Sunday - September 12, 2010 - Day 214 - 42 days missed

Flint River bass club tournament, West Point. Sunny and hot, water 86
degrees

Ran up to bridge and got a solid keeper largemouth on second cast with
popper. Fished around the riprap and landed two small throwback spots
on jig but no more keepers.

Ran to a point about a half mile away and motor made rattling sound as
I came to idle and it shut off. Cranked it and it sounded bad.
Decided to fish my way back to the ramp, a few miles away, rather than
make motor worse.

In 6.5 hours fishing back I landed a keeper spot in the back of a
pocket in four feet of water on a jig head - it picked it up and ran
under the boat before i could set the hook. Back at the bridge I
landed my third keeper on a small jig and pig.

About a mile from weigh-in spot I was going across a big shallow flat
with troll motor on high. A school came up in front of boat and I got
a solid 2 pound spot on a popper.

That was it. Got back to the ramp in time. My four went 5.9 pounds and
third place. First had five at 9 and second was five at 7.5. Not too
bad with no motor.

I did crank it to try to get it on the trailer and a club member who
is a mechanic said it sounded like a bearing was running without oil.
Gonna be an expensive tournament!

Ronnie

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