Fishing: Roger’s Remarks for Dec. 1

As a fisherman, my main focus is on fishing, which to me means I’m not messing around with problems that aren’t part of the catching-fish thing! So when something breaks, I hold my breath and hope I can get it taken care of effortlessly. Why? Because I’ve found that messes start out simple but rapidly morph into more than you’d ever imagine! So when my transducer mount broke last week, I had a bad feeling this wasn’t going to be simple!

Running along at 50 mph in my boat on San Luis, Andy Bedell and I had done pretty well when I heard a loud “whack” pause “whack!” Stopping, I saw my transducer on top of my rear deck! Obviously it had busted loose and the speeding water under the transom had catapulted the hockey puck like disk on the end of its 3-foot long cable upward to whack my boat again and again.

We considered just casting the shore for awhile, but I felt like a fish out of water while trying constantly to “see” below me! Ever have the electricity go out and you keep trying to turn the lights on? We were done!

The next day, a Monday, I realized that Thursday was Thanksgiving and I had trips booked Friday and Saturday, so I better figure out what to do quickly! Looking at the damage, the break was right where the plastic formed an angle, making it tough to fix. Finally on Tuesday, I called the company and talked to a rep. They had my whole system registered, so this should be easy, but that sneaky little voice inside me was warning me to be very cautious! If the right part wasn’t sent to me overnite, what would I do with the holiday closure?

The rep was very helpful, but in about a second she said that part HMS HX was the right one, no doubt! I questioned her to be sure, but she was positive. It would be shipped guaranteed overnite! OK … but the little voice wouldn’t quit! I waited around almost all of Wednesday (holiday traffic to compound things, of course!) to make sure I didn’t miss the truck. It came at 6 p.m. and as I tore into the box, a sick feeling came over me. It wasn’t the right part at all. No! I wasn’t a happy camper.

It’s late Wednesday, and we gotta leave for the relatives in the morning. How could I be ready for Friday? Frantic brain-wracking time! I took the broken pieces and took off for the box store, flooded with last-minute shoppers, and managed to finally get a guy to help me find a good glue that might possibly work to weld it back together. He suggested a two-part epoxy. I grabbed it. My last chance!

Spreading it out on my kitchen table, I tested the glue and it seemed pretty robust. Holding the weird pieces in place the best I could for 5 minutes, it held. Maybe? For the next few hours, I let it set some by using my wife’s hairdryer, then I would add another layer. Another layer was applied Thanksgiving morning, followed by one at 9 p.m. when we got home.

Friday morning I headed for San Luis, putting the glued piece in front of the heater vents to cure it even longer during the trip. Parking at the lake, I installed the welded mount, but there was a stubborn piece that was stuck and I needed to undo. Sticking my sharp knife in to lever it open, it slipped and I stabbed myself hard in the hand. Stupid, but, oh well, it unstuck it! There was blood all over the boat just as my buddy drove up!

We launched, however, and the depthfinder worked! Yes! The unit held up for both days, up to 30 mph. Victory!

Fast forward to this week when the rep tells me they can’t figure the part out, and I was given the wrong transducer initially. Really? They now say I may need to buy a whole new transducer and mount, just to replace a $20 piece of plastic!

It’s not over yet, but so far I think MacGyver would have been proud! Never give up!

This story was originally published December 1, 2015 at 3:38 PM with the headline "Fishing: Roger’s Remarks for Dec. 1."