# A Great Day?



## trackerputnam (Dec 21, 2014)

I was sitting on the couch, starring at some show about gold on the TV when my daughter came downstairs and layed on the couch next to me. "What you watchin?" She asked! "I am not really watching it" I said! "I was thinking about todays trip on the boat. " I wonder if I made the right decisions?"

I love waking up in the morning in some marinas parking lot and meeting new people who have come to try tuna fishing. Some I have never met and have only talked to on the phone, or exchanged messages with on the net. Some come with friends who have been with me before. But all excited about the coming day. Anticipation is always high.

As I park the truck and trailer back in the lot after launching the boat, I begin to think of all the things that need to be done to get the day started. I always ask my daughter the same question as I get back to the boat, "Did they start?" She has become a great asset on the boat and has the engines going and often the electrnics on. Some of the crew are doing other things to get ready to push off the dock. 

The bait dock is next and I always like to make a great approach, but that is not always the case. Its my first chance to make a good impression though, and I always try my best. Its fun watching the bait being scooped and brought to the boat. So much anticipation goes along with the bait as it is dumped in the tank. "Good luck" the bait guy calls as you push off and head out of the harbor.

The port motor cuts out a couple of times as I power up, but starts right back up and I keep going on out. Its a bit concerning, but I decide to keep going. The bar is still flat and it is an easy ride out across it. The weather man is wrong again and we are fighting more confused water than I want to be doing today! I hope it is just the influence of the river and keep hoping it will get better. But it doesn't. 

There goes the port motor again, but this time it will not start back up. The boat is getting tossed around pretty good now as we try to check a few things with the motor. Wether stress or just an inherent lack in my genes, I am not up to checking some of the wiring in the cabin. Certain debilatating seasickness awaits me there. 

After some talk of continuing on with just one motor I decide it is best to head back in and check things at the dock. But now the bar is starting to rock and roll as the ebb gets going. We bring the "ditch bag" up out of the cabin to the deck incase this all goes bad. It had for one boat this summer coming in on one motor, and because of them I feel more prepared. 

I call the coast guard and let them know of my intentions as we head in. They lauch a 47 lifeboat to come out and meet us. We decide not to dump the nearly 500lbs of ice on the boat because we are a optimistic crew and intend to come back out once the problem is fixed. The throttle comes up and towards an angry bar we head. 

The 47 blows by us and hour later heading towards where we had been. They saw us but did not think a boat moving that fast could be a boat in distress. Its nice having a motor that can push you like that when its neighbor is not helping. 

The 47 finaly catches back up with us as we enter the channel out of the river. At full power against the ebb flow it felt like we had hardly been moving. In the channel it is better. We standby as the 47 comes alongside to board a couple guys to do our safety inspection. They ride back to the dock with us as we show them our "wares" and the paperwork is done. They both know my daughters cheer coach and her husband who was just transfered to Seattle. Its a small world. Thanks to Tony and the Sherriff!

Its just a small connector that has come loose in the pounding we were taking, and is quickly fixed in the calm of the harbor. So back out we go. Back across ground we have already covered. Reports come in from boats that have already filled their boats and are heading in. It gives us hope that there may still be some left for us, but it is not to be. 

We bring two blue sharks to the boat but that will be the extent of it for us this day. We have tuna on the screen below us but cannot get them to bite. The guys work the heck out of the jigs. We toss lots of bait trying to get them going but it is not to be for us this day! 

Back in the parking lot we talk about the day and shake hands before heading home. Its an empty feeling for me not having fish for the guys to take home. But their smiles do not show this same concern. We talk about the next time and then go our separate ways. I get a text thanking me again for a great day and I wonder about a crews sanity when the results were not what I would call a great day. But it does comfort me some. 

More arguing is caught on filming than gold retrieved in the show I am watching later that night. My daughter is curled up next to me on the couch, like she used to do when she was younger. And as she fades away to sleep she thanks me for a "great day"! A GREAT DAY? I wake her later as I turn the TV off, and get her headed to bed. I can no longer carry her like I used to. And as I fade to sleep, I to thank God for another great day he has allowed me to have!


----------



## lunkerhunter2 (Nov 3, 2007)

Sounds like a great day to me. You made it home alive with people you love. And had an adventure in the process.


----------



## longbow (Mar 31, 2009)

Ya, those days can happen. Sounds like your clients were pretty good about it too. I stress over showing visitors a good time too.
You know what they say "A bad day of fishing is better than a good day at work!"


----------



## trackerputnam (Dec 21, 2014)

Not clients, but friends and family! The power of the net fills empty seats now and then when I have them.


----------



## LOAH (Sep 29, 2007)

It's all about the attitude! Good on ya.


----------

