You know your a Junkie when...

We tried out a new location this morning. Any duck hunter that loves the sport has tried this and sometimes it works well, and other times not so well.
On Sat morning my brother and I went to a lake east of Alexandria that is known for bird, but also its depth. After doing some research and looking at maps, I fired up the GPS and we were off. We got to the landing early, really early, so that we would have enough time to explore in the dark and find a spot where we could get of the boat.
After about a 3/4 mile boat ride we stopped at the first location. We checked the depth only to find it was deep. We followed a channel through the rice and found another location. Also too deep. After talking another look at the GPS I found another channel that was heading in the direction I wanted to go. By now the dog is restless and watching coot everywhere. He decided he needed to come to the back of the boat while we were moving. In the process of doing so I herd a splash. I thought that he fell out. I turned my light to him to see he was still in the boat. He must have just slipped climbing over the gear.

We followed the channel to what looked like a sweet spot. I reached down to get the depth checker only to find it was not there. Remember the splash? I tried to convince my brother to just jump in, HAHAHA, but he wouldn't. I grabbed an ore and found a hard shallow bottom. Great! I marked it on the GPS and said lets see if we might find something better. I turned around and saw in the light that the motor was not pumping water to cool it anymore! I shut it down and tried to figure out what to do. 3/4 of a mile out on a lake I had never been before, in the dark, and broken down. "You know your a junkie when your motor breaking down is how you determine where to hunt."

Turned out to be the best spot on the lake considering how few birds we saw. Someone on the lake starting shooting 12 minutes early! That prompted a few ducks to fly right in to us but we waited until the legal shooting time. Right on the nose a GWT darted in and landed 10 yrds out. I walked out and jumped it and knocked it down.
Five minutes later we had another one land in the decoys but we could not see it in the shadows, but King did so I sent him to flush it. I told my brother to not shoot if it meant hitting the dog. He swam 2 feet from it when I saw the splash but could not see the bird fly away.
About 20 minutes later we had a GWT swim right into the decoys. I told my brother to walk out and jump it up. He did, and when it landed belly up with one foot kicking he thought he should tenderize the meat.
We heard a little shooting but not much and after 2 hrs and a thick fog rolled over the lake we decide to pick up. Not being able to see 20yrds in front of you and a hardly functioning motor makes for a great ride back. Never would have made it without using our trail out on the GPS to get back.
We made it to the landing and saw that there were a lot of people out that morning. One other guy came in and he only got 1 Bluebill on the other side of the lake for us. After trying to trade him motors, HAHAHA, (he had a really nice 35hp mud buddy surface drive motor) we headed out pheasant hunting. Too much corn still up. Dog flushed a few really nice roosters but the corn was too high to get a shot of in time.
Oh well. Looks like a long night of motor work.