Fishing Forum

Finally made it out to Crane Cr. again yesterday on the hunt for big crappies. My two trips this spring I couldn't even catch one there... The fishing was slow and the fish were quite small.. I caught probably around 30 in the 6 -8" range.. Only kept 3 and the nice one in the pic was by far the biggest.. It was a great weather day until a brutal windstorm came in and stuck around till almost dark.. We pulled the boat to shore and waited for 2 hours to let the wind calm.. It didn't calm so I decided to brave the waves.. Bad idea. I killed the motor and got blown into the rocks... With the boat crashing into the rocks I started the motor and bang, hit the rocks and blew my shear pin..With no choice limped back to my cove with the trolling motor about 1/2 mile from the ramp. Now I really had to wait for calm water...2 more hours and finally the wind calmed.. Nearly dark I set out back to the ramp with the electric motor... about 5 minutes in I noticed I was taking on major water..I had pumped all the splash out with my bilge pump before I left shore..??I'm thinking.. Did I lose my plug? Did the rocks knock a hole in the boat? I'm now running the bilge pump constantly and bailing with a bucket while running the trolling motor on 5 praying my battery would get me to the ramp. I made it to the ramp and trailered my plugless waterlogged boat in the nick of time.. All for some little crappies[fishon]<img src="http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/data/500/20150621_175427.jpg" /><img src="http://www.bigfishtackle.com/photos/data/500/20150621_162524.jpg" />
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I am glad you made it out alive. I have learned the same lesson. Some will argue my rule of thumb but it has never failed me.

Look at the mt home weather forecast. If they predict any. Winds at any part of the day over 14 mph or wind gust over 14 mph.....I don't go.

Anything between 10 and 14 is dicey and if the entire day is 10 or under I know I am not going to get blown off the water.
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I always check the Mountain Home wind forecast when I go to CJ after I believe I read that tip from you on here before and that is a must for me when I go to CJ.. Yesterday was crazy up there at Crane Cr. above weiser outside of Midvale.. The day was dead calm until 5. And out of almost nowhere it was 20- 30 mph sustained winds for 4 hours...
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Glad you made it out. Glad you don't have a permanent hole in the boat. Never hurts to play it safe. We should all take a lesson from your experience. I've pushed it a few times and one day it will probably catch up to me.
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