Coon in my boat
 

I went down to my boat this morning at 6 and was ready to do some serious damage on the bluegills in a bay just up the lake. I added some oil to my VRO tank and started to check my rod and tackle lockers to see if I had everything. When I opened the rod locker there sitting in the middle of 10 very tangled up rods was a huge raccoon. I let out a yell and it turned and went back into the bow of my bass boat. My boat is on a vertical lift at the end of my 50’ dock and somehow the coon probably attracted to the fishy smell that is always on the boat made a home. I guess he must have gone under the drivers console and went through the chase way where all the wires are and went right around the bow where my tackle boxes are and into the rod locker. I got all the rods out but didn't touch the main hatch where all the tackle boxes and bags are located. He is in there and won't come out. I set up a havaheart trap on top of an old piece of plywood and left the rod locker open. I hope right after dark he decides to dine out and go for the peanut butter sammie and 3 marshmallows that I put in there for bait. I'll check before I go to bed. I hope I get it and that there is only one. He chewed the rubber backing on the rod locker door but so far that is all I have found. Kind of bummed but it is almost time for a new boat anyways. Wish me luck guys because the gills are really biting and they are paying $.80 a pound right out of the lake.

RE: Coon in my boat
 

Good luch partner...:)

RE: Coon in my boat
 

People are paying for bluegill? Damn, I wish it was like that around here, I would make a killing, I love catching bluegill.

RE: Coon in my boat
 

10:33 went down to the dock and found the marshmellows gone and the trap wasn't sprung. He pulled the sammie under the trip ledge so it couldn't spring the trap. I re-set it and am going to bed. He will be mine in the AM. Odds are he is a real trophy. When I get them around the house messing with the birdfeeders I usually truck them to the other end of the island and let them go.This one is dead coon walking since he is messing with my fishing.

RE: Coon in my boat
 

we need video of this;)

RE: Coon in my boat
 

I got up at 3:00am and went down to the boat and found all the marshmallows gone and the trap wasn't sprung....real smart coon. I re-set and set the trip lever real light so even the wariest of all coons will fall victim to my trap. 2 years ago I was having a bad time at one of the birdfeeders on my back deck. I went through this for several nights until he got careless and finally was caught. My wife and I were in bed with the windows open and heard the trap go thunk as the door came down trapping the culprit. I raced out there and saw I had a real beauty and went back to the bedroom to get dressed and asked my wife if she wanted to see my trophy. She got up and went out on the deck and said...there is nothing in the trap. I ran back out there and nothing. That little larcenist escaped faster than Houdini and I was beside myself. I re-baited and waited for the next night and the same thing happened. I figured I would just sit inside and watch to see how the darn thing escaped. It lay down on its back and reached its little monkey arms out through a crack in the side of the door and actually lifted the outer door up and pushed its way out. The trap was an old havaheart that was borrowed and it didn't have a safety catch on the outer door keeping it down. I used a coat hanger and fashioned a catch so when the door fell and the outer door sprang ahead it would cause the coat hanger to fall down thus eliminating the door from being jimmied up. My engineering background came through and provided something other than a decent way to earn a living. The next night I got him and left him in the trap all night and then trucked him and3 of his cousins to another side of the island over the next several nights. I was finally rid of the little thieves and was happy...so were the birds. I did read in our little weekly news paper that the residences of that side of the island were having problems with super raccoons that were called educated and un-trappable. I went out and bought my own state of the art Havaheart with a safety catch and last summer it worked great. This year those coons are cunning but I will find a way to win....I have to they are on my turf.

RE: Coon in my boat
 

in the meantime just enjoy your new fishing buddy[:-][:@];););)

i still say we need some video;)

RE: Coon in my boat
 

I am glad I checked the rod locker first before take off. Can you imagine blasting down the lake wide open and have one of those maskedbandits come out of the console under your legs. With a bass boat there is no place to go but overboard. And I don't usually hook up the kill switch either.

RE: Coon in my boat
 

Sounds to me like he (the Coon) wants to be your fishing partner

RE: Coon in my boat
 

;)A coon would make a nice fishing partner for sure...You catch them and he'll clean em.