Fishing Forum

They say the worst day fishing is better than the best day at work. By the time I gave up on Mantua I was about ready to head to work. We got a late start, my 4 year old had a rough night so I let him and my wife sleep. By the time we got to Brigham, it was about 9:15. On the freeway, we realized we had not brought the $5 for the launch fee so we had to stop and get some cash. Stopped at the drive-through ATM at the bank and could smell something funny, like hot rubber, but figured it was coming from somewhere else. Went across the street to BK to break down the $10 bill so I could get a $5 and (turns out fortunately) my son had to pee. We got out of the truck and lo and behold, my trailer tire was flat! I looked a little closer and it was completely unseated from the rim (the very problem I had Big O "fix" for me a few days prior)!

So I call up WalMart and fortunately their tire department is in for the day. I pulled in and talked to the kid working there and he said WalMart policy wont allow them to remove tires from trailers. No big deal, I asked to borrow a jack and a star and took it off myself. He tried to just blast it with air to get it to seat, but no go. He ended up taking it behind the scenes for a while and putting it on one of their other machines, and got it to seat. Finally, some good luck! He didnt charge me anything, and we were back on the way.

We finally got to Mantua around 10:30, and got the boat in the water. I was a bit nervous, as I had bought the boat not too long ago, and this was the first time in the water. The person I bought the boat from had sent 2 batteries with it, but the first one would not charge at all, and the second was acting funny on the charger, so I brought my battery from my camp trailer to be safe. I threw the 45 LB thrust electric in full reverse and the boat would not move. The motor seemed to be turning decent, but not full. I decided to try the trailer battery. My motor just about flew off the transom. Guess that battery is shot too!

Got everything loaded into the boat (that took a while) and headed out. Within minutes the wind started blowing. We set up for a few minutes and the wind just kept getting harder and harder. I decided we might be best to set up in a protected spot for a while and see if it died down so we headed to the South dock. We sat there for about an hour and a half with nothing to show for it and decided to head back for lunch.

That was a great theory, except apparently those trailer batteries arent meant to power motors. I started to head back but between the wind, and the battery struggling, I was barely moving. Some guys on the dock had a good idea, so I decided to do that. My boat is pretty small so it would fit right up the outlet, they suggested bringing my truck over and getting it in from the outlet. So, after a nice (not) leisurely jog back to the truck, I went and threw my boat on the trailer and gave up on the boat.

We headed over to the East side to eat, then try some bluegill action, but the wind was just too strong, and we didn't want to mess with it. We decided "screw it!" and headed to Pioneer pond. I figured since I was out of the water, I couldnt have any more boat problems, right? WRONG! Heading down the canyon, the part holding the seat broke and dropped my seat to the bottom of the boat.

Pioneer wasn't near as exciting for bad things, but at least we finally got into some fish. We started getting little nibbles in close to shore, but they were not biting hard. My son gave up shortly and just wanted to run around and play, so he ended up not catching anything. I ended up catching 2 on power eggs, and my wife caught one. Hers was the catch of the day at maybe 14", mine were fresh planters. I tell you what though, although there were no prize fish caught, that sitting there and being able to actually fish made the whole day not seem quite as bad. QUITE as bad. I ended up going home feeling much better

Sounds like 'one of those days'.
But hey - at least your didn't get a "speed proximity" ticket from the Barney-man! Nor did you swamp your boat, or forget to unhook that back strap when trying to launch. NOT that I'd know anything about such things....

Wind can be a vicious beast, and Mantua does seem to get hit pretty hard sometimes. Do you have oars or paddles too?

That Pioneer pond, that's down in Brigham? Ever try the Wellsville pond?

True enough,but I did forget to mention that I backed my boat up against my equinox before I left home as well.

Yea, pioneer is the one in Brigham that has the little fountain. By the city pool.

I never even heard of wellsville pond I don't think. Any good? I might try that some time
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My first boating trip this year was to flaming gorge on march 29th I was dewinterizing my boat and all is good till I went to the bow motor and found out it was not working properly. So I KSL classified it found a 24 volt 70 lbs replacement Minnkota for 450 bucks with fast attachment plate . All is well finished up 2 hours before we were leaving.

Got to the gorge and was lip ripping and burning gas the finger we wanted to fish was still iced over it was almost dark so we headed back with haste got back to L marina and decided to fish in marina caught a few.
At about 9 we decided its time to go back to the room fired up the engine and was putting on the trailer and bam a fire not a fuel one an electrical one smoked the upper part of my 200 HP. Spent the rest of the weekend bank tangling grrr..
Took a week to repair thanks Dons for the quick repair and I was broke for the rest of the month.

Front bow motor replacement 450 got a decent deal with a quick plate.
Big engine repair 900
New battery for the engine 150
Equals pretty lawn ornament and empty pocket book for the month..
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Yea, yours was definitely more costly.
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My dad and I were shore fishing at Mantua Saturday as well, our first time ever visiting there. Arrived at 7am and 3 hours, many worms and lures, and several spots later we gave in to the inevitable. We had been skunked. Headed up to Logan (3rd and 2nd dam) and the water was perfect and all of our usual sweet spots were angler free....but looks like the fishies had also mysteriously dissappeared. Like you we ended the day at a community pond and it just felt so good finally catch a fish!!

I feel your frustration on Mantua. Torn between never going again and giving it another chance later in the summer. Allegedly it is supposed to have some great fishing, but my first experience there was more than a little discouraging!
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Don't get too discouraged. I imagine within the month the bluegill bite should pick up. If you aren't into the little fish, Mantua isn't the greatest.
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The first year I owned my boat I put about 500 in it every time I fired it up. I was like a gun shy dog turning they key for about a year. Now I'm still waiting for something else to break, boats are absolutely big holes in the water we dump money into.
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OUCH! Days when you get you a$$ handed to you are the worst! At least you did not sink the boat to the bottom of the Mantua see of weeds. It is days like that, that will make you appreciate the good old days of catching just a little bit more now. Hope next time goes a little better for you.
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I think if the boat would have sunk, I would have given up on boats for a few years. Maybe even fishing!
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BOAT equals Bust Out Another Thousand
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