striperchase, Hiwassee, Bass, 7/27/09

[FishNews]

Well I started down the road heading for the B&B dogfight and got on the interstate. Was about a mile south of the riceville exit when I looked in my rearview mirror and saw my trolling motor vibrating like it was about to come unbolted. I then looked in my side mirror just in time for my tire to go rolling across the interstate. emoBang I pulled over to check the damage. I guess when it blew it grabed my fender cause it was bent down about an inch from the rim. I did my best to straighten it out by hand. Now back to the tire. My own dumb fault I don't have a spare so I had to unhook and leave my boat there on the side of the interstate and run to Cleveland to find a tire. Got a spare and got back to my boat and trolling motor and fishfinder and gas can were all still there. Got the jack and tire iron out of the truck to change the tire and quickly realized that the tire iron for my truck is not the same size as my trailor. emoDoh So now I'm looking through my boat toolbox with minimal tools to try and find something to get the lugnuts off. I tried an adjustable which didn't work and dug out every wrench I had in there which none would fit. At this point is about 6:30 and I'm spitting mad. I was about to unhook the boat again and run home to fetch my star bar when I saw my spark plug socket and thought what the heck. I tried it and sure enough it fit, so now I have to break the wheel loose with a spark plug socket and a 6" wratchet. It was lacking leverage to say the least but finally got it changed out. After I went through all that and was half way to the river I was definatly going fishing.<br /><br />I put in a Charelston boat dock at 7:15 and headed up river to beat the banks. I caught one small fish on a 6" green worm working a brush pile in about 10 FOW and one more bass on a crankbait. The second fish was a 17in keeper but skinny as a snake probably didn't even weigh a pound. I didn't catch any more fish and pulled the boat out at 8:50 and headed home. Did see a rainbow after the rain shower though. Pics below of tire before and after