GA BASS ODYSSEY
Senior Member
Rough day on the water this past Sunday. I run a 18 ft Low Stinger with a 60hp Merc. I got out early and ran up Blackshear to Turkey creek looking for clean water. Got into the creek but where I wanted to go was blocked by a big pine tree that was completely across the creek. Fished the part around the campgrounds with no luck. Decided to head out one the lake and stay above the railroad bridge in the cove just to the west. I wanted to run my new Hook Reveal 9 sidescan on some docks and the pilings on the old railroad bridge.
I figured I would be good as the wake boats would not be able to get under the bridge with there high roofs. Boy was I wrong. Some son of a gum had put in above the RR bridge and was waking soon as I came out the river. He was throwing huge whitecaps so I came off plane and barely managed to get around him. When I got back on plane I noticed the Channel Markers had all been laid over on their sides as if they had been knocked off their anchors. Almost all the red buoys were laid over from the river to the RR bridge. I got to my spot and after a few minutes of scanning and finding a place to fish, here cam ol'boy down the channel. But I did not notice him in time. His wakes hit me and nearly knocked me off the back of my boat. My boat was thrown into the dock I was fishing, just missing the motor. Knocked the rubber railing off my gunnel and tore the Lowe boat decals on the side. I had no control of my boat at all. At that point I decided to leave the lake. Too dangerous. So I got under the RR bridge and headed to the ramp enduring more wakes on the way.
I decided to go below the dam to the ramp there and fish the river. I ran about 5 miles down the river and floated another 4 fishing til about dark. Little did I know the wake boats had did more damage than I had realized. As I got ready to leave I started my brand new 60hp up. She went straight to 3000 RPM. And she stayed there. I was like how and the heck am I going to get this thing in gear without torqueing the gear box off? So after a while of looking the motor over I decided to pull a trick and move the throttle up and down very fast from 5000rpm to ideal opposition in neutral. It worked as the motor could not respond to the quick throttle movement and sputtered on the low end down to about 1200 RPM. At that point I slammed it into gear and I was on my way back. Got to the ramp and did the same thing to get it trailered. People there must have thought I was crazy.
I got home and put the boat away and got on the internet to see if I could figure out what caused this. Read a thread on one of the Merc forums that said if you are running rough water check your Idle Air control (IAC) valve sensing line. Got up the next morning and went straights to the IAC on the motor. Low and behold there it was, the sensing line off the IAC. The rough water from all the wake boats had knocked off the line. Reconnected it and the boat idled as beautifully as before.
Just wanted to share my story. And if you own a wake boat, think of some choice bad words and that is what I'm saying to you. You run the lake at everybody else's expense.
Oh yeah.....I caught a five pound largie below the dam and a 10 lb Bowfin that I did not let get in the boat with me.
I figured I would be good as the wake boats would not be able to get under the bridge with there high roofs. Boy was I wrong. Some son of a gum had put in above the RR bridge and was waking soon as I came out the river. He was throwing huge whitecaps so I came off plane and barely managed to get around him. When I got back on plane I noticed the Channel Markers had all been laid over on their sides as if they had been knocked off their anchors. Almost all the red buoys were laid over from the river to the RR bridge. I got to my spot and after a few minutes of scanning and finding a place to fish, here cam ol'boy down the channel. But I did not notice him in time. His wakes hit me and nearly knocked me off the back of my boat. My boat was thrown into the dock I was fishing, just missing the motor. Knocked the rubber railing off my gunnel and tore the Lowe boat decals on the side. I had no control of my boat at all. At that point I decided to leave the lake. Too dangerous. So I got under the RR bridge and headed to the ramp enduring more wakes on the way.
I decided to go below the dam to the ramp there and fish the river. I ran about 5 miles down the river and floated another 4 fishing til about dark. Little did I know the wake boats had did more damage than I had realized. As I got ready to leave I started my brand new 60hp up. She went straight to 3000 RPM. And she stayed there. I was like how and the heck am I going to get this thing in gear without torqueing the gear box off? So after a while of looking the motor over I decided to pull a trick and move the throttle up and down very fast from 5000rpm to ideal opposition in neutral. It worked as the motor could not respond to the quick throttle movement and sputtered on the low end down to about 1200 RPM. At that point I slammed it into gear and I was on my way back. Got to the ramp and did the same thing to get it trailered. People there must have thought I was crazy.
I got home and put the boat away and got on the internet to see if I could figure out what caused this. Read a thread on one of the Merc forums that said if you are running rough water check your Idle Air control (IAC) valve sensing line. Got up the next morning and went straights to the IAC on the motor. Low and behold there it was, the sensing line off the IAC. The rough water from all the wake boats had knocked off the line. Reconnected it and the boat idled as beautifully as before.
Just wanted to share my story. And if you own a wake boat, think of some choice bad words and that is what I'm saying to you. You run the lake at everybody else's expense.
Oh yeah.....I caught a five pound largie below the dam and a 10 lb Bowfin that I did not let get in the boat with me.
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