We started off last Monday launching my boat from a ramp a few miles down the road, on the south side of the lake. We ran into strong breezes almost immediately, and decided to cross to the north side to get out of the wind. This was a good move and almost immediately Roger was hooked up with his first fish. It was a nice fat 15 incher.
Shortly afterward I got a good strike and landed this dandy 19 inch largemouth
We kept working the outer weed edges and catching some pretty good fish. We stopped along the way to let Fudge run a while, drink some coffee and eat some breakfast. As we were enjoying our coffee the wind increased until we had some pretty good rollers heading our way. We motored to a couple of spots to see if we could find some calmer water, but finally decided to give it up for the morning.
That afternoon we donned waders and went out to fish the brush in front of the house. Here is Roger fishing a bull rush area.
We found the fish to be cooperative in the trees right in front of our house, and landed quite a few that afternoon.
Tuesday the wind blew at 30-40 mph all day, so we went out for lunch and gave Roger a tour of the Birds of Prey Wildlife area along the Snake River canyon. It is about 30 miles upstream from where we do most of our smallmouth fishing.
Wednesday it was still too windy to put the boat on the lake, so we spent the morning buying, selling and trading reels, drinking lots of coffee and telling stories. That afternoon we decided to wade in front of the house again. It turned out to be a good move, even though waves were still pounding the south shoreline. Roger nailed the best fish of the trip. This was a dandy 20” fish that came out of those trees right behind him. It gets a bit hairy fighting a large fish in those trees, and you lose quite a few.
Thursday we were able to launch the boat and get into some decent lake fishing. We had 26 before lunch time, but nothing really big. In the afternoon it started blowing again, so we took to the woods. It was very good, with 41 fish being landed. We totaled 67 for the day. We also visited one of the tallest beaver houses I’ve ever seen. This one has been here and added on to for probably 10-15 years, and is now around 15’ tall.
Friday was a bit choppy when we launched the boat, and we headed for the N short to get into calmer waters. We got one nice fish and then decided that it was getting dangerous on the water. When I asked Roger to get me my life jacket, he decided it was time to get out of there. We had a very wet ride back to the ramp in my 18’ flat bottomed jet boat. That afternoon we again waded and caught fish. As we were working through the trees we heard music playing, but then Roger realized it was his cell phone ringing. When he answered we found it was ORCA member Dave Erickson wanting to know how the fishing was. Right as the phone rang I landed this nice 18” fish, and then caught another while Roger was talking to Dave.
Overall it turned out to be a good week of fishing with a lot of fish caught. Fishing in the jungle was a new experience for Roger, but I’ve loved getting back in those trees, and have fished that way on the lake for over 50 years. Roger had many new experiences to enjoy and think about on his flight back to Georgia on Saturday.
Nice fish by the way. 