Our plan was to try Banks on Thursday 3/31, but weather warnings for high winds caused us to postpone for Saturday 4/2 which looked better. At 4 am Saturday I checked the forecast again, and although the winds were to be a little high, the direction looked tolerable and there wasn't a major shift in direction (to indicate a front passage). Plus, the pressure looked relatively steady and the satellite patterns didn't look bad. We arrived at the Coulee City launch about 0730, and it was windy, but looked good for drift fishing. (As a side note, it was comical to watch all the bass guys head north, not knowing the hiway was closed). We headed out to find some humps and drop offs. On the first drift, I caught a nice sized burbot, but no walleye. I've caught more burbot this year so far, than I've caught in 35 years altogether....I wonder if that's an omen. Anyway, we motored back out to a deeper spot, for another drift, but then all hell broke loose with the winds. With the drift sock long and the electric on 10, we still couldn't slow down, and we were getting wet. We battened down what we could and made our way back to the city launch. We even had to crab pretty hard inside the marina the wind was so strong. We pulled out and waited a bit to see if things would settle. Normally wind does not bother us and we can fish some pretty gnarly seas, but today was flat out angry. So, we trailered down to the upper end of Billy Clapp to see if launching at the bottom would put us in sheltered terrain. From about 3 miles away, you could see swells exploding on the far shore. Strike 2. We headed back to Banks to see if it would calm down. After about an hour wait, we decided to head to Wells. As we drove across the lower dam, it appeared to calm, so we decided to scout the rough gravel launch on the SW corner. We decided to try to launch, and that made the skies even more angry. A very large storm cloud hurled all over the Mile, and turned the winds towards the south. As we buttoned everything up, it began to sleet. Strike 3. So we headed home, with intentions of returning Sunday.

---