07-14-2004, 05:17 PM
After scoping out Bountiful Pond on Monday I took the 'toon down for an afternoon fishing trip. There was a slight breeze from the Northwest and made for a very pleasant rowing trip to the west out past the first island. I dropped anchor and fished for channels with the bait of the month a shrimp tipped with crawler combo. After about 20 minutes I caught a 15 inch channel that was just barely big enough to eat and put him in my new live well bag that I bought for my 'toon. After another few minutes with no action I moved further west past the second island and dropped anchor again. After about 5 minutes I caught a 24" nice eating size channel. I put him in the bag too. One the next cast I caught another 24" channel. I let the 15" one go. I caught 1 more fish that I released for a total of 4 fish in about an hour and a half... not too bad. Anyway just as I released my last fish the wind picked this time from the EAST which was the direction that I needed to go to get back to my truck. I was planning on staying out until sunset but I wasn't sure if the wind was going to get worse so I decided to head back in so I could get home and fix my dinner. So with the 25 mph wind in my face and 12 inch whitecaps I started to row, and row, and row. I usually row pushing the oars so I can see where I'm going, but my arms were getting tired of going that direction so I swung the craft around to start rowing the real way (by pulling) and it was then I noticed my live well swimming to the bottom of the lake with my 2 24" channels in it... in the wind the cheap plastic clip to clip it to the craft that came with the live well bag snapped in the wind. Doh!!! I would have tried to get it but the waves were just too much so I had to let it go. It's a shame too it's 
to think that 2 nice fish like that are going to starve now because they're zipped up in a bag... Anyway I'll be heading up up there again. I was having a great time and the wind wasn't as bad a losing those fish [][unsure]. The worst part is when I got home all I had to eat was 2 corndogs from the freezer. I'll be heading up there again next week it has great 'toon access and I seemed to be doing better than the shore fisherman. BTW after rowing back towards the boat ramp for about 20 minutes the wind calmed down and changed back to the gentle NW breeze that I had started with. The last 50 yards to the dock was some easy rowing.
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to think that 2 nice fish like that are going to starve now because they're zipped up in a bag... Anyway I'll be heading up up there again. I was having a great time and the wind wasn't as bad a losing those fish [][unsure]. The worst part is when I got home all I had to eat was 2 corndogs from the freezer. I'll be heading up there again next week it has great 'toon access and I seemed to be doing better than the shore fisherman. BTW after rowing back towards the boat ramp for about 20 minutes the wind calmed down and changed back to the gentle NW breeze that I had started with. The last 50 yards to the dock was some easy rowing.[signature]