I guess I can give the last report(notice the date). We are home real early .. washout, poor weather pattern stalled.
The van gave plenty of trouble. The fuel pump I had replaced was faulty(new).. and the ignition module decided to quit to give small shop USA some ammo to shoot at me.
We made it out once again as Sherry posted. Manny had one little nibble and that was it in a couple hours fishing with 6 lines total. We opted to move(shore fishing) to another location we knew the fish were..
Well.. about 45 minutes later we made it to where we wanted to fish just to feel the gale force winds rocking the van. I put the van in gear to move to another out of the way spot.. shortly after I noticed plenty of strobe action in the night sky.. A thunderstorm was very near. I checked the radar and learned that there was going to be no end for at least 18 hours(rain/t-storms).
I made the decision to point the truck back towards town since we had to return tomorrow night anyhow(rain forcast for day). We had only lost a couple hours fishing due to the break down.. it rained the majority of saturday too when the vehicle was being repaired . The area has been in severe drought, so they needed the rain, but couldnt it wait?
All in all, I’m glad I went. It’s a nice area and there are a ton of fish.. just make sure you have a cast net for fresh shad, they dont like frozen. The people in the area are very friendly, and offer great hospitality. My graph was constantly full of fish and I could see one of my lines under the transducer.. and watch all the really big fish come up to investigate my bait… but they rarely hit it, and never held it. We found the fish and they were exactly where they were supposed to be, but had the wrong menu.
It was a learning experience. I will be back down for round 2 before long.. once I pay off the money I had to borrow for vehicle maintenece bills ($700 
)
I cant say I appreciate my trip home today.. I took a quick nap just north of Kansas City and awoke around 5:30 this morning. The thunderstorm was giving us all it could. I continued to drive through the storm, it eventually turned into heavy rain, then tapered off. The sun nearly came out for a minute just north of DesMoines(sp?).. then it started to rain, then sleet, then freezing rain.. shortly after it was blizzard conditions. Many accidents, cars, trucks, semi’s.. ambulences on a regular basis… it was driving meyhem. The roads started to get better in the Albert Lea area. Happy to be driving on a normal wet road I got to drive the speed limit to Owatonna… then the traffic jam came with emergency vehicles everywhere, several vehicles piled up and tons of accidents north of Medford on I35.. they closed the highway so off to the detour we go.. back roads that I think took us into Faribault and half the road in that town before hitting I35 more than an hour later(10 mile detour).
Ok.. I was glad to take the trip even though we had difficulties and some rough luck.. but I am glad to be home now, and to be fishing a couple miles from home in days to come. I have had enough drama to last for a while.
I think Sherry and Tyler are enjoying the last of our live bait (goldfish)… at least something came good out of the trip.
I am going to lay low for the evening and relax, maybe find a beer.. and possibly go beat up the weatherman that gave the great forecast a couple days ago!
Don’t forget the camera. 
Go to 
Dave just had a fuel pump put in it the other day, and it seems to have been a bad pump. So we’ll see what tomorrow brings for them.
