Flying Layout Boat!!

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Dave Williams

Member
Thought I'd share a little story. After a frustrating, tired, long day chasing Cans with both layout boats and scull boats, I was driving home towing my Jon boat with the layout boat inside it, with a buddy following me. Now mind you, I built this layout boat with my hands, and have traveled with it in this manner for the last 4 years, no problems. Well, eventually problems occur I guess, because as I was driving I noticed a flash of movement in the rearview mirror, only to see my layout boat flying through the air like a paper plate!!! Well not long after, my hand made Canvasback decoys (which were under the layout) followed. Well the layout hit the pavement, bounced a few times then skidded to a stop off the side of the road. The Cans hit, and exploded out of the 12 slot bag, scattering everywhere from one side of the road to the other. Thankfully, there was no one really close behind me, so I immediately pulled a u-turn and headed back, flashing my lights to oncoming traffic. Apparently the mass debris in the road, or the flashing headlights meant nothing to a guy in a minivan who just absolutely pulvarized one of my Cans! Well, my buddy came rolling up and we got traffic controlled, gathered everything up and tied some things down and motored on. After all of that, I only had about 4 inches of severe damage to the edge of my layout, and only lost one Can, everything else was just surface damage that sandpaper and paint can fix. Even after a frustrating day hunting, all I could do was laugh the rest of the way home!!

Dave
 
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Did you have the layout tied down? I transport mine the same way & have it tied down at the bow & over the back just behind the cockpit.
A buddy of mine had a bag of decoys blow out going down the interstate. By time he got to the next exit, turned around & came back, they were gone! Plastics,
not handcarved corks but still quite painful on the wallet.
 
About 10 years ago, riding with a couple of buddies and the decoys blew out on the way to Bayou Meto near Stuttgart. Didn't realize it in the dark until we got to the ramp. We asked where were his decoys, had he forgotten to load them? Nope! We went hunting anyway. Pulled into our hole in the timber, got out and just kicked water. Had one of the best days we have ever had in that zoo. on the way back through Little Rock, we saw all his decoys smashed up and scattered all over the intersate. Nothing left but recyclable plastic. Still give him a hard time about that and ask if he loaded the decoys right every time we go with him.
 
Trip, I used to live in Memphis and hunt around Jonesboro with a friend. There is one particular curve known as "Decoy Corner" because of the propensity for unsecured decoys and/or decoy bags to fly out of boats and land in the ditch...the curve kinda snuck up on you and was sharper than you thought. I never lost any there, but it wasn't uncommon to see a mangled Flambeau every now and again...

Oh, and hey, how'd you do? Was out on the river Sunday...saw maybe 50-60 birds, but it was all ones and twos...no big flocks of anything. I figure the full moon and bright sun had things pretty screwed up...they were probably rafted up on Maumelle or Conway. Today it's cloudy, cold, and some wind...perfect bluebill/goldeneye weather, and I'm in the office!
 
I'm stuck looking out at it too and wishing. We hunted the AR River and got two bluebills, a GWT and a gadwall on Saturday. Saw lotsssss of pintails on the river. None worked. Got tow gadwalls and a hooded merg on Sunday that I thought was a woody in the early AM light. Bounced him of the ice next to shore. Kids thought that was funny.

Had to rescue a boat that had stranded out in the main channel with the wind on Sunday. We had 2'-3' rollers on this reach and he was in trouble in a 17' boat with 90hp Yamaha. He lost his life jacket while he was working on his motor and it was 50 yds from him. We fetched that for him and were ready to tow him in when he got it fired up. Followed him in to make sure he was ok. Had sucked water into carbs (i don't recall how he said that he did that!) and then took water over the stern. Was sitting low. He had pulled the plugs and blown the water out. He was just putting the plugs back in when we came along. Could have ended similar to how Frank Esry died on the river in Little Rock on New Years eve. Messing with the motor with no life jacket and went over the back. Moral of the story, have tools on the big water and wear that life jacket!
 
I know this river doesn't "seem" big, but it's just as deadly as any other, especially on a day that starts out at 17 degrees. That's why I get really methodical when I hunt alone.

I actually got a longline hung in my prop trying to pick up lines on Sunday by myself. Motored up between the end of two lines, trying to get the upwind, missed it, and didn't notice I was into the downwind anchor line when I tried to manuver. I know you're wondering why I would go upwind first, but it was actually down-current from the other. Can't explain very well, but with the situation I had, it seemed like the logical grab.

Thankfully, I was 15-20 yards from shore, and wind was blowing back towards the shore. The sandbar shelved up almost immediately to wadable depth, and I hopped out and unwrapped, but there was that, "aw, shit" moment when the motor stopped.

Congrats on your kill...good stuff. Those hoodies can fool ya...I keep hoping to see a big common merganser or two this late in the season on the river, but so far, no joy.

I did see some puddle ducks using the channel on Sunday...looked like mostly gadwall and a few mallards.
 
Dave

Laugh? You are a far better sport than me. Were it me a whole rainbow of expletives would have come from my mouth. Glad the damage was minimal.
 
I know how you feel. I was going down the highway late one night and looked into the rearview just in time to see the bow of the boat rear up and go off the trailer. We drove through the median strip and u-turned back to the scene as quick as possible. We always keep our motors unlocked. When it hit the road the motor flipped up and locked it the raised position. We dragged the boat the rest of the way onto the shoulder and I ran back to grab the bag of decoys and life jackets that had also come out just in time to have the road clear for the next cars coming. The only real damage was a dime sized chip in the motor's skeg and the decoy bag was kind of shredded. I never figured out exactly how it spit the winch hook out but the trailer has a safety chain now!
 
Dave

Laugh? You are a far better sport than me. Were it me a whole rainbow of expletives would have come from my mouth. Glad the damage was minimal.
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Yes, but an anal retentive engineer-type would be cussing the ropes/bungees/straps (no way he wouldn't have tied it down) and mentally going through the math: tensile strength, wind shear, coefficients of friction, elasticity (for the "bounce" on the road!), etc.!!!
 
Sorry to hear about the mishap. I just got back in from the frozen tundra of AK after three days of ice skating. I guess I will head out this weekend with my layout in tow and some dekes for yet another frustrating AL closer. My buddy Russell said he saw you on the lake this last weekend with the skull boat. Did you do any good? Sounds like probably not. I think Russell works with a friend of yours.
 
Sorry to hear about the mishap. I just got back in from the frozen tundra of AK after three days of ice skating. I guess I will head out this weekend with my layout in tow and some dekes for yet another frustrating AL closer. My buddy Russell said he saw you on the lake this last weekend with the skull boat. Did you do any good? Sounds like probably not. I think Russell works with a friend of yours.
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Hockey? I don't remember any Alabama teams up here this month, but then I sometimes don't pay attention either. OR you could be refering to our wonderfull street conditions.
 

Yes, but an anal retentive engineer-type would be cussing the ropes/bungees/straps (no way he wouldn't have tied it down) and mentally going through the math: tensile strength, wind shear, coefficients of friction, elasticity (for the "bounce" on the road!), etc.!!! Ok, but whats your point? Both me and my hunting partner are anal retentive engineers. Takes a while to unload cause we have to untie everything.
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Yes, but an anal retentive engineer-type would be cussing the ropes/bungees/straps (no way he wouldn't have tied it down) and mentally going through the math: tensile strength, wind shear, coefficients of friction, elasticity (for the "bounce" on the road!), etc.!!! Ok, but whats your point? Both me and my hunting partner are anal retentive engineers. Takes a while to unload cause we have to untie everything.
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It was a shot at Eric, you may now un-bunch your panties. <insert smiley here>
 
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Dave, I had a similar experience several years back except it was the fault of some @##$!**** bozo on the wrong side of the road that forced me onto the shoulder. I was in NW Wisc on my way to a long weekend of hunting and here comes this red Ford at me in my lane. I swerved onto the shoulder and back onto the road behind him. In the process the trailer with my Broadbill swung out to the right and hit a road sign. Then the winch strap and the safety chain broke and boat and motor became airborne. Punched a hole in the boat with the sign and when it hit the ground the motor was pushed up off the transom and broke the tiller off. Two weeks later the whole rig was back in service only a few patches showing. These boats are tougher than boiled owls. The good news is no one was hurt and my truck was not touched. Also it is a good thing the other driver kept going or I probably would be in prison. Glad to hear that yours turned out OK too. Good Luck.
 
Sorry about that chief. I suspect all of us have stories of great woe having to do with towing our rigs down the highway. Glad it wasn't worse.
Best,
Harry
 
well i was the friend following dave haulin my barge with a layout inside it along with daves scull boat,,,, someone asked the question,,,did he have it tied down??? well we asked him before we left if he was gona tie it down...well,,and i quote"i never have tied it down before" lol,,,its ok,,,he blamed me for this bad luck due to this season,.... ive had more bad luck then ducks killed
 
Reminds me of a similar story that happened to me about 30 years ago. Two buddies and I were going to go trout fishing in Cape Cod on opening day. We had two canoes tied to racks of the pick-up. I was sitting shotgun going down a road about 40mph when I noticed out of the corner of my eye one of the canoes flying off the truck. I gave out a quick yell and the driver slammed on the brakes and the next thing you see is the canoe passing the truck up at about 30mph and broad siding a tree 25 yards ahead of us. We just look at each other for a second then burst out laughing we couldn't believe what we just saw. Lucky for us the canoe that flew off was made out some type of poly and had little damage.
 
Please, god, don't let him say it.
Dave, it wasn't a UFO layout, was it?
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Eric,
I can't say that my immediate reaction was as laid back as after we picked everything up off the road, the cab of the truck wouldn't have been a place for kids att he time, but in the end...well....what else can you do?

LOL, no Bill, it wasn't a UFO, but it could have been mistaken for one there for a minute.

Todd,
We actually did very well with the sculls this year, but not that particualr day, bad luck and too many boats. Of course, that what you get for trying to scull on weekends.

Dave
 
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