A Kansas man reeled in a big one while angling for crappie on Memorial Day weekend — but his fish story from the trip does not involve actual fish.
“I went out to Cheney Lake and the wind was kind of strong,” John Mounce, 45, of Wichita, Kansas, told Fox News Digital.
“I was looking for 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 looked at it again and I thought, hmm.”
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But first, Mounce said, there were fish to be caught.
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“There were some big old crappie sitting on the hood of it,” he said, laughing.
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Captain Benjamin Blick of the Sedgwick County Sheriff’s Office confirmed the incident to Fox News Digital.
John Mounce called in the authorities to report the vehicle; the Sedgewick County Sheriff’s Office then identified the stolen vehicle from its identification number. (John Mounce)
“On May 29, we got a call from a fisherman who said he found what he believed was a Jeep underwater,” Blick said.
“We were able to locate one,” Blick said.
With the help of the Wichita Police Department, the Jeep was recognized as a 1983 Jeep CJ-7 that had been reported stolen in 1990. (John Mounce)
“And when we did a little bit of research on it, with the assistance 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 individual now lives in Arkansas.
The owner of the Jeep had since moved to Arkansas — and was informed of the vehicle’s recovery. (John Mounce)
Blick said the Sheriff’s Department does not have any information about the circumstances of the 1990 theft report — that case was worked by the Wichita Police Department.
But Mounce is still curious. He wants to know the story behind the stolen Jeep he found at the bottom of Lake Cheney.
“I don’t know, but it was somebody’s toy back in the day.”
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“He did say that he would give them my number and if they wanted to reach out to me, they could.”
The mystery surrounding the stolen vehicle has not been solved, but Mounce is interested in what might have taken place three decades ago. (John Mounce)
Mounce said he’s interested in whatever mystery might have taken place three decades ago.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Wichita PD but did not get a response at the time of publication.
