North Australian FISH FINDER TM forums

My worst trip ever !
Last winter I decided to go Jew fishing at night.
Hadn't used the boat for a while, so I made sure she started before I left home.
Got to the boat ramp on the Hunter River before dark and put the boat in, no-one else at the ramp.
Jumped in the boat and pushed out from the ramp, started up and left her idling while I got ready.
Tide was running out, so I drifted about 100 metres while getting organized.
Went to put her in gear, and the shift lever would not move. Oh no ! Threw the anchor out pronto.
Thought maybe the gear cable was seized, so I disconnected the cable at the motor with my tool kit.
The gearbox was seized, wouldn't shift from neutral at all. What to do next? I thought maybe I could throw the anchor towards the ramp and pull the rope in moving the boat towards the ramp, then keep doing that. After about an hour of throwing the anchor out and retrieving it I realized I was getting nowhere. The tide was moving me further from the ramp every time I pulled up and threw it out again. What next?
Took the anchor and chain off and with the anchor rope in hand, dived in and swam for shore.
Made it to the shore ok where the mangroves meet the mud. The mud was so deep I couldn't even walk.
Crawled through the mud for about 100 metres on my belly. Cut my hand badly on a sharp oyster shell.
The blood was actually squirting out, so I tore a strip off my T-shirt and bandaged my hand up.
Eventually made it to the ramp with the boat in tow. Got the ute and loaded the boat back on the trailer.
On the way home I got a flat tyre on the boat trailer, fortunately had a spare, so managed to change it!
Got home 7 hours after leaving, covered in mud and blood, hadn't even wet a line !
Anyone had a worse day than that ?

Excellent story, haha. Having to swim to shore and crawl through mud is every Territorian's nightmare scenario. Not so bad on the Hunter, but still bad.

Mine was a solo trip to East Alligator River to do some work for the FISH FINDER book.
On the way out I saw a car full of traditional owners on the side of the road near the Adelaide River bridge, they had broken down. It was a stinking hot day.
I pulled up and tried to get their car started with my battery. They said they had been there hours and no one had stopped to help. They had been to a footy event.
Their car obviously wasn't going to start but they wanted to keep trying, I had to force the point so I didn't flatten my battery.
They had mobile phones but they were all flat.
I could JUST get mobile reception on my phone but they couldn't give me a phone number for any rellies to come and help them.
So I started trying to call them a tow and it was difficult because the phone reception was bad. I eventually managed to get someone but I don't think the tow person understood the whole message, I said I was helping people who had broken down and asked if they could come out, and that it was near the Adelaide River bridge.
I heard a confirmation that the tow mob were on the way so I said goodbye to the footy crew and headed off to the East.
On the way home I drove too fast and my GQ blew a head gasket, so I had to call a tow truck.
The tow bioke arrived and put the car and trailer on. I hopped in the tow truck cabin for the trip back.
"How was your weekend?" I asked.
"SH.T!" the tow bloke said.
"Someone called me for a tow and I when I arrived there was a car full of traditional owners, and none of them had any money!"
I quickly changed the subject to barramundi fishing.
Apparently he had towed them out of trouble, so all ended well there.
My GQ was stuffed, sent it to the wreckers, it did 650,000km+ including two trips across northern Australia.
Bought another GQ that is still going strong.

Great yarn! We had a 15hr trip back from the mini mini in limp mode once