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Fast action saves truck from boat ramp plunge into Madison’s Lake Mendota

Trucks and cars sometimes slide into the water when algae and wet weeds coat a boat ramp’s cement, making it slippery as ice. To prevent sliding, set the parking brake as usual, but also engage the vehicle’s four-wheel drive to also lock the front axle. (Photo by Patrick Durkin)

Good fishing stories write themselves after you futilely search Madison’s Lake Mendota for suspended walleyes and return instead with 10 nice bluegills in the 9- to 10-inch range.
But bluegills were just the postscript to the tense tale Joe Ballweg, 65, told his wife Aug. 21 after returning home to Prairie du Sac, Wis. If not for his quick thinking and flawless moves while launching his boat that morning, Ballweg might have ended the day shopping for a new truck, not cleaning a big catch.

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