Submitted by Duane Yurek, Silver Lake, MN

This one started the summer of 2002 on the Horseshoe Chain of Lakes near Richmond, MN.

My adult son, Dallas, was leaving the family cabin by boat to go to an island to set up an overnight camp out with some of his friends. Being young adults, they wanted to be fairly comfortable, so they had quite a lot of camping gear and supplies. So, he made a first run by boat to deliver firewood, tenting equipment, and some of the other gear. The second run was for the food, refreshments, and friends.

As they were coming around the “point of our peninsula” into more open water, being reasonably windy, the waves were rough. At that minute, the boat caught a big wave and caused it to rise and slap down pretty hard. That sudden jolt shifted some cargo which knocked an expensive trolling motor into the lake. A really heartbreaking way to start a camping trip.

Then, the rest of the story

In May of 2018, I was fishing with my older adult son, Dave. We were fishing in an area we call the point of the peninsula. As in most cases, we got a few bites around the tip of the point where the wind was gusty, and it was hard to hold the boat. Consequently, we kept sliding away from that honey hole where we thought the fish were. We had to pull up anchor two or three times to relocate back to where we started. Finally, the anchor held, and we were able to do some quiet bobber fishing.

When we finished fishing, it was time to pull up; the anchor wouldn’t come.

So, we figured we hooked a rock and that was why the anchor held so well. We tried to maneuver the boat to unhook it, but it still wouldn’t come. Ultimately, it took both of us pulling on the anchor rope and finally it budged. Even though it moved, it was still too heavy for one of us to lift it out.

After significant tugging and lifting (thankfully the anchor rope was strong enough), we managed to get the anchor up along with the thing that it hooked on.

It was the trolling motor that was lost 16 years earlier.

This is the one that didn’t get away.