stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

So another son and his wife were staying at her family’s cabin with some friends, but wanted to ditch the friends and take the pontoons out fishing with dear old dad. I’m always a sucker for time spent fishing with my kids, so I loaded up the pickup, drove down to meet them this morning and went fishing.
Turns out there’s some kind of event at the lake this morning and the marina was packed. We parked at a day use lot, blew the three ( six pontoons for the three vessels) pontoons up and got them all assembled. Usually this lake is all about fishing, downriggers, trolling motors, the hunt for Kokanee in full force. Today most of the boats were pulling people around in toys. That, and the fact it was the hottest I’ve ever been in there, should’ve told us the fishing would be slow. This son doesn’t have as much patience as the one I went with last Saturday. A couple of hours of no bites and he was done.
We broke the other two pontoons down but left mine so I could go somewhere else. I went home for a while to check on my wife, but it was really hot in Salt Lake City today. The radio said it was supposed to get to 103.5 today. I went up to a closer lake this evening and was glad I did. I had one line out with the old standby worm under a bobber while I threw various other lures with the other pole. I got a bite on the worm and hooked a really nice wiper. Sucker put up a fun fight. I realized I had forgotten my net and was trying to grab him without hooking myself. Just as I pulled him up out of the water he went crazy and broke my leader. I think I only had four pound flouro leader. He flopped across my lap and was gone, I thought.
Just as I was starting to tie a new hook on the leader, I heard someone say “good evening sir”. I turned around to see a game warden in a boat right behind me. Until last week, I’d only seen one game warden out in the field. What are the chances of being stopped two weeks in a row? This time the app worked an I was able to show him my license.
He asked if I was having any luck and I told him I’d just lost a nice wiper. Just then I heard something and realized the fish was on the netting that goes around the seat. I reached down to try and grab it and then it managed to get free and was really gone. He saw it, but I got no picture, so it may or may not have happened. Enjoy a couple of the pictures I did get.

Don’t be jealous of my old, one wheel drive Ford...

troyfrd1 Loc: Hampstead,NC

Nice pics and a good set up you have

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Neat looking ride you got there stuco thanks for the pic. Funny story on the fish. Where do you keep your catch?

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

Thanks, I’m just getting it dialed in. I’ve still got to add better rod holders.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

The picture of the pontoon was per your request plumbob. That was the first fish I’ve caught off it. I’m just getting started with it. I have a stringer i figure I can just hook on. I could put a cooler in the basket in the back but if I start using the trolling motor, I’ll have to put the battery back there and it could be in the way.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Yes and Thanks Stuco i appreciate the pic. Now another few questions, how do you keep your feet dry, and if you put a battery how is it going to stay dry, what is the water temp in what i assume is cold mountain lakes?

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

My feet are in the water to get in and my heels are pretty much in all the time. When it gets cold I’ll put waders on. I bought some wet wading socks that I lust wear with wading boots. I’ve been wearing quick drying pants and been fine so far. Come fall I’ll just assume I need to take the waders with me always. The battery will sit up in the basket in the back and be dry. I’m kind of enjoying the exercise paddling. It would be nice to troll some of these lakes though.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

Well it sounds like you got it all planned out. Very interesting way to fish and like every craft, pros and cons. Bottom line, if you enjoy it, then it is worth it.

Thanks for all the info, and hope to see some more fish and scenery pics. Enjoyed what you have posted.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

Yeah I’m a big guy, and until a year or two ago had bad knees. I don’t think I could comfortably do a kayak, so this seemed like a decent option. It beats the heck out of shore fishing, and I have a hard time getting kids to go out on my little leaky boat. I was shocked at how many of these I saw last week up in the mountains.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

They do sound ideal especially with the transportation. Just the cold water is something that might get to me.

What is this about a leaky boat? I would stay away from that to.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

I posted on that earlier in the summer. My son and I bought a 15 foot aluminum boat a couple years ago. I had some welding done on it thinking it would make it leak a bit less, but when we took it out afterwards, we had a couple rivets pop on the l floor. I just got some rivets and I’m going to see if we can replace them and stop the leaks.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

I don't recall the rivet problem, that would be a little scary sitting there fishing and pop pop pop . Maybe that flex all guy will show up and paint the bottom for you.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

Flex all was brought up. Some people have actually tried it with differing levels of success, all the way to abject failure.
The guy that sold us the boat told us it leaked. He thought it was the transom needed some sealer around the seems. I had battery operated pump so we could keep it baled.

plumbob Loc: New Windsor Maryland

I had a fiberglass 14' 1970 Cris Craft that i bought from a friend that been in his yard for decades. Had a small leak somewhere near the bow. Just kept a cut up milk jug on board and kept going till i sold it to a neighbor. Not bad for the $ 100.00 i paid for it.

stuco Loc: Northern Utah - Salt Lake City

Yeah we’re not into this boat all that much. We got some mini clamp on downriggers and have had fun with it. My next door neighbor used to fish a lot. He said he’s never been in a small boat like that that didn’t leak and need to be bailed. It was kind of comical hearing the rivets pop and then seeing the little fountain coming up. Kind of like a Bugs Bunny cartoon from when we were kids. We were able to stuff a piece of wood whittled down to fit the hole and slow the flood.