Where has the summer gone? We always have to stop fishing around 4th of July as the Resort draws down the lake level so badly that we can't launch our boat. But this year the "closed" resort, under new management, did not draw down and every week we'd kick ourselves for not getting on the lake for the first time in 15 years for summer fun. But other priorities took over. (We did go once in July and then forgot to post a NW Fishing report.) So today as we near the end of the season we were committed to hitting the water. We were going to fish next week for my birthday but the forecast is horrible so P&K offered to go with me today instead. What a treat and great day fishing.

There was light chop on the main body but in the lagoon it got almost mirror calm . We started at 11am with the customary trout trout and got hits right away. K had first a trout and then a bass but lost both at the boat. P boated the first fish. Hooray! I must be rusty as I missed easily 10 strikes. Eventually we all caught and released and P boated the first sunfish (pumpkinseed). He was going for the grand-slam, but never boated a sculpin. After a bunch of passes the clock was starting to creep towards lunch time.

P treated us to beef and barley soup heated on the BBQ with crackers and homemade chocolate chip cookies. After a break from the wind we started plugging the shoreline and connected with a few more feesh (as my Mom would say). I had several unplanned excursions ashore while retrieving K's lures that went past the water line. I knew they were going to leave me marooned if I got smart mouth so I played it nice as I wanted to be today's high fish count winner.

We seemingly always find lost lures. Not only did we retrieve our own from quite a few tree limbs and inland shore, but we found someone's broken off white plastic worm and a green and yellow floating bass lure with BB's inside. P and I saw it at the same time but he kicked in his rear trolling motor and grabbed it up before I could maneuver the front motor. It was in nice shape so he tied it on his line and after about 8 casts he buttoned up with a bass! That makes the find even sweeter.

About this time we decided to leave the lagoon and we provided entertainment for a couple hiking the Park. They stood on the bridge and sight-fished for us guiding us where to throw. The sun angle was perfect all day so as to see very clearly to the bottom. It was truly like fishing an aquarium.

A short while after returning to the trout troll, I put on a new lure and had a hard strike. I told P& K this was a heavy fish, "Get the net!"
K got right on it and I played the fish to the boat where he scooped up a colorful rainbow for me. While not much girth she was long and measured 25" ! So I legitimately claimed the biggest fish of the day. P is vey competitive so if I didn't call it a day soon, he would inevitably surpass my body count.

Plus, K has a bad knee and it gave out on him earlier and he took a pretty bad fall. Good thing he rolled around in the bottom of the boat or we would have had to tossed him overboard for chum. With 60 degrees, light wind, 59 degree water temps, partial sun, no broken bones and lots of laughter, we gave the 11:00am to 3:00pm fishing day an A grade.

K boated 2 bass, 1 sunfish, 2 trout. P caught and released 1 sunfish, 3 trout, 3 bass. My birthday gifts were 8 bass, 1 sunfish, 1 trout.
Hopefully the work and weather allow at least one more trip before the season closes.

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