By Louie Stout

When Tom Kline went to bed one night a couple of weeks ago, his 2005 Ranger Bass Boat was parked in his home driveway near the St. Joseph River in Osceola.

When he awoke the next morning, it was gone. Someone had sneaked into his drive under the cover of darkness, hooked the boat onto a tow vehicle and slipped away.

Kline’s boat before it was stolen.

Kline’s boat before it was stolen.

Kline hasn’t been the only target of thieves this summer. They have been working overtime in the South Bend area, said South Bend Police Detective Wayne Boocher.

Another bass boat was stolen from a neighborhood on the other side of the river.

Boocher says it’s not the boats that interest the bandits, nor is it just fishing boats.

“I know of some pontoons that have been stolen, too,” he said. “It’s the motors and the other equipment that the thieves are after. You can strip that stuff and make a little money on it without many people knowing. It’s hard to hide a boat.”

Police did find Kline’s boat the next day on a dead-end road near a woods on the southwest side of town.

“All I got back was the boat,” he said. “Everything else was gone – the outboard, electronics, trolling motor and all my tackle.”

He lost a 200 HP Mercury Optimax, two fishfinders, and an electric motor.

“That stuff can be replaced, but what really hurt was losing all my tackle that included a lot of favorite lures,” he said. “I probably lost $15,000 in fishing tackle alone.”

Klines boat after thieves had stripped it.

Klines boat after thieves had stripped it.

Steve Peterson of Starboard Choice Marine in Mishawaka says there’s a big demand for high powered outboards due to the replacement costs of new ones.

“A guy blows his engine and a new one could cost him upwards of $25,000,” he said. “It’s created a used outboard market and thieves have noticed.”

Kline advises everyone who leaves their boat unattended outside to rethink the process.

“I live in a good neighborhood and have always parked my boat in my driveway,” he said. “I never worried about it and figured it was safe.”

As he discovered, no neighborhood is safe from burglars unless it’s a gated community.

Unfortunately, people without garages don’t have many options, although there are ways of securing a boat without the protection of inside storage.

You can run a padlock through the locking coupler on the trailer, but padlocks are no match for thieves with bolt cutters.

Steve Peterson of Starboard Choice Marine in Mishawaka says there are better hitch security products that lock the trailer while off the tow vehicle and make it more difficult to remove.

“Some guys with single axle trailers also run a cable through the wheel and around the spring on the axle but that’s a lot of work,” he said. “You can’t do that on tandem axle trailers because the thieves will take off the wheel, remove the cable and drive away on three wheels.”

Fishing professionals who travel the country with their boats are big targets for larcenists, especially when parked at motels. That’s why many utilize a TH Marine Two Way Alarm System. When installed on the boat and the alarm is engaged, shock sensors trigger an alarm on the boat and send a warning sound through a remote key fob that they keep in their motel rooms. The system is effective up to 3,000 yards away.

Regardless of how well you secure the boat, both Boocher and Peterson advise boaters to maintain a record of the serial numbers on their outboards and expensive boat accessories. The police keep a record of serial numbers on stolen boats and outboards.

“If someone comes in here selling a used motor, we plug the serial number into a computer system to make sure it hasn’t been stolen,” Peterson said. “Also, we require someone selling a used motor to provide a copy of his driver license. I recommend anyone buying a used motor do the same.”