~teton tempest~

[BottomDweller]

  early last year i only owned a little 11 ft aluminum jon-boat with a 6 hp johnson motor on the back of it, and launched for a morning of fishing with two friends crammed in the front.  we caught a fair amount of fish, had a good time admiring the beautiful scenery, but then andy and katie had to leave because they had to work in the afternoon.  normally i would have left with them because it is pretty hard to lift the boat out of the water myself as i did not have a hull-cradle trailer i could drive it onto, just a flat-top snowmobile trailer to tow the DreamCatcher on.
  that was when i noticed a drift boat with a couple other good buddies inside closer to the take-out, and drove up to them and asked them if they could help me with my boat when they left so i could stay and fish.  they agreed, so i dropped the couple off on shore with their things, and bade them adieu.
  i motored over to the west side of the lake where we had been having some good luck recently, anchored and began jigging.  i must have picked the perfect spot, or maybe the fish's appetite just turned to high-gear because of what looked like a faint approaching storm cloud over the mountains on the east side of the lake, but whatever it was it had the lake-trout attacking my jig every time i got it down to the bottom within a minute or two.
  i was having the time of my life, not paying attention to anything but the fish after fish i was catching, when the wind started to blow noticibly, and it seemed to be emanating from the quickly growing thunderhead coming faster over the tetons, headed in our direction.  i chose to ignore it, as i felt that it was just a matter of time before the big fish came along, the wallhanger.  besides, the waves were still managable, not quite coming over the sides of the boat yet.  i pushed the envelope till the storm breached a crescendo and the waves began breaking over the sides of the little hull.  the bow tie-down was firmly attached to the anchor rope, and every time a large wave would come along the bow would get pulled down and through the middle of the wave, pouring water onto me and filling the inside of the boat.  i looked over at pat and jessie in the drift boat while bailing some of the water, and they had apparently had the same idea at about the same time: it was time to go.
  i began pulling the anchor line in, breaking through the waves and into the wind until i was directly above it, but it still wouldn't give.  the wind had blown so hard that i had dragged away from my original anchoring point until the anchor lodged itself firmly under a rock or sunken tree - it would not budge.  i struggled against the snag, but to no avail.  as i pulled, the bow of the DreamCatcher would sink even lower and more and more water would come pouring over the sides.  finally i decided it was either me or the anchor: i cut the line.
  by this time the oncoming waves were building with the wind, and growing as they traversed the lake from the east to west, where i was trying to get my motor started.  i would estimate the waves' height from trough to peak at six feet. 
  i was able to get the motor started just in time to get away from being blown into the jagged boulders on shore, and began running diagonally into the wind on a rough heading towards the take-out.  it was all i could do just to keep gaining a small amount of ground, and several times the wind would blow me around like a top, making me lose about twenty yards in a single moment.  other times i would angle the boat a little too far into the wave and launch headlong off the top, crashing so violently into the next wave that i feared the little boat would break up on the next wave.  i was very seriously considering looking for a viable place on shore to angle the boat towards to ditch it, but stuck with the fight.
  my friends in the drift boat were not faring much better, as they had no motor at all, and were forced to take turns rowing like madmen for one or two minutes a piece, alternating rowing and then resting.  but their boat was much bigger than mine and was far better equipped to withstand the chaotic conditions.
  the drift boat made it to the take-out first, so i circled anxiously waiting for an opening on the ramp to squeeze into.  i made it back safe, but barely, and had taken on a large amount of water.  in retrospect, the fishing was good, but not worth risking life, limb, and gear.  i now know the dangers of my home waters, and have learned to fear their tempers; we are nothing in the face of Mother Nature, regardless of the extent of our tools and accoutrements.

                                                        ~

[spudbar]

BD, what an exciting story homeboy, however U seem to be quite the story teller my friend. Sounds to me like you went out to the kiddy pond, and tipped a few cold ones, and passed out? U must of been dreaming cause I don't think anybody would believe that. DreamCatcher? I see..  Keep em commin hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah ahahahahahahahahahhahahahah.. 
 
Spudbar out

[BottomDweller]

homeboy , now that you're done basking in the glory of your ice-fishing trophy, you need to come back down from the hills and your obsession with fantasy blackbear hunting and do some real fishing on open water; you spend enough time out there with me we'll get into some serious storms and you'll wish you were dreaming.  arrrh, matey 

[MrMarty51]

I had a similar experience on Fort Peck one time and swor that My next boat would be big enough to withstand the waves and wind or else small enough to pack out of the water and load it My self. 

[Big Mack]

Well I just read this for the first time and I can confirm this really happened.  It was my drift boat that day and it was the quickest storm ive ever seen.  Been on jackson lake in some bad ones quite a few actually, but this one was the worst don't you think BD?  Whats the matter with spud, is he afraid of the open water?  I bet I know what he's doing BD, he found himself a little pond to go perch jerk'n.  He sure does like that perch jerk'n.  I've got it!  Instead of spudbar it could be "Thee Perch Jerker," good idea Spud?

[BottomDweller]

yeah, pat, there have definitely been some bigger storms around here than that, but none that came over the mountains and took me by surprise like that.  i feel lucky to have gotten that boat and her cargo, not to mention myself alive, out of there. 

[spudbar]

Perch jerk'n is for the ice pilgrim.      Time to bust out the worms and bobbers.  gotta get a big cutthroat, 5lbs plus.       Or a fantasy 7' bruin.

[fishinpharmacist]

Been in the same situation myself a time or two.  Anybody got any thoughts on what the perfect boat for wyoming water would be-small enough for easy loading, hold maybe up to 4 guys and be able to handle waves when the our WIND really kicks up. Sounds like the drift boat did okay, but rowing would suck, anybody use a motor on those things?

[BottomDweller]

if i had about $70,000 to spare, i would get a one of the Trophy Walkarounds or a similar style boat...

http://www.fivestarmarine.com/trophy.asp

[BottomDweller]

...Sounds like the drift boat did okay, but rowing would suck, anybody use a motor on those things?

yes, you just have to get the longer prop stem to reach the water, made specifically for drift boats.

[fishinpharmacist]

BottomDweller,

Thanks for the info on the dirft boat motor.  I also checked out link to trophy--wouldn't it be nice to have a no cap fishing budget!!