jnpcook
07-22-2004, 12:56 PM
Headed out last night with a couple of friends of mine (Aaron and Danny) to a small local lake. We felt pretty confident that we would have a good night in spite of the forecast for severe thunderstorms. Work couldn't have ended any sooner and I headed over to pick up Danny at his house and then head up to my mother-in-law's house to pick up my boat and to meet Aaron. The 3 of us hooked up the boat and drove off in my truck to the lake. Skies were beautiful and the lake was calm when we arrived. We had left my mother-in-law's house at 6:45pm and I had predicted that we would arrive at the lake and land the first fish by 7:20pm. Aaron disappointed me by landing the first fish (a bluegill caught on a small crankbait) at 7:24pm, 4 minutes past my prediction (within 5 minutes of arriving at the lake however). Then Danny earned himself the title of "BassMaster" for the night. He was fishing a scented natural color artificial worm and he landed 3 bass in a matter of a couple of minutes all in the same general area (No, they weren't the same fish :lol: ). This was the first time that I had fished with Danny and it was nice to see him have a good time and land some fish (Aaron and I were hoping that we wouldn't get outfished, however :shock: ) I was fishing a rubber worm Texas rigged weightless most of the night and caught a few decent bass and had a couple that I either missed or threw the hook. Aaron continued to catch bluegill on his crankbait and I think he may have caught a small bass as well.
My boat is relatively new and I had borrowed a trolling motor from a friend at work to try out to see if the thrust would be adequate to push my boat. I have been running the motor on a small jump start type battery like the kind you use to jump start your car without having to have jumper cables and another car around. The battery works fine for maybe 1/2 hour or so, so I usually use it sparingly. Now that I have determined the motor should work fine I will have to buy a deep cycle battery and trolling motor.
Anyway, now back to my story. We were catching fish, having a great time and motoring farther and farther away from the launch. I had then heard a low rumble way in the distance but looking at the sky it didn't look very threatening and we slowly started making our way back toward the launch. Well, remember the 1/2 hour battery scenario. I must have been running that battery for about 29 minutes cause she was gettin low and the motor was slowing down. I kicked the motor into high speed as the clouds were getting darker and the rumbles closer and now there were a few bright flashes off in the distance. The race was on. My motor running on a low batter and mother nature fueled by the heat of the day and building up steam as she approached. I was clearly losing the race as my battery got lower and lower. I never leave without the oars and now it was time to go to work. I began rowing with all I had as the wind started picking up. I made it across the lake to the boat launch just in time. I ran up, got the truck and we began loading the boat. It was then that the sky let loose. Rain, like I have never seen in a long time was coming down. I could hardly see a thing as my glasses were covered with water. If we had stood under Niagara falls I don't think we would have gotten as wet. We hurried and tied down the boat and threw all our tackle and equipment in the back of the truck hoping that we hadn't left anything behind. Then I made my way back to drop off the boat and Aaron and then I dropped Danny back off at his house.
It was a very fun night and probably wouldn't have been such an adventure if we had listened to the weatherman and stayed home. But what fun would have that been.
Here is the only picture that turned out for the night. The rest were blurry (maybe cause I was moving so fast to get out of the storm :D )
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/027203.jpg
Danny with one of the smaller bass that he caught
Well, can't wait to get out again. Maybe I will pay closer attention to the weather next time. NOT!!!!!!!
John
My boat is relatively new and I had borrowed a trolling motor from a friend at work to try out to see if the thrust would be adequate to push my boat. I have been running the motor on a small jump start type battery like the kind you use to jump start your car without having to have jumper cables and another car around. The battery works fine for maybe 1/2 hour or so, so I usually use it sparingly. Now that I have determined the motor should work fine I will have to buy a deep cycle battery and trolling motor.
Anyway, now back to my story. We were catching fish, having a great time and motoring farther and farther away from the launch. I had then heard a low rumble way in the distance but looking at the sky it didn't look very threatening and we slowly started making our way back toward the launch. Well, remember the 1/2 hour battery scenario. I must have been running that battery for about 29 minutes cause she was gettin low and the motor was slowing down. I kicked the motor into high speed as the clouds were getting darker and the rumbles closer and now there were a few bright flashes off in the distance. The race was on. My motor running on a low batter and mother nature fueled by the heat of the day and building up steam as she approached. I was clearly losing the race as my battery got lower and lower. I never leave without the oars and now it was time to go to work. I began rowing with all I had as the wind started picking up. I made it across the lake to the boat launch just in time. I ran up, got the truck and we began loading the boat. It was then that the sky let loose. Rain, like I have never seen in a long time was coming down. I could hardly see a thing as my glasses were covered with water. If we had stood under Niagara falls I don't think we would have gotten as wet. We hurried and tied down the boat and threw all our tackle and equipment in the back of the truck hoping that we hadn't left anything behind. Then I made my way back to drop off the boat and Aaron and then I dropped Danny back off at his house.
It was a very fun night and probably wouldn't have been such an adventure if we had listened to the weatherman and stayed home. But what fun would have that been.
Here is the only picture that turned out for the night. The rest were blurry (maybe cause I was moving so fast to get out of the storm :D )
http://www.myfishingpictures.com/img/027203.jpg
Danny with one of the smaller bass that he caught
Well, can't wait to get out again. Maybe I will pay closer attention to the weather next time. NOT!!!!!!!
John