man i tell ya what. i sure love my home lake!

realizing my dad had never caught a fish in my boat, (or in the past 2ish years at all) i just had to take him out. he doesn't enjoy fishing as much as i do.... but he is my dad and he will catch fish in my boat gosh darn it!

we have a deal between my dad and I: I catch, clean, and cook the fish, and he helps me eat them. i think it is a great deal.

i woke up at 5:00 to pack the boat, hook it up my my ford escape, check the weather, and cook my dad a good breakfast. (the breakfast was smoked cutthroat and eggs from the last trip with mom and gracie the wonder dog. delicious!) headed out at 6:30 and got to the launch at 7. lines in the water at 8:00. lots of fishing boats out for the morning bite. the wind was making some pretty good waves in the main body of the lake, so i avoided that as much as possible.

at 11,, alls i had caught was a huge snag about 20 feet down in 70 feet of water (mistook it for fish on the sounder) lost my downrigger clip. luckily i had a second. i will put a hotspot where the snag is. kept asking the other boats how they were doing, and no one had anything. after that, we headed in for a bathroom break and i made a new plan.

the new plan was to brave the wind (it had died a little bit... just enough to where i could keep the boat pointed the right way) and head to my favorite spot. put the lines down at 28 and 40. wedding ring and a watermelon dodger and a Flash-Lite and a wedding ring. got a hit on the shallow rod, but he didn't stick. stuck around that area for 2 more passes, and then saw a large group of birds (natures sonar system) about 200 yards away. trolled the boat down to where the birds were and told my dad, " i we don't get a bite here, i am out of ideas..." went through the birds and my dad pointed out a tick on the shallow rod when i was fixing the other rigger depth. watched it for about 5 mins and kept seeing this little tiny tick every now and then. my dad said when he saw it, there was one big pull and it let go. waited for one more tiny tick, grabbed it, reeled down, and felt a little weight, yelled "FISH ON DAD!!" i handed off the rod, and grabbed the net. my dad said he wasn't pulling much. i was at the stern of the boat waiting for the fish when all of the sudden i saw this huge silver flash 30 feet behind the boat. i said very stoic, "dad, he is huge" i ran behind my dad and grabbed my second net (i always bring two). i am now double netted, and ready for either side of the boat. when the fish saw the boat, he took off. he was jumping left and right, i was yelling at my dad, " give line! loosen the drag! tip down! keep him in the water!!!! WE CANT LOSE THIS FISH DAD" after a good fight, the fish was in the boat, and he was huge! i had never seen a cutthroat trout this wide, fat., and shiny! i mean he looked like a juvenile chinook! (less black in the mouth) . i was thinking maybe he was a rainbow or something, but he had the "cuts under the gill". i knew he wasn't a kokanee, and he wasn't over 20 inches (can't keep rainbows over 20", i wasn't sure what he was, so just to be safe), and thats all it takes to knock him. BLOOD ON THE DECK!!!!!!!!!

yahoo! the skunk was gone. after that, i moved the lines up to 28 and 35 feet, the other rod got a hit, and it was my turn. hooked well, good fight, got a beautiful large cutt about the same length of the last one, but a much more like a typical cutthroat body.

i could hardly troll upstream with my electric on full speed. the wind was picking up.

after that, we got 2 hits when we weren't looking. one on each rod. i was popping the clip to check the baits, when it got heavy. i was reeling in when i saw it was tangled with my other line. then 2 fish jumped. somehow, the lines untangled and we got the fish in the boat. then i popped the clip on the other one and reeled like mad. sure enough, the second one was on there too. waves got really really big and we called it a day. 4 fish, 2 big ones, great day.

off the water at 12:15, so fast action when the came.


fishing was a 3, but spending the morning with my dad, priceless. i am off to college in California this July, so i enjoy every moment with my parents. the day was fantastic!!!


i would be interested to see what you fellow NWFR fisherman think that big one is. it is the photo with my dad (in the awesome pink hat) and the biggest one in the group of 4. ( the top)

also, i am considering heading to Stevens this weekend with a buddy for some Kokanee action. i have my corn, my sauce, wedding rings, a hoochie, a plethora of dodgers, and all of my trout gear. always troll with Lamiglass Tournament Kokanee rods.

i would love any tips on good combos, speeds, dodgers, leader length, anything that will help a novice kokanee fisherman.


in the meantime, tight lines and good fishing!

---