A Kansas man reeled in a giant one while angling for crappie on Memorial Day weekend — but his fish story from the trip doesn’t involve actual fish.
“I went out to Cheney Lake and the wind was type of strong,” John Mounce, 45, of Wichita, Kansas, told Fox News Digital.
“I used to be in search of a structure to fish for crappie, so I went up by the dam face to get out of the southerly winds. And on my side scan, I see something. I checked out it again and I believed, hmm.”
Mounce said he dropped his Garmin livescope into the water to take a greater look.
“I could see the fender wells,” Mounce said.
But first, Mounce said, there have been fish to be caught.
“There have been some big old crappiesitting on the hood of it,” he said, laughing.
“So I caught all of the fish off it. After which as soon as I used to be done, I put the boat on the trailer and on my way out of the parking zone, I called the authorities.”
Officers from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department met Mounce at his house to view the pictures.
“Considered one of the officers, he took one take a look at it and he was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a CJ,’” Mounce said.
Captain Benjamin Blick of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital.
“On May 29, we got a call from a fisherman who said he found what he believed was a Jeep underwater,” Blick said.
“I assume he was using some variety of sonar. We had the county fire divers go up there, in addition to a tow service, and pulled it from the lake.”
Blick said a deputy looked for the vehicle identification number.
“We were capable of locate one,” Blick said.
“And once we did a bit of little bit of research on it, with the help of the Wichita Police Department, we discovered that it was a 1983 Jeep CJ-7 that had been reported stolen in 1990.”
After more follow-up, the Sheriff’s Department identified the last known owner of the Jeep — who had reported it stolen. The person now lives in Arkansas.
“We contacted the last owner of it,” Blick said.
“He said clearly it had been stolen. He made an insurance claim, which was paid out. We’ve contacted the insurance company and so really, at this point, since they own it, since they paid out on it, it’s as much as them what to do from here.”
Blick said the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t have any information in regards to the circumstances of the 1990 theft report — that case was worked by the Wichita Police Department.
But Mounce continues to be curious. He desires to know the story behind the stolen Jeep he found at the underside of Lake Cheney.
“I spoke with a detective the day before yesterday and he told me that that they had a number for the gentleman, but he wouldn’t release the name to me,” Mounce said.
“He did say that he would give them my number and in the event that they wanted to succeed in out to me, they might.”
Mounce said he’s focused on whatever mystery might need taken place three a long time ago.
“, this was 33 years ago,” he said.
“Perhaps they’d have an image of it after they had it. I could tell by it that it had aftermarket rims. I got an image from the rear of it and you possibly can see it had a tow. I don’t know, however it was anyone’s toy back within the day.”
A Kansas man reeled in a giant one while angling for crappie on Memorial Day weekend — but his fish story from the trip doesn’t involve actual fish.
“I went out to Cheney Lake and the wind was type of strong,” John Mounce, 45, of Wichita, Kansas, told Fox News Digital.
“I used to be in search of a structure to fish for crappie, so I went up by the dam face to get out of the southerly winds. And on my side scan, I see something. I checked out it again and I believed, hmm.”
Mounce said he dropped his Garmin livescope into the water to take a greater look.
“I could see the fender wells,” Mounce said.
But first, Mounce said, there have been fish to be caught.
“There have been some big old crappiesitting on the hood of it,” he said, laughing.
“So I caught all of the fish off it. After which as soon as I used to be done, I put the boat on the trailer and on my way out of the parking zone, I called the authorities.”
Officers from the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Department met Mounce at his house to view the pictures.
“Considered one of the officers, he took one take a look at it and he was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’s a CJ,’” Mounce said.
Captain Benjamin Blick of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital.
“On May 29, we got a call from a fisherman who said he found what he believed was a Jeep underwater,” Blick said.
“I assume he was using some variety of sonar. We had the county fire divers go up there, in addition to a tow service, and pulled it from the lake.”
Blick said a deputy looked for the vehicle identification number.
“We were capable of locate one,” Blick said.
“And once we did a bit of little bit of research on it, with the help of the Wichita Police Department, we discovered that it was a 1983 Jeep CJ-7 that had been reported stolen in 1990.”
After more follow-up, the Sheriff’s Department identified the last known owner of the Jeep — who had reported it stolen. The person now lives in Arkansas.
“We contacted the last owner of it,” Blick said.
“He said clearly it had been stolen. He made an insurance claim, which was paid out. We’ve contacted the insurance company and so really, at this point, since they own it, since they paid out on it, it’s as much as them what to do from here.”
Blick said the Sheriff’s Department doesn’t have any information in regards to the circumstances of the 1990 theft report — that case was worked by the Wichita Police Department.
But Mounce continues to be curious. He desires to know the story behind the stolen Jeep he found at the underside of Lake Cheney.
“I spoke with a detective the day before yesterday and he told me that that they had a number for the gentleman, but he wouldn’t release the name to me,” Mounce said.
“He did say that he would give them my number and in the event that they wanted to succeed in out to me, they might.”
Mounce said he’s focused on whatever mystery might need taken place three a long time ago.
“, this was 33 years ago,” he said.
“Perhaps they’d have an image of it after they had it. I could tell by it that it had aftermarket rims. I got an image from the rear of it and you possibly can see it had a tow. I don’t know, however it was anyone’s toy back within the day.”
