I got out early this morning but still didn't beat Mr. rsimms and friends to the fishing grounds. It was windy and cold, but that didn't keep him from putting his friend onto a GIANT catfish!! I'm sure he'll post it - it is his new boat record!! Congrats emoWorthy emoWorthy emoWorthy <br /><br />I didn't have quite the same luck. I stuck one blue cat that would have tipped the scales at, um, maybe 3 pounds if it had a mouthful of water. Instead, I fought the trolling motor which decided to quit (a result of yesterday's mishap), the sonar which has had an intermittent fault in a wire connector for some time and finally quit for good, and a too-light anchor for the windy conditions in addition to the current. Not one of my most relaxing trips, as you may well suspect. I quit by probably 9 AM and went to the house.<br /><br />Soooo - I spent the rest of the day working on the boat. I worked on the trolling motor and now it seems to be OK if I don't push it on high speed. It shuts itself off internally under heavy load. Not sure what that problem is all about or if it is fixable. I also sealed the motor where I did the grind job on it with the roadway yesterday. I ran a new pair of wires directly from the batteries to the H-bird and put in a new in-line fuse. Still didn't work. POOP. After testing everything, I found that one of the NEW wires that I ran had a short in it somewhere! I re-ran another wire (not a fun job) and the problem was solved. In addition, the voltage to the sonar went from 11.9 to 12.5 with the direct wiring. I also took care of a number of small projects on the boat that have been put off for too long. Now I just need to get the boat out again and see what the next, um, adventure will be…<br /><br />Today's pic is rsimms and friends during the big fight.<br />