Windy as a MoFo is an under statement.
First year we went to the Champion tournament we put in at Caville Bay and went to the end of the lake/beginning of the Grand Canyon. Got fuel at Temple Bar. Smooth, calm beautiful trip.
Ignorance is bliss!
We continued to go probably 10 more years.
One trip it was blowing two days before the tournament and we went out to Caville just to see what it looked like. Washing machine!!!!!! We saw two boats come around the corner into the bay, probably a little over a mile away. Just running up on plane, they would disappear into the troughs between waves. One of the boats stuffed and the next time I saw it come up it was stopped, dead in it's tracks. It was a few 100 feet from a wall, with no shore. They finally got it running and managed to get in. We were in the upper parking lot and when he came past us to get the trailer. His eyes were big as saucers. We told him we saw what happened and his reply was only....."We thought we were Dead!"
Another time we were heading back from Gregg's Basin when the engine started running bad. Turned around and saw water pouring out of the engine cowl. Found the water pressure sending unit broken off at the block. Limped it to shore into a tiny cove just out of the WIND. Beached and jumped out onto the shore. There was about 10 feet between the water and the cliff. Rummaged around and found a stick that I could whittle down and jam into the hole. Suddenly all HeQQ broke loose. After realizing what it was I looked up to see a band of burrows looking down at me and braying. Scared the excrement out of me, almost. Got the stick installed. We had to go from the outside the Big Gyps to Overton launch. Chris sat on the front deck facing the engine so she could tell me if/when the stick blew out. It wasn't to rough after we got close to the islands in Overton.
Another Year.
There are so many boats I think there were at least 10 flights. They let the first flights go before Day Break. Were in the 5th flight or so, so it's just starting to get light. We stage and pull up to the dock and a Fed Park Ranger is asking each team where their going. We answered Benilli Bay, he frowns and says to be out of there by 11:00 because the wind is going to be up and coming out of Overton and it's going to be dangerous if we leave later. We found the fish had moved from the submerged brush and into a pocket which was protected by a point. Thats another story in it's self. About 10:00 the fish weren't cooperating anymore so we got ready to leave, put everything away back into the lockers. Moved out of the cove and started to think about rounding the point. I could see it was going to be rough going so I stopped and locked all the lockers except the rear one that had the battery's, fuel pump, bilge pumps.....didn't want to have to unlock it the the seas that we were going to go through if we had trouble. Double strapped the trolling motor.
Off we go, I was soaked to the socks within a minute from the waves splashing up the side of the boat. We could be on plane and quarter into the waves and made good progress as we left Benili Bay.
At Mead only major things are marked as you are going across the lake the water is generally so clear you could see easily 30' deep. Hills that come close to the surface are like glowing white spots that make your butt pucker as you fly across them. The area outside the Chute is an area that has lots of those hills and you can,t see the because of the roiled water. The wind is howling, were on the cliff side and the wind is blowing on to those cliffs, there is no beach. We took a wave that went over the entire boat and stopped us dead in our tracks. Water was in the boat up past our ankles. Motor was still running but we were taking waves now and then over the side. Within an 1/8 mile the lake was flat and calm protected from the wind, I could see a boat that was fishing the tournament but we could have screamed our lungs out and they wouldn't hear us because of that wind. We couldn't get on plane and forward movement made the bow rise and the engine sink below the water and it would start to miss and hydro lock the lower cylinders. I made Chris get up on the bow, still no good. I couldn't lose the engine because the wind was pushing us toward the cliff, but if I tried to move forward the engine would miss. Luckily we had a hyd jack plate , so I put it all the way up and tucked the engine under slightly and got us under way. Luckily we didn't run aground on the under water islands and made it into calm water.
We pulled into another cove near the other boat. We couldn't see them and decided to strip down to our under ware so we could dry out. Within a half hour or so every thing was dry the boat was pumped out and we got dressed and took off into the chute. we stopped and talked to some friends on the way, told them the story and fished our way back the the cove across the lake from Caville Bay. When it was time foe us to go in for weigh in the wind had shifted so it was coming directly toward us out of Caville. We again got soaked running to weigh in.
