After almost 6 months of putting an RV on Fork, I thought that I had all the bugs worked out of my boat and finally got to get on the water for a test run and hopefully a little fishing yesterday evening. Drove from the 154 ramp to the mouth of little Caney when my motor started knocking loudly and then died. I thought it was going to be a long ride back on the trolling motor until the Ulterra decided that it did not want to deploy. Luckily for my wife and I, we were able to flag down another fisherman in a white Champion and he graciously towed us all the way back. I am sorry that I missed his name. We felt really bad that it had gotten dark by the time he dropped us off and he had to navigate back to the other side of the lake in the dark. We wanted to give him some money for all of his help, especially with gas prices now but he refused to take anything and just disappeared into the dark.

It’s good to see that there are still some good guys out there to help each other out. If anyone knows someone in one of the RV parks out here that drives an older white Champion, let me know who he is please.

Glad you and your wife made it back safety. Always love hearing about good deeds that good people do!

nice
& well written
"just disappeared into the dark"

Two things are usually a constant on the water, someone will always set out without their vessel being seaworthy and some other boater will always be there to help them out.

One without out the other could not exist...

Pay it forward! If you haven't run aground, and gotten pulled off, or had to be towed back in due to mechanical problems, you haven't been very far from home base. Always help someone in trouble, if possible, without endangering you or your vessel. Law of the sea. IslandJim, recently pulled back to a ramp in my swamped boat by very friendly Texas Game Wardens. The US Coast Guard only wanted to "help" by filling out a "Boarding Report", after the TPWD guys had assisted, no questions asked. Glad you got in safely.
IslandJim

Yeah, I have towed a few before so I guess karma paid off. My boat has been extremely reliable until this year. It seems that every time I get one issue solved another immediately arises. I can’t believe I got the double whammy of both motors failing at same time. Sucks that it’s been over a year since I have really been able to fish because of back surgery and now I fear that this year will probably be gone also as I fear it is time for a new boat but that will have to wait awhile. Sitting outside the trailer right now watching the skeeter tournament right now. There are a lot of boats out there fighting for spots

I had a guy tow Der Vorster and me from the far East side of the west arm to Popes In the middle of a thunderstorm. We were headed back and ran out of gas. He wouldn't take a dime and just drove off before we could really thank him.

I've towed people in 5 or 6 times and have been towed in twice. Never took money from people when they offered it for towing them and wasn't able to get the people who towed me in to accept any money. The last time I was towed in was in the Florida Keys a few years back. I was able to get the guys to accept a few adult beverages as a thank you.

[gulp]... did you say a white Champion ?... there's an old tale of a white Champion that comes outta nowhere and helps people and then just disappears into the night... it's the Ghost Champion...

Glad you got in safe !

I know that Storie...
I think John was originally from Mt. Home but he had a Vision where he was carried off by a Viper Hawk but that just may be a Legend about a another boat and not your Ghost White Champion.

I was fishing around first light at Ray Bob Saturday 10 or 11 years ago. Had just got started and I see a guy about a 1/2 mile out near where the boats were running full speed waving both arms like crazy at any boat that passed nearby. I thought he was mad they were coming that close to him for a few minutes. But then he kept on waving at anyone who passed nearby for about 15 minutes. So I made my way over to him. He had just bought the boat a few days ago and it was his first trip out in it...the day before. His starting battery had died, his cell phone had died, and he had been on the lake all night. He was frantic and was ranting about his wife probably thinking he was dead. I looked at his boat and saw he had a nice trolling motor. I asked him, "does your trolling motor work?" He said, "yeah, but I don't think it would get me back to the ramp". I said, "don't you have a couple of batteries to run it?". Him: "yeah" and then you could see the light go off in his head. I handed him my cell phone and said the first thing you better do is call you wife. We jumped off his starting battery with my cables, and I followed him back to the Jordan ramp to make sure he got back home. Funny, what goes around def comes around. Good for you Bobby that you had help. Sorry to hear about your back and boat. Been there on both.

It sure is nice to hear this kinda story....

I liked that too! Into the dark....

everyone should have a 3x3 white flag in their boat. Ive towed in about 6 boats since fishing at Fork,...from the big expensive Rangers to a pontoon full of drunk college boys. Most say that a lot of people just went by and didnt stop. Get a flag, and dont be embarrased to wave it....

while your intentions were good, unless your looking to surrender by waving the white flag… get the correct gear - there is a standard out there, needs to be orange with a symbol... having the correct gear is a little lax on our in-land lakes/rivers when checked by the Law to make sure you have a fire extinguisher, life jackets, a throwable, sometimes fishing license, but if you fish the great lakes or coastal areas you are required to carry the correct USCG safety gear, and it will be checked… we all get mad at morons on the water, it’s been said there needs to be a “drivers license” to operate watercraft just like cars on the road, I say at a bare minimum people should have to take the USCG Boater Safety Course, one area covers safety gear…then a lot of the BS we see wouldn't be because they didn't know any better… let the hate begin, but first check these out.

US Coast Guard standards for Visual Distress Signals…read up;
https://www.dco.uscg.mil/CG-ENG-4/VDS/

Buy one soon…
https://www.amazon.com/Orion-Safety-Products-Orange-Distress/dp/B0000AY250