04-01-2007, 12:14 AM
[cool][#0000ff]With apologies to Chuck Dickens, here's a tale of two lakes. It was the best of times...and it was the worst of times. More of the latter than the former.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]mactuna, nansea and myself met up with road at Rabbit Gulch on Starvation about 7:30 AM. In spite of explicit instructions to leave the W in Heber City, Road brung some with him. We had an onshore breeze that made it really tough for mactuna and nansea to launch their toons with their new electric motors. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]They had just got them and had not had a chance to set them up or work with them. Double bummer. nansea kept getting tangled in the shoreline bushes and gave up trying to get out. mactuna (husband) wisely beached his toon to keep her company on the shore.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]road and I launched into the increasing breezes, watching sonar and working a variety of baits and lures as we fished from shallow to deep. Water temp was back down to 43 after being up to 45 last week. Plus, full moon. Plus barometer changes with the storms. End result...a couple of wimpy nibbles but no bites. Walleye trollers in a couple of boats claimed the same dismal success rate.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Mac and nan had a couple of pokes casting from shore, but were ready to change venues when we returned to shore after only a half hour of frustration. We opted for Deer Creek.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Launched from the gravel ramp at Charleston bridge about 11. Water like glass. 46 degrees. No visible surface activity and nobody fishing seemed to be doing much. Road and I worked out into deeper water, while mac and nan fished closer to shore. Mactuna announced that he had accomplished one of his two goals. He had caught a brown (14") from a lake and now needed to catch a walleye. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]We all moved around looking for fish. One poor little rainbow really got beat up bad by our group. I caught him twice and so did road. Nansea also caught him once. At least we thought it might have been the same fish. Little bugger.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Mactuna and nansea showed off their toon skills by rowing over toward the opposite side of the lake. Bad Move. The DC afternoon zephyrs suddenly blew in and caused all kinds of problems. I had been fortunate enough to be upwind from the launch area when it hit, so I just rode it back to the vehicles. Road also saw it coming and layed into the oars on his toon, actually beating me to shore even though he was a ways downwind. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Mactuna and nansea were not so lucky. They were still somewhat inexperienced tooners and not skilled at rowing in windy conditions. Wisely, they elected to let the wind push them to shore and try to find a way out rather than do themselves harm by fighting it. Mactuna had put his motor back on and was making some reasonable headway when his right pontoon suddenly went soggy. He was in danger of swamping.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Fortunately a good sized boat tossed him a line and hauled his sorry self back to the launch area. He was barely afloat and leaning way over to the side to counter the weight of battery and tackle. [/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Nansea was nowhere to be seen on the other side of the brush growing up in the channel. We were hoping we would see the boat returning with her in tow, but they were instead towing a small paddle boat that had gone out earlier while it was calm and had been swamped by the wind and waves. The paddleboaters were inside the big boat and the little one was barely afloat when I waded out to help them all ashore.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Road decided he would leave his toon and try to find nansea in his truck. The boat went back to rescue a couple of other small boats that were having troubles. After a suspenseful wait, road pulled in with nansea's toon in the back and an exhausted and grateful lady in the front seat. Whew.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Too much drama and adventure for a first trip with BFTers. Good company and Mac was top rod. He managed to hang a nice 18" rainbow to accompany the smaller brown he had taken earlier. In the picture you can see his soggy air chamber, but he doesn't seem to mind too much while he is holding those two nice fish.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]Hey Marty, it is always good to fish with you, but I know at least one other member of our group that was especially glad you came along today.[/#0000ff]
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[#0000ff]mactuna, nansea and myself met up with road at Rabbit Gulch on Starvation about 7:30 AM. In spite of explicit instructions to leave the W in Heber City, Road brung some with him. We had an onshore breeze that made it really tough for mactuna and nansea to launch their toons with their new electric motors. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]They had just got them and had not had a chance to set them up or work with them. Double bummer. nansea kept getting tangled in the shoreline bushes and gave up trying to get out. mactuna (husband) wisely beached his toon to keep her company on the shore.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]road and I launched into the increasing breezes, watching sonar and working a variety of baits and lures as we fished from shallow to deep. Water temp was back down to 43 after being up to 45 last week. Plus, full moon. Plus barometer changes with the storms. End result...a couple of wimpy nibbles but no bites. Walleye trollers in a couple of boats claimed the same dismal success rate.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Mac and nan had a couple of pokes casting from shore, but were ready to change venues when we returned to shore after only a half hour of frustration. We opted for Deer Creek.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Launched from the gravel ramp at Charleston bridge about 11. Water like glass. 46 degrees. No visible surface activity and nobody fishing seemed to be doing much. Road and I worked out into deeper water, while mac and nan fished closer to shore. Mactuna announced that he had accomplished one of his two goals. He had caught a brown (14") from a lake and now needed to catch a walleye. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]We all moved around looking for fish. One poor little rainbow really got beat up bad by our group. I caught him twice and so did road. Nansea also caught him once. At least we thought it might have been the same fish. Little bugger.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Mactuna and nansea showed off their toon skills by rowing over toward the opposite side of the lake. Bad Move. The DC afternoon zephyrs suddenly blew in and caused all kinds of problems. I had been fortunate enough to be upwind from the launch area when it hit, so I just rode it back to the vehicles. Road also saw it coming and layed into the oars on his toon, actually beating me to shore even though he was a ways downwind. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Mactuna and nansea were not so lucky. They were still somewhat inexperienced tooners and not skilled at rowing in windy conditions. Wisely, they elected to let the wind push them to shore and try to find a way out rather than do themselves harm by fighting it. Mactuna had put his motor back on and was making some reasonable headway when his right pontoon suddenly went soggy. He was in danger of swamping.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Fortunately a good sized boat tossed him a line and hauled his sorry self back to the launch area. He was barely afloat and leaning way over to the side to counter the weight of battery and tackle. [/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Nansea was nowhere to be seen on the other side of the brush growing up in the channel. We were hoping we would see the boat returning with her in tow, but they were instead towing a small paddle boat that had gone out earlier while it was calm and had been swamped by the wind and waves. The paddleboaters were inside the big boat and the little one was barely afloat when I waded out to help them all ashore.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Road decided he would leave his toon and try to find nansea in his truck. The boat went back to rescue a couple of other small boats that were having troubles. After a suspenseful wait, road pulled in with nansea's toon in the back and an exhausted and grateful lady in the front seat. Whew.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Too much drama and adventure for a first trip with BFTers. Good company and Mac was top rod. He managed to hang a nice 18" rainbow to accompany the smaller brown he had taken earlier. In the picture you can see his soggy air chamber, but he doesn't seem to mind too much while he is holding those two nice fish.[/#0000ff]
[#0000ff][/#0000ff]
[#0000ff]Hey Marty, it is always good to fish with you, but I know at least one other member of our group that was especially glad you came along today.[/#0000ff]
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