It won't be long now....The ice cometh...

[fatlazyless]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Not for nothing, Less, but just what do you have a boat in the water for if you don't ever use it?? It hasn't been run since April???? Did you really expect it to start? Sheesh!

BT

A good question: My excuse for never going out in the motorboat all season was tennis, I caught the tennis bug pretty bad! My little Alumacraft is an incredible fun boat too. It is a 16' aluminum bass boat with a trolling motor up front and a 40-hp outboard.

Turning the ignition key today at about 2-pm for the first time since last April 10 not only started the outboard right up, but also startled a large bald eagle that had been perched in a neighboring huge pine tree. I was very astounded hearing the engine just start right up like that! The engine never-ever missed a beat and it ran like an engine should run the whole trip.....perfectly....no-fool'n! Watching that big eagle silently fly across to Bear Island made me think it was some type of an Indian good luck omen or something.

The openings between Mark and Bear, and Timber and Mark, all looked iced, plus there was some free floating ice around Buoy 3, so I headed around Timber & the witches enroute to the boat ramp at Shep Browns.

Crossing between Bear and Jolly(? or Round ?) there was about 300-yards of sheet ice, which was just a warm up for what lay ahead. Crossing around the north end of Bear, there must have been about 1000-yards of sheet ice on the east side of Bear, and I was so relieved to make it through that I felt compelled to make a touchdown sign in a big triumph as I passed the BearCam location. That open water up ahead was looking real good! Am I crazy? That's a good question! It certainly was something that I do not plan to do again, slicing through all that ice like that. How thick was the ice? I have no clue, but it must have been pretty thin, like maybe 1/2" or something because the 16' V-hull aluminum boat w/ a 40-hp powered right through it all, not too much problem. That was the first time I ever did that so I didn't know what to expect, but definitely will not be doing that again anytime
soon. That was sick!