07-11-2010, 09:00 AM
Well, if anyone knows a Bryan Couch, he saved our night. We started catching bluegill for bait, and then went downriver to anchor fish for a bit. After not having any luck, I found that the gear shifter would not go into forward or reverse. Scott and I trolled back to the ramp and were planning on going out instead. We had also caught 4 cats drifting, so it wasn&#39;t a total loss.<br /><br />Then, we met Bryan. He said, let me take a look at your shifter. The idler had gone loose. He took it apart and messed with it for probably at least 30 minutes. He got it going again with no problem. My faith in mankind skyrocketed after such a kind gesture.<br /><br />Turns out, we threw all the bluegill away, and we had a little chicken left, like 1 breast, and some skipjack. I asked Scott what he wanted to do, look for that bite, or try to catch some numbers. Numbers it was. We caught so many small blues and a few channels. The fight was way different. The blues actually felt more like the channels do during the day. Makes me want to fish more at night as it&#39;s like they wake up and fight harder. It was a nice change of pace from trying to located the big bite upriver.<br /><br />Fishing on borrowed time till about 3:30, our last drift we had a bet on bigger fish gets free steak and shake. My free burger and fries at 4:30 A.M. HIT THE SPOT!!!<br /><br />For right now, the boat is running great. It&#39;s pretty much my fault, I knew there was an issue starting to happen with the shifter, but I do not troubleshoot or fix things at all. The last 3 days have been a great learning experience and my first time fishing the river at night. I&#39;m looking forward to doing it some more.<br /><br />Also, all the blues in the livewell were released safely, Scott decided he was too tired to keep them to clean.