But you did get your first triple on Winni LOL Rob and I should have never followed the big boat around cause they caught all the fish LOL and that was even after i picked up an "Awesome" Care Package from the Captain of the Sampson Barge floating on the water, If i had been closer to the boat i would have jumped in after that net cause it was a beauty LOL, would have been my only good catch of the day LOL, Oh yeah John forgot to mention that when he told us to pass behind his boat to pick up my care package we set off 2 of his lines, managed to reel one of his flys in on our leadcore (Thought we had another Hawkeye cover page LOL) but the other fly got all mangled in our downrigger cable (Sorry about that) but once again it wasn't my fault we'll have to blame that one on Thy too LOL Great Day Many Laughs, Soaked down to my Underroo's LOL and pretty much "Froze" all the way home with the heat blairing LOL Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines LOL Dave From up North, P.S. And if you think that report was "Good" Wait till we christen the boat with the 3 Amigos aboard Now that will be a Report for the Record Books LMAO

I did leave out a few details, someone asked for photos, the way things were going I was nervous to take the camera out of it's safe place.

One more story to add.

On our way in I got a call from Laconia Police, they asked if had a boat trailer at Ames Farm, I said yes. then he said, "I have bad news for you, your trailer got hit and the rear axle is destroyed". **** I said and then a big laughter was heard it was Matty, he couldn't keep it going any longer. He really had me about to loose it totaly.

He was calling to offer me an 8' Rubber net as he knew mine went over board. I had told him on the radio that we had called around nobody had any in stock. He had a spare at home that he didn't need and was offering it to me. Like I said many great people I've met from this web site and Matty (the Gentle Giant as I think of him)is ne of the best. We met later last night on my way home and got the net.

Thanks Matty, I'll give it back as soon as I get my new one, so that you can offer it to another some day.
I know you read the nessage board and don't really post that often, but I wanted to thank you publicly for use of the net, your a good man Matty, your Dad is lookin down on ya and proud of you I'm sure.

By the way folks, guess who's New Hampshire number plate reads "Salmon", none other than Matty of "Hooked on Salmon", one of Winni's super guides, on and off the Lake. Hey Matty, you better get that plate light fixed or a real cop will be calling you.

John S.

The 3 Amigos don't even have to be together to have this kind of fun or clusters, just being on contact with the 3 of you by phone at the same time on the way to the same ramp was enough.

I'm not sure what will happen next time we 3 are on the same boat, maybe we can go out with Adrien, does he dare ???????? If not we will do it on my barge, on Winni. Maybe we will invite Salty along, now there's 4 of a kind that can beat a royal straight flush. If he can't make it we'll invite Roof Rafter and his friend the "Stripper" and of course Matty. I think she thought Matty was cute, she gave his boat a show and not us.

We thought we had a double with "twin 8 pounders on" when we threw you the care package, LOL. we did have a huge on on though. By the way, the care package he mentioned, was just an assortment of flys that were working for us that morning. But I don't think they worked for them ???????

Thanks for all the help Dave and thank Robert for me when you see him.

Guess we better wrap this up or we'll get in trouble with the ones that think we chit-chat too much on the board.

Another great experience is behind us. I'm done and outta here, gotta make some money in case my retirement check don't get here in time to pay for the next fishing trip and my new net.

John S.

John, My heart is heavy for you. That is one day to remember for sure. It's a good thing you can laugh about it! I've heard of some bad days out there, but that has to be in the top 2 or 3.

Salty

The only way to beat that is to have your boat sink, but you wouldn't be first so don't worry about that record, throbbin rods already did it!

Well Adrien my friend now that you mention it, actually that was my nightmare the night before, I was told (when I bought the trailer) that it don't take much to put a hole in one of those Pontoons and to be carefull loading it.

One of the mishaps I didn't care to relate to anyone was the loading at Shep Browns the night before. Thy said it "looked OK", so I started to pull her out WRONG, it slipped off the bunkers, I couldn't see any damage, but it was dark, we did get her loaded OK then and went back to the camp.. I can't blame Thy as was a little darker than I wanted when we pulled her out.

So I left that part of the story out and layed awake all night worrying about it. The next day when we had such a rough trip to Ames Farm, I forgot all about it and never checked it. Guess it was OK, I did check it later in the light and it was fine.

I'm not really out to break any records, but I might set one now and then, by accident.

John S.

john,

just read your post

lmao,

ilucas

My Buddy Adrien - what a guy.
John S, we should go fishing together some day, with my luck and your luck there would probably be a freakin Tsunami on Winni!?!?!?
To all, remember, the worse lukc on the trip, the better the story for the next gathering...
Later
Throbbin Rods

Great post John, at least it was worth the trouble. We'll be heading to winni soon in the next week or two. Hope we have half as much luck as you.
Who sold you a trailer that was that much too big for your boat??
Whipster

Well, used there was nothing big enough that we could find. I was looking for one to haul a 26' boat, was a 5 to 6 weeks wait. They (M and M Marine Salvage, Merideth) could get a new trailer for a 24' boat in a few hours, 200.00 over cost, and said it would be fine with a little overhang. Weight capability was fine (4400lbs) with single axle brakes. Cost was 2500.00.

Then 2 days late he calls back with a trailer for a 27' Pontoon boat, like new 2 years old, list new for 3900.00, he wanted 2000.00, carries up to 7700 lbs, had an electric winch, dual axle brakes, etc.. Sounded like a better deal all around, so we bought it.

I think it will work fine once we get it set up better, with the winch and stairs, etc. moved back now and the weight more over the wheels now, it hauls fine now and should load fine. Just need to get the guides on to make loading easier and maybe a platform (if needed) to walk back to the winch. I actually like it, has stairs to get from the trailer to the front boat deck, just a little (maybe allot) intimidating at first. But a tad too big, may be better than a tad small.

Get up To Winni ASAP, it's HOT, I know exactly what you've been going through on your Lake, a Winni trip is just what you need.

John s.