'Redneck' Float Fly

by Ken Corrin
We didn’t know New Underwood Lake was ‘redneck’ country until Sunday. When our group arrived at New Underwood Lake with our rescue boat we found the boat ramp was blocked by two vans full of fishermen. After waiting a few minutes and seeing that they were not going to move so we could launch our boat, I went down by their vans to talk to them. They said that they had been there since 0430. They seemed to think that since they were there first that they didn’t have to move for anybody. I explained that this was a public boat launch ramp and that we would like to put our boat in the water. One fellow said that they caught two fish so far and gave the impression that they would be parking on the boat ramp until they caught all the fish they wanted. I said to him that if they only caught two fish since 0430 that maybe it was time to move to another part of the lake. One older guy didn’t like that comment and was ready to fight for his fishing spot. His son talked him into moving his van instead. He jumped into his van, threw it into reverse and promptly got stuck in the grass and mud at the edge of the lake. Now he was really mad. His son got out a chain and hooked it between the vans and pulled his dad out with mud and rocks flying. They left the lake and we launched our boat and started our float fly.

After our little ‘Deliverance’ episode, we turned to float flying. The winds were reasonable, about 10 to 15 mph, out of the southwest. There was a good turnout of club members which included: Jim Tiller, Darrell Cassidy, John Pondish, John Kellogg, Bob Olson, Clancy Kingsbury, Doc McGuigan, Ken Gatzke, Denny Bernal, and Ken Corrin. Everyone had their usual floatplanes except for Doc. He had a new Saratoga from Hangar 9. He had test flown it from land and this was its’ first time flying with floats. It appears to be an excellent flying float plane. Everyone got in numerous flights and everything went well until later in the morning when we had several unscheduled landings on land. John Pondish had aileron problems on takeoff and his plane would only turn in one direction. After circling a couple of times, his plane contacted the ground on the East side of the lake. The damage to his Eagle 2 wasn’t too severe and he should have it up and flying again. Denny Bernal also experienced aileron problems. As he was making his landing approach with his tuned pipe rocket float plane, the aircraft rolled over and went into the ground. It appeared that this will be the final flight for this great flying plane.

Along about noon the donuts had all been eaten and we decided it was time to head for home.

All in all we had a good day of flying at the New Underwood Lake.