Fishing Opener in Minnesota, or Teach Your Wife to Drive the Boat!!!

As well as owning Rush Point Realty LLC, my husband and I own the Rush Point Store LLC, a local convenience store, bait and tackle shop located on the southern side of West Rush Lake.  We have owned the store for eleven years now, and for some reason, fishing opener still brings us some of the best laughs, groans, and new stories to share through the year.  This year we heard one to top the list!  A friend and customer who has been in the water patrol for over 20 years stopped in and we were comparing opener mishaps.  Another deputy had been on local Lindstrom Lake a couple of years back, doing his thing at the public access, when he sights a boat coming in way to low in the water, full of guys.  He's thinking there must be trouble, leaking, something wrong, when the tongue of the trailer begins to appear as they approach the landing!  Seems the missed the important detail of unstrapping the boat from the trailer when launching, and proceeded on their way!!!!  The bouyancy of the tires must have been on their side, or they would have never made it back!

Each year we have someone dump their boat onto the concrete when in their haste to hit water, they loosen the boat from the trailer, and let it slide off before backing to the lake.  Some let it gently glide as the tilt is engaged, some just unceremoniously  dump it.  For some reason, people think boating is a genetically programmed skill if you are from this area!  One poor lady was seated in the hubbies boat as he pushed it off the trailer.  Sad thing when she was set adrift not knowing how to turn it on!  As he screamed and yelled for her to drive it back, she finally engaged it, only to speed back at shore at full throttle!  Not pretty for that prop! 

Another co-worker (who shall remain unnamed!)  brought his beautiful baby schnauzer out for the first time.  Excited the dog jumped in chasing waves.  Afraid the puppy might drown, the gentleman jumped in to save him, leaving the wife, who had never driven the boat, in charge.  After a couple of close calls with her husbands body and a couple of boats, she managed to turn it off and wait while he swam with the clawing and biting dog back to relative safety!