My partner and I were fishing a small tournament at A. J. Jolly Lake in Campbell County KY and decided to fish close to the ramp for the last hour. The ramp was moderately busy, meaning there were 2-3 vehicles in line waiting to pull out. My partner noticed this one guy backing his truck and trailer up to the dirt bank off of the parking lot. The bank has a 45 degree angle with approximately a 5 ft drop to the waters edge.
“What is this guy trying to do?” I ask my partner.
To our amazement, a 16 ft fiberglass boat heads toward the shore where the trailer is at about 10-15 mph clip and runs the boat up the bank! He is revving the engine up and trying to push the bow up the bank. Meanwhile the guys in the truck, remember him, is pulling out the loading winch strap and sliding down the mud bank to the bow of the boat.
“Surely they aren’t going to try to trailer their boat up the mud bank” I say in disbelief.
“Looks that way, don’t it” my partner exclaims.
“Should we offer our help” I say and move over closer the bank.
My partner tells them there is no way they are going get that boat on the trailer and up that bank. They shout back, “We do it this way all the time, mind your own business.” OK! Now I’ve seen many things at a ramp before but this takes the cake. The ramp is no more than 50ft away and traffic is moving at a decent clip. We decide to watch this dog and pony show for a while, this was definitely more interesting than the fishing was that day.
The bow of the boat is about half way up the bank and the trailer is at the top and both of these guys are covered in mud up to their waists. They hook the strap up to the bow tie on the boat and crank it up as far as they can. I have the cell phone out ready to call an ambulance in case the strap breaks or bow tie comes off and decapitates one of these characters. At this point they decide they can’t crank it anymore and are just standing there scratching their heads. Suddenly, it was as if a little light bulb appeared above the head of the driver. He jumps in the truck and says they are going to use the truck to pull it up the bank. He engages the 4 wheel drive and with gravel flying they start to pull the boat up the bank, the other guy is throwing water up on the bank to make it easier to slide the boat. To our amazement, the boat starts to move up the bank, onto the grass and finally onto and half way across the gravel parking lot. I still can’t believe that the strap or bow tie has not snapped!
Now they back the trailer up to the boat and take up the slack strap and force the ends to the trailer beds under the boat and start cranking it up the trailer. 15 minutes later, with a lot of lifting, pushing and pulling they finally succeed to get the boat on the trailer. The guy who told us to mind our own business walks over to the bank, flips us his IQ and shouts;
“See I told you we knew how to do it.”
They jump in the truck and roar off into the sunset, gravel flying, indignant in their conquest.
It just goes to show you; you never stop learning when fishing, whether it’s new fishing or trailering methods.
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