This was my 3rd trip to Central Washington this spring, from west of Seattle. For the past 2-3 years I have been organizing a group of 4-6 friends with 4 boats, to spend a couple long weekends fishing for walleye in both the fall and spring, in the Moses Lake/Potholes area. Both previous trips ended with motor problems for me, both electric and gas. This time I had a new Minn Kota 50 lb thrust and another 15 hp motor (1974), so I was set.

We took off from the public launch at the west end of Linde Coulee around noon and headed to Medicare Beach. Tony and Linda trolled out of his 14' AlumaCraft and I fished out of my 12' Hi-Laker, sometimes with 2 poles. We fished maybe 3 segments of that shoreline all the way up to the mouth of Crabbe Creek without a bite between us. There had been a nice chop with a mix of blue sky and large clouds. The weather seemed perfect, but nothing.

The plan was to get back up Crabbe Creek, but when we got there the wind died almost completely and extra strength bug spray did nothing. The stuff that was on my arms only served to have bugs stick to them. Wherever water puddled on the edges of my boat, bugs were drowning en-mass. After maybe 20 minutes, with no fish bites and fighting to keep the bugs out of our mouths, ears and noses, we fled to in front of the dunes. Half an hour here also produced nothing.

Back to Medicare, specifically focussing on the 10' - 15' range for a while, then the 7' - 10' depths, and finally the 15' - 20' band. With 3, sometimes 4 lines between us in the water, bottom bouncing, Tony caught 1 nice smallmouth.

Finally we went back to Linde Coulee, and fished the north side of the west end. Not a bite, and after a while Tony and Linda decided to pop over to a trout lake so they might experience some catching, and not just fishing. I stuck around a bit longer and moved to the middle of Linda Coulee, on the north shore. After another half hour there without a bite, I decided to pack it in.

Pull up the electric, put down the gas, pull the starter cord, and out it comes, with no retraction and no start. I took off the cowling and saw that the bolt through the whole pull start unit had become unbolted. With no knowledge of how that all fit together, I switched to my electric motor and headed back to the launch. Repair would have to wait until back at the motel that night or the next morning.