I wore out my battery but not the fish

Nov 20 2020

David May

Slot Fish

Member Since :
2018
Number of Posts :
131

Reservation Number : 26521
Property Name : Pecan Gap
Reservation Date : 11/19/2020 All Day -
Total Fish/Sizes : 0
Lures Used : all I had

Some days are just “that way”!

I had fished Pecan Gap last week with no success on my favorite large lures but some success on small lures, planning therefore another trip for today, researching and strategizing all week as to how to improve my success. I tied on smaller versions of my favorite lures and, arriving at 9 am anxious to get fishing, I found, however, an 18-mph sustained south wind with 33 mph gusts!

Undaunted, I readied the boat and launched with a full outfitting of three mushroom anchors and a drift sock. Immediately it was clear that the smaller lures were just not usable so I paused and began to tie on greater weight to allow casting into the wind. 

What followed was several hours of the Monty Pythonesque 5 minutes to position the boat, 3 minutes to fish, attempt to get back into position, repeat.  Heading upwind to get to the shallows took full throttle on my 55 lb thrust trolling motor, my Humminbird indicating I was making a blistering 1.8 knot forward speed!

After fishing the points and their lee sides for several hours, I decided to drift down the west bank while fishing the grass. On the drift I was making an astonishing 6 knots when I decided to check the battery status, which to my dismay suggested I had less than 25% left!

At that instant, dismayed but thankful I was on the west bank, I drifted into the dock, tied up and packed for home. 

(I have a Bass Pro BPDC 27 100 mAh battery which I now know has, shall we say, a history of this.)

The water was clear to 3 feet at a temperature of 58 degrees. The sky was partly cloudy and the air temp 65-75 degrees. The wind, as noted 18 mph from the south with strong gusts. I tried jigging a rattle trap, chatter bait, jig and craw and a fluke with no success. When possible, I tried T-rigged craw, worms and wacky worms on the lee side of structure and points as possible. I did not fish the center of the lake other that a series of casts to the lee side of both humps. 

And yes, I have ordered a Lithium battery.