By resident Nancy A.
What a time the LTA fisher-people had on Wednesday, September 6th! The day was gray and gloomy, but we were not to be deterred.
Our boat captain, Barry Metevia, motored us down to the west end of the lake, and we threw out the anchor. Within minutes of dropping in our minnows, we caught the first white bass. Happy day! That first bass was followed by two small perch. Then, the white bass were biting and we – Carol Pinter, Kathie Leemon, Dave Stabelfeldt and I (Nancy Anderson), caught a few more, along with a few more perch. Then, Dave caught his first walleye!
After a while, we were hit by a hard-driving rain. The five of us tried to keep dry under the short canopy, but we all got pretty wet anyway.
All of a sudden, Carol called out that she had “something big!” Barry grabbed his net and climbed into the back of the boat onto the seat, and the two of them worked and worked to get the “big thing” (Carol thought a 25-pounder) into the boat.
While this was going on, Dave was hopping around in the front of the boat, in the rain, landing another nice walleye.
Kathy and I were pretty hysterical by this time, as we watched Carol and Barry working the “big thing” into the boat. It was a huge, ugly catfish that was so heavy that his portrait had to be taken against the floor, with Carol’s foot for reference.
By this time, the rain had pretty much stopped, as did the feeding frenzy. With another storm looming, we headed back to Shorehaven safely.
Our total catch was estimated at 16 white bass, six or seven perch, two walleye, and one catfish. We capped off the afternoon with hopes of more fishing bounty ahead of us.
To end the adventure, we had to call for help getting the boat docked, as the wind had picked up in the wrong direction. Fortunately, Dave Mickelson was at the pavilion and heard our frantic cries. He pulled us in, and we all debarked safely.
A good time was had by all.
Epilogue: Carol’s pole snapped in half on Wednesday, September 13!
(Must have been that “big thing”).