The next day we contacted Colleen and the price she offered for not leaving the dock was just a few bucks more than the Hotel in Angels Camp. It also saved us an hours drive so we thought it was worth it. I inquired about the arrival, and was told that she got there around 7:30 in the morning and would accommodate us. That was cool. Except that little cloud that forms over my head was beginning to thicken.
So on Thursday we head up to Pedro, stopping at the self serve car wash in Escalon. Easy in and out pull through. The trailer has never had a bath and I thought it was time. $2.00 later it looked new again. Too bad there's not a closer one near Rivers End. On we go arriving at the Kiosk, pay the fee (which is additional to the houseboat fees). On the way to the Marina is a parking area they call the cul de sac. We disconnect the boat there and drive down to the Marina to unload. Its now 8:00 and the cloud is beginning to thicken. Our boat is not ready. (now there's a surprise
) We wait about 2 hrs and the boat is now ready. No complaints mind you as check in time is 3 pm, so it was nice of them to allow us early access. Having never rented one before we didn't know what to expect. Well, I can tell you its not for seniors with bladder issues 
as there are no 2 sides to get in and out of the bed. One side is a wall. Better not be claustrophobic either You have to crawl over your partner to use the facilities in the middle of the night. Oh yeah, and better not clog the head water closet as it'll cost you $80.00 to unclog it. The rest room facilities are unlocked by the cafe and are well lighted. So for the first time in 50 years the wife and I slept in separate bedrooms. Oh yeah! The beds are for people like Shaq. There is 1 step stool but you'd better bring a ladder as the bed is almost 4 ft off the floor.. We were also instructed not to touch any of the helm switches, so the interior cabin lights remained on all night as we could not find the switch to turn them off. It had a TCL Roku TV with remote. Problem.....remote has no volume switch. The volume was so low on the TV that I tried for an hour to figure out how to increase the volume I gave up. Got out the lap top and started streaming.So I got a little ahead of my self with the houseboat, but after we settled we drove back up the hill to the cul de sac hooked up the boat and launched. So we decided to fish Big Creek and Middle Bay. Up tight to bank and the whopper plopper was still working. First fish came around 20 minutes and was a 2 lb larry. Next fish was a clone. Decided to fish a sunken Island in 20 -30 ft of water. Fish were all over the top but couldn't get em to bite. Was really honing in on using and adjusting the active target. Can't wait to get a revolution sonar device to maintain fish contact. Another good day. 11-12 lbs. Back to the houseboat about 4 pm. There was room to pull along side the houseboats power so the cable wouldn't touch the water. Very convenient.
Day 2
Fished Graveyard, Rogers and Fleming. Bunch of fish in Fleming. Bunch of bait in Rodgers, but not a lot of bass. weight s down today. Needed to get gas, so wife drops me off at the marina, I drive to the top of the hill and pick up the trailer. Wait! WTH is this red tag. It says this is not a trailer parking area. Now mind you there is no one, I mean no one parked in that area except my trailer. I hook it up and head to the ramp. At the top of the ramp I see one of the staff trucks and ask if he put this on my trailer. He affirmed he did. I told him the Marina staff said I could leave it there. He told me he would get in trouble his boss the Ranger (don't think I've ever seen a "Ranger" there) if he came through and saw it wasn't tagged. He told me no worries, if the Marina staff was OK with it he was too. I told him I'd park it in the trailer lot tonight as the Tournament was the next day. He said that was OK. (there'll be more on this fiasco later)
Tournament day.
Up at 3:30, breakfast burrito and OJ and coffee. Now here's what makes my wife so special. She drives the Ranger over to the ramp while I drive to the trailer parking area hook up the trailer and head to the ramp. She drives the boat onto the trailer. (the day before we spent about an hour teaching her how to back the trailer down the rampo....not successfully mind you.
) Hook up and get in line, where I meet with John. Load the boat and off we go. The wife and the dog walk the shoreline to the Marina and houseboat. There was a poignant moment when prior to blast off there was a moment of silence for Charlie Kirk. First time I've heard all boat motors turned off. It was silent. Gave you chills. Then a prayer and off we go. Where are John and I 4 boats from last. We go up to Mocassin Creek, but I stop way too soon from where I knew the fish were. I catch a 12 incher on the plopper, John boats a nice spot on a shakey head, then John boats another . About 11 am the magic hour arrives and the plopper fish too. (Mind you I never put together the shakey head and underwater Island I found the day before) What a dummy. This was my first time fishing with John and I had a good time. On one of the spots we saw an IKON boat. John gave the guys a shout and low and behold it was Angelo and Josh. Yes my old partner bought a new Ikon boat put a Merc 300 R on the back. Was a beautiful boat. (Must have used all those winnings from the monday night circuit
Anyway we weighed in a small limit good enough for 29th place.
One other thing worth mentioning was Howard's remembrance of Charlie Kirk at the awards. It was eloquent and amongst those of us left at the awards you could tell we were grateful he brought it up. Thanks Howard.
After the awards, I launch the wifey and off to the "trailer parking area". Drop the trailer and the drive down to the marina where there is no parking on the lower level. Parking on an upper dirt level was the only choice. After 2 hrs we decide to go to diner. Now the same guy is at the Kiosk that was there the day before and took my money for both days. The Roush has BIG LETTERS that say ROUSH on the sides of the truck. He waves us through. After eating, we return, its now after 8pm and he's still at the Kiosk collecting money. I show him the receipt and he tells me OK, but the receipt is only good until midnight, so when I leave in the morning I have to pay for that day too.
WTH is he talking about? But I tell him OK and away we go. We decide to pack up most of the stuff tonight and when we get back there is one parking place on the lower level. While parking I place 2 sleeping bags we brought in case of no linens on the roof of the cab and proceed to load. The wifey and I are confused about the extra room, but I back the Roush into a parking space and walk away locking the truck. Ar 3:30 in the morning I wake up knowing that the sleeping bags must have fallen ogg the truck and maybe there still there. Wellk this wakes the wife and dog up too. I trudge down to the truck and low and behold there they are on top of the truck right where I left them. But as I'm walking to the truck there is a sketchy guy fishing from the dock behing the "locked " gate. This guys says he just got there as I inquire about catches. AS I'm loading the bags into the truck, he leaves. There were also folks fishing at the gas docks and t boats next to them. Pretty sketchy. So we pack up the rest of the stuff and as we're heading to the truck out of the darkness I see a dark thing on the dock as I pass it I notice its dog poop (not from my dog) and I tell the wife to look out.......to late squish. I'm thinking the perfect way to end this trip. All loaded up, she goes back to drive the boat back around to the ramp as I go to pick up the trailer. When I get to the trailer there is another red tag on it that says I need a green tag from the kiosk in order to park there. WHAT? These folks have no idea what they're doing. I picked up the wife and boat and cruised past the Kiosk at 4:30 am headed home to rest my brain. TL
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