Motor Fishing

[Bait O' Eggs]

I was talking to Gizmo tonight planning our shad fishing day tomorrow when Giz tells me his buddy lost his 8hp trolling motor today.

As the short story goes, it was not on the boat real tight and he hit a log which picked the motor up off the back of the boat and it went, ker--plunk. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] This is a 3 year old 8 hp motor. It is in 17 feet of fairly fast moving water. Or so it was, when it was last seen. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

We are taking the underwater camera and going to see if we can find it tomorrow. Does anybody have any ideas on how to get a line on it.

I am gonna make a big grappling hook in the morning before we go. I think if we can even find it, getting a hold of it will be very difficult. I might throw the smelt net in, I think it extends to about 18 feet or so. I think the ticket might be to get something on the prop end, since the motor end has little to get ahold of.

I checked the regs, and didnt see any limits on quantity or method of catching motors. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Throw out some ideas, I will let you know if we bag it tomorrow.

[ 05-27-2001: Message edited by: Bait O' Eggs ]

[David Johnson]

How long can you hold your breath? [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[boater]

not insured ??

[boater]

i`d get 2 10 foot peices of 1 1/2' plastic pvc pipe, glue them together with a coupler, get about 50 feet of good rope, tie a small loop on one end, run the other end thru it and make about a 2 foot circle, run the other end thru the pipe, when the not on the loop is to the end of the pipe, take a rag and jam the knot into the end of the pipe, now find the motor, hook the loop around anything you can get ahold of, pull the rope and sinch it down, have someone hold tension on the end of the rope as you slide the pipe up the rope until you can grab the rope below the pipe, pull the motor up, look at it and say, wow, that was easy.

[fatfish]

Safety chain??? I guess I'm the only one still doing this.

I would try some type of grappling hook. Anchor up and work the boat down stream slowing letting out more anchor line as you use the hook. The motor will probably be further downstream than you think. You may want to think about weigting the hook so that it stays on the bottom. Best of luck and lots of patience. Oh yes, make sure it's fin clipped. [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[smilesforu]

If you can't locate it with the camera you could try using a super magnet bounced along until you hit the motor then break out the hook. The magnet probably won't pull the motor up but you should be able to find it. Put the weight behind the hook just like a snagging treble so it doesn't get in the way while dragging. If your terrible at throwing the grappler put it no a ring so you can slide it down the line and jig on the magnet line.

[MetalHead]

Use a Diver (scuba) with a lift bag and a tagline. If you can locate it with the underwater camera.