Chronicles of a Driftboat Rookie

1st mistake.
Trying to catch and stop a spinning hand winch after shoving new drift boat off the trailer and down a long boat slide.

2nd mistake.
Too embarrassed, prideful and in too much pain to winch out, I decide to push off anyway and go lick my wounds alone. Of course not realizing until it was too late that I would be needing both hands to row.

3rd mistake
Next time out (and oh so much the wiser) I unclip the new (very slippery) glass boat from the winch before pushing off trailer down the same slide.

4th mistake
Not letting go of the boat with my only other good hand thinking I could actually slow it down before it hit the water and floated away.

5th mistake
Forgetting the plug.

6th
Forgetting rods and/or tackle.

7th
Not realizing I hadn't set the anchor rope until I heard that "zip" sound it makes as it passes completley through the guides.

8th
Not leaving enough anchor slack in the line before piling out to go fish a bar (upstream of course).

9th
Getting out of the boat to get off a high sided rock in fast water.

10th
Not heeding local advice, as in the time they told my it might take up to 3 days to float a 8 mile stretch due to upriver canyon winds on the Rouge. (They were right, of course.)

11th
Not watching the time on a long drift and having to float out in the dark. Or conversely, leaving the skinny Bogy Hatchery launch in the dark to get first water.

12th
Assuming that the fancy Public Fishing launch on the Calawah meant that it was safe drift.

13th................