"We're going the wrong way. We need to be going that way." Those words actually came out of MY mouth as were were heading east on Hwy 522. It had been 12 + years since I'd last been to this lake and to say that things looked different would be an understatement. After numerous exits and turns we somehow ended up at Echo Lake to soak some PB for a few minutes while I consulted the dreaded map(I don't need no stinking map . . . ya right.). Having gotten my bearings corrected we finally ended up at Cottage Lake and managed to find enough room on the dock for both Joey and I to squeeze into . . barely! I haven't seen "combat fishing" like this since I was fishing the Russian River in Alaska last June! At least everyone there was cordial about it, but we all could have done without the kyakers that kept crossing over everybodies lines. Having used the last of my favorite Power Bait (Garlic) at Silver Lake that morning the evening didn't look promising from my point of view. We did manage 3 fish in about 3 hours of fishing. Final Score: Me 2, Joey 1. She says it's because the hat I bought her was scaring away the fish. Underneath the embroidered fish it says "Catch, Kill, Cook". There were some folks on the dock that were doing better than we were but they had big honking weights (in the 12 lb. cannon ball size) and were able to get out into deeper water than we could. I'm more of an ultralight kind of guy. I don't see the thrill in reeling in dead weight. There were guys out in boats but I couldn't tell how well they were doing but the guy in the float tube seemed to be doing ok with his fly gear once the wind died down.

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