So last summer I bought a little junker 12' aluminum V bottom boat I saw parked along the highway. It was a homely little cuss but I could see real potential in it so I bought it. Spent the latter part of the summer and early fall fixing it up -- Tore everything out of it, had a buddy who weld aluminum weld up any holes, then sanded and buffed them out; finished the interior of the boat with Flex-Seal; build storage compartments and casting decks on top of them; built a small, portable live well, several rod vaults and a few other goodies. Carpeted the upper decks and then painted the hull with a couple coats of good paint. It came with a Honda 9.9 4 stroke motor so I tore it apart and rebuilt it, and the gear selector. Runs like a champ now. Got a good fish finder and nice new trolling motor for it as well. Did the same thing to the trailer -- stripped all the paint, repainted it, and re-carpeted the loading arms, etc. All in all, I was danged proud of it.

So Friday I had a few hours to spare early in the morning. I ran out to the Lake to see if I could launch and load it myself, if the motor worked OK, if there were any leaks, etc. Everything worked fine and I had a few minutes so I threw a line in and actually caught some fish. "Great," I thought. I can come back on Saturday when I will have all day and come right back to this same spot and really load up.

Well, on Saturday I get to the dock (which had been completely vacant the day before), and it looked like the Walmart parking lot on Christmas eve. Boats and rigs stacked up everywhere. Not knowing any better, I just backed down to the dock, wiggling my way between all those fancy boats and rigs, and went about my normal procedure to launch the boat, tie it up on the pier, and then drive back to the parking lot and park so I could walk back to my boat. When I get back to my boat there was quite a bit of interest in my little boat and the place it occupied at the pier. It was completely surrounded by $100,000+ bass boats loaded to the gills with all sorts of electronics and gear. They were all asking who belonged to the boat. Turns out, I had launched right in the middle of a big bass tournament and I guess there is a protocol about who gets to launch and leave the pier and in what order. I was the proverbial homeless guy who wandered into an opera production. I felt like one of the Clampetts with my little 12 foot boat and 9.9 hp Honda outboard. I could hear a lot of the guys sitting in their boats grumbling about some guy messing up their whole tournament and how such guys shouldn't be allowed on the lake, etc. I didn't pay them any mind. Just fired up the Honda and putted out of the harbor. About 5 minutes later it sounded like someone turned loose a hundred dragsters as the starting gun went off and those high dollar bass boats started rocketing across the lake. Man, it would scare me to death to go that fast on the water.

You have as much right to the lake as they do. I fish a lot and have found that the bass anglers are the worst to deal with they think they own the lake

What a great adventure, best laugh I have had in a long time. Did you catch any fish on Saturday?
Post some pictures of the Bass Tournament Hybrid boat you have!

They don't have a right to block a public boat ramp you did just fine. One time I launched in the middle of a three boat wide launch ramp and apparently no one had ever seen it done before there. I still don't get it but they made a big ol fuss. I fit and did fine I don't see what the hubbub was about.

I won one of them bass tournaments one day at a local lake with the nice boats and my 12' green jon boat fishing by myself and they all had partners. I got a kick out of it.

To be honest I had it won and then a guy caught big bass at the ramp waiting to pull out at the end. So in my mind its contested. Anyway people were all laughing at me launching too right up until weight in. LOL.

The public ramps at W Alton, Mo gets that way too, only it's yuppie bunghole kids with their jet ski's plugging up the access, and they won't move. They think they own the place.

They can take their $100,000+ "bass boats" and shove 'em under a roller gate for all I care. Nothing but a PIA to the local fishermen.

Lets see the boat. Sounds like you put some solid work int this guy.

Sounds like my boat, only I ONLY have a merc 6 horse on mine.
Op is really big timing it with 9.9 hp.!!!

I fish rivers with it. I have dragged it over log jams and run up river in it to fish the areas that the big boats can't or won't go.
I usually have the river to myself.

Bigger is not always better.

Great story, it made my day.

Great story.

A while back I was talking to a friend, he said something like this: I ain't got much, but everything that I do have is mine, and it's all paid for.

That makes sense to me.

Awww look, a man of the people....

It would be a good story if you weren't a millionaire attorney to the stars........like the "harley" people, while work 9-5 white collar jobs, and then play dirtbag easy rider wanna be on the weekend...

Did you change your name to remove the 'berg, 'stein, 'itz off the end??

You're a set of denim overalls and 12 pack of PBR away from picking up roadkill and buying bubble pack Binoculars..

22 foot ranger bass boats with 300 hp motors must cost 20 to 30% more in California than Missouri. A top end decked out rig here might cost you 75 or 80k...not 100k

ol'dad

That makes it an even better story.

Ha, you've mistaken me for your fellow Alaskan James or someone else. Who else drives a four wheeler to the office every day??

My story did have a binocular-related ending though. When I returned to the dock after 2 hours of unsuccessful fishing, it was once again a deserted landscape, with all the high dollar bass fisherpersons now all congregated at the other end of the lake. I noticed one of them left a pair of Leica binoculars lying on the dock. Why you need bincos to fish for bass I don't know, but then I'm not a bass fisherperson so I wouldn't know. I told the little dock master about the glasses and he assured me he would take good care of them until the owners showed up. Hahahah. He's probably still taking good care of them.

Lazarus next time that happens just tell them, "Don't mind me fellers I'm just going to set a bunch of trot lines."
Bass fisherpeople just absolutely love trot lines.

Thanks for sharing. Good story.
mac

If you took those serial numbers off the binoculars, the company has a registar and they will get them to the owners for no charge. There was a finder fee from the company.

the bino's are to watch what everyone is bringing into their boats.....

The team that won that event was in a lot cheaper boat than 100k. Lol. He’s actually used that boat at Enterprise and Sunnyside !

My boat is nicknamed trailer trash for a reason. but we do catch fish most times......jk

I have some friends who have some serious walleye fishing boats with all the bells and whistles one in particular did cost him a bit over $ 120,000.00 and it's probably worth every penny but I agree with you I'd rather have a Lund with a 300 Mercury Varado as well after I win the lottery .
I've fished one walleye classic tournament and we had fun but didn't win or even place that high in a boat worth $ 80,000.00 when it was new that another friend owns. The nice thing about those two Lund boats are nearly impossible to sink because all of the foam used in constructing them. As well as being a deep V since we get some wild weather around here.
Allan