Anyone who has a boat knows it attracts plenty of buddies when the fishing season rolls along.

I'm not saying that you're not buddies when you don't have a boat, but the guy with the boat is just more like, well, a

real good buddyWhen I bought the Fish Hawk, I became a

real good buddy and have found it easy to gather a crew of anglers.With an eye on the crappie fishing at area lakes, we were planning what we call a "perch-jerking event."This event consists of waiting for the water to warm up enough for the pan fish populations to school for the spring spawn.A couple of my friends watch Pymatuning Lake and Shenango Reservoir closely for the slab crappies to come into the shallows, then the fun begins as the fish are numerous and aggressively hit your offerings.The plus side is that they are delicious table fare because of their delicate flavor and tenderness.The word got to me at the beginning of the week that the fish were starting to hit, and a man with a boat likely could get into some nice fish.The daily statewide limit for pan fish is 50 per day, so you can understand how many an angler can expect to land on a fishing trip.After discussions with my friends Beaver Boy, Tony and Lucky Chucky, we decided to give Shenango a try.The Shenango Reservoir is located in Mercer County, between Sharpsville, Clark and Transfer, off Route 18 north of Interstate 80. This Corps of Engineers lake has some year-round fishing and boating opportunities that are easily accessible to Butler County anglers. We would be trying the back bays, where many tree tops, stumps and shallows promised good fishing prospects.The planning for the trip went off well until Beaver Boy had trouble getting out of work. We agreed to meet him later in the afternoon.We launched the boat and headed for a nearby shoreline that had a row of tree tops dropped into the water. I chose to use a fathead minnow and bobber presentation and was rewarded with a bite from a nice crappie as soon as the bait package hit the water.We soon had a couple of dozen nice fish in the live well, but the fish were cooperating one moment and in the next moment the action turned off.We had decided to take a ride around the lake to scout for some better venues for our fishing trip when I noticed a slight hesitation in the boat's motor. I'm not Jacques Cousteau, but I knew that couldn't be good when you're on an aquatic adventure.The slight hesitation progressed to some spitting and more noises that defy my duplication, so I headed for our launch area.I started to coax the boat to the shoreline when my phone rang and it was Beaver Boy on the line. He asked about the morning fishing and was impressed with the size and numbers of crappie we had caught.I told him we were heading to shore and his last comment was, "You guys must think you are dukes," which is his way of saying you have it made.The boat made it to shore and seemed to right itself, giving me some hope all was well. One thing I should have known was that when Lucky Chucky jumped off the boat and Beaver Boy got onboard, our luck was running out.We shoved off and, by the good common sense I had at that moment, stayed close. The fishing was slow, but we did catch a few more fish.When we decided to call it a day, I tried to start the motor, but to no avail.After pulling down the electric trolling motor to get us back to the launch, I told Beaver Boy, "So much for dukes; we are more like sitting ducks!"