Growing up as a kid who fished stock ponds his whole life, I could not wait for the day that I got my first bass boat. Every angler who loves bass fishing looks forward to the day they pull out of a boat dealer towing their first bass boat.
As a new boat owner there are so many things that you must learn on your own. Not many dealers take you out and show you how to launch your boat or go over maintenance tips you need to do yourself.
So much about a bass boat is learned through experience. You learn through trial and error, but hopefully the errors you make don’t cost you a ton of money to fix.
But there was one thing I learned the very first time I took out my new Pro Gator bass boat back in 1992. When you arrive at the dock after fishing, make sure you tie the boat to the dock properly.
It was on Chicot Lake, just north of Ville Platte, where I took it out for the very first time. I was so excited to go fishing in my new boat while learning all the ends and outs about it.
There was one thing that got my attention as I idled away from the boat dock. I noticed on my left, there were several gators sitting on the bank sunning themselves. A couple of these gators were over 10 feet long and looked at me as if I would be their next meal. More on that in just a minute.
After catching a few bass that evening, I decided to stay on the lake until after it got dark, as the bass were really biting just after the sun went down. It was around 9:30 that I headed back to the ramp.
Upon arriving at the boat dock, I tied off my boat (or so I thought). I then headed to my truck so I could back my trailer down the ramp and load my boat. After getting the trailer into the water, I hopped out of the truck and walked down the dock towards my boat. But as I got to the end of the dock, my boat was gone!
Now remember, there’s no one around for help and it’s pitch dark except for the light on the dock itself. So, as I scanned the bay and saw my boat floating about 50 yards out in the bay with its running lights on, panic set in on how I was going to get to it. At the same time, reality also set in and I knew there was only one way to retrieve the boat.
That’s right, I was going to have to swim alligator-infested waters to retrieve my brand-new bass boat. So, I did what any crazy man would do. I stripped down to my underwear and made a running sprint down that long boat dock and dove headfirst into the lake.
Let’s just say that had this been an Olympic swim meet, I would have set a new world record for the 50-meter freestyle. Arriving at the boat and having the fear of a gator pulling me under as I grabbed the side of my boat, I hopped in it quicker than a rabbit jumping over a briar patch.
The moral of the story: always make sure you properly tie your boat to the dock, so you don’t have to make an unnecessary swim. Good luck, good fishing and remember, every time you go fishing, it’s a great trip whether you catch fish or not.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com