My 3rd day up north on my annual fall big bass hunt did not go quite as planned…
After the very slow start on Mullett with no definite move to the shallows despite warm sun, I decided to try something different. Forgot to mention yesterday that I ended up trading cameraguy as a room mate for 2 roomies – genie and Brett decided it was too late to drive home to the GR area after trying all day to sample the ‘awesome’ fishing someone may or may not have led them to believe they could enjoy.
We all konked out fairly early, but they did not bother to wake me real early Saturday morning. Which was nice!
I thought the conditions would be pretty good for the north end of Black Lake. bender called to say he and Langer were at the north end of Burt and it was pretty calm.
Of course, bender is not IÂ so I was not surprised to find as I exited the Black River, a fairly stiff SE breeze blowing right into the NW corner of the lake. Still, I thought that might actually turn the clear water skittish smallies into biters…
Yeah right. That assumes the smallies are there in the first place. I made several controlled drifts across deep flats looking for smallmouth bass with eyes and lures to no avail. The wind kept kicking up and shortly, I had waves coming over the nose of the boat now and then whenever I turned into the wind.
Nothing! Nada! Nix! Nill! It might has well been a bath tub. A really churned up bath tub. So, after only a couple hours, I bid adieu to Black Lake.
I decided to try a small lake I’ve never been on and have heard very mixed reviews on… just to be different and because I bore easily. Once I found the ramp, I saw that there were even 1-foot waves on this small, narrow lake.
The upper ramp was kind of steep, but the actual under water ramp was a little flat, so I had a little difficulty between that and the stiff breeze, getting my Ranger off the Ranger Trail. I parked it in the sand and hopped into the truck to pull out.
Simple idea in principal, but no such luck. I could not get my truck out of park. The automatic shifter would not move. What the …? I thought possibly I had too much weight on the gears to come out of park? So I put the boat back ont the trailer (I had it just deep enough to crank it on) and than I gave the truck a push with the big motor to see if that would take pressure off gears enough to move the shift arm.
No luck. I’m stuck. Can’t move. Blocking a tiny ramp in the backwoods. I check my owner’s manual for clues. I notice the ABS light is flashing. There’s a fuse for that, but the one I looked at was okay.
Besides, how could a fuse keep my gears from shifting, right? I look at the linkage under the dash. Nothing seem amiss. I finally give up and call for help. I find Tim from Cheboygan Towing (231-627-5227) and he turns out to be a very good choice. He tries to get weight off my gears too with a chain, but I still can’t shift.
So he climbs underneath while I have the parking brake and foot pedal depressed. He manually shifts me into drive (talk about trust!! – he’s laying right behind my front tire). I’m then able to drive up the ramp into the parking area (of course, shortly before he gets there, two trailers show up wanting to launch). At least now I’m out of their way.
We discuss options. I can drive somewhere, but if I turn off my engine, I can’t restart it because I’m in drive. I can’t shift between gears manually by myself. He can tow me to Lansing for a ton of money. He actually offers.
Then he suggests mobile repair because nothing is open on Saturday afternoon up here. Tim proceeds to make a bunch of calls, but things are not going well. Everyone is out of the area, closed or not responding. We find one mobile place in Gaylord that says they can fix it. ‘Probably a bad shift cable,’ he says. They can travel up for a bunch of money, or I can drive down to Gaylord. I’m a little leery about driving too much like this.
Tim then lucks out finding a local repair person they use who just happens to stop by his shop when he calls. He says he’ll look at it if I drive over then. He’s only about 2 miles from my motel!!
Then (this is very nice) Tim says he’ll lead me over there in case I have any problems and to make sure I find the place okay! Wow! Talk about friendly!! I show up at Jay’s Auto Service on the west side of Cheboygan on Stoney Pt Rd just off US-23. Jay comes out with a printout he pulled down. Says my brake lights are out. He’ll be right back. He walks over with a regular 15 amp fuse and 1 minute later I can shift normally again!! If you’re ever in the Cheboygan area and need help, check out Jay’s ASE certified auto service – I recommend him (231-627-1100).
That’s it!! A tiny, regular 15 amp fuse!! A blown fuse keeps me from being able to shift my gears. I could have been all set in two minutes myself if I had knew that was possible!!!!! Amazing that a half ounce piece of plastic and metal can keep a 6,000 pound vehicle from moving!
Live and learn. The whole deal, tow and all the help between Tim and Jay costs me $75 instead of the hundreds I expected. I do lose most of the afternoon because of the time it took to get to the ramp; Track down someone who could help; and drive over to get the help. So not much fishing today, but I can stay my last day and I can still get out fishing tomorrow. There’s still hope… and somewhere there’s a bunch more TOAD smallies weighting to be caught!!
I did get one more productive thing out of my day. I stopped by to check out the brand spankin’ new MDNR ramp on the Cheboygan River.
Talk about a gem! The Forks public access site is long and narrow, with parking for over 70 rigs of all sizes, the ramp is just north of the Black River confluence on the far south end of Cheboygan with deep, wide concrete ramps for 3 to 4 boats launching at a time. There’s several handicapped parking spots by the ramps. Two large docks. A walkway down from the long upper parking area. Everything a ramp needs to put a bunch of boats on the river not too far from Mullett Lake.
There were only two rigs in the lot when I visited. Here’s a shot of the long, black top parking lot.
