All he knew for sure was that his lure had disappeared from the line but was nowhere to be found. He also had the boater staring at him with one of those "what did you just do to my brand new boat" looks on his face.
Dumbfounded, the partner grabbed another rod and continued fishing. After all, he had been whacking 'em pretty good with that crankbait. When it came time to move to another spot, however, things quickly went south. The moment the boater cranked his new Mercury outboard, it was accompanied by a horrible sound.
Once they had the cowling off the outboard, it became abundantly clear what was causing this noise, as well as what was behind the earlier "explosion." Despite the improbability of such a one-in-a-million shot happening, it was evident that the partner's earlier sidearm cast had sent the crankbait hurtling through one of the holes on the outboard's cowling. Little specks of green plastic were everywhere.
The partner later theorized that the new boat's hydraulic jack plate may have raised the motor just enough that he couldn't cast like he normally did. And in the process of slinging his bait sidearm to get it up next to a blowdown, it hit the motor and shattered.
As the young partner lamented, "Thank God it only scratched the cowling and caused a mess; I thought the boater was going to kill me." He went on to describe the guy as "a pretty good mentor," but also noted that he didn't consider him a great fisherman. "If there's a good topwater bite in the morning and a jig bite in the evening, he can catch fish," he allowed, but added, "if any other pattern exists, he nearly always blanks."
While sharing this story with one of his friends, the partner had to answer this question: "Did your life flash before your eyes when you realized it was your crankbait making that horrible sound?" I'd be willing to bet you it did.
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