I fished once again with Norm for salmon & trout today, but had a little tougher time than the last outing with only 4 fish coming to the net. We began around 9 o’clock, but never really got a bite until about eleven after trolling over all kinds of bait and fish marks. They didn’t want to eat! The weather was beautiful with sunshine and almost no wind at all. Water temps were ranging between 40 & 43 degrees in most areas, but I found almost 46 degrees in one particular area and worked it hard only to come up with one violent drive by. It wasn’t until we ventured off shore into 30 plus feet of water that we finally had a reel go off and it was game on! The deep line was the one to go and a chunky little salmon of almost 17 inches was soon in the net. There were lacerations and scratches along the sides of this fish that showed signs of an Osprey attack too. Oh well, I guess he got lucky at least once! Not long after the first rod went off, another one fired and it was the other deep line as well. A second salmon of over 17 inches was our reward this time and after quite a while of washing lures afterwards, we decided to relocate once more. It was definitely tough fishing today as we only managed to land one more salmon and a very nice brownie of over 3 pounds with 3 or 4 other drive byes as well. Overall, a slow day, but still a great day to be on the water! Air temps managed to make it all the way up to 62 degrees today and were definitely much warmer on land too.

After the last outing, I just had to get back to the lake today with Christiane in hopes of more of this incredible action. We arrived around the usual time and went to work almost immediately setting the lines. The boat traffic was unbelievable this morning with boats everywhere! I tried to fish the usual areas but soon found it to be barren and difficult to fish effectively, so I had to leave. The only fish we saw was from another boat passing by that I had to yell at, telling him that he had a fish on. Christiane flew out of her chair when I screamed; “FISH” and I thought she was going to have a heart attack! Oh well, glad I could help out a fellow angler! The weather definitely wasn’t helping the cause today as we continued to receive winds from the N/E that made the air temps feel a whole lot colder than they really were. At 10 to 20 knots, it felt more like 30 than the 40 we were in. Thankfully, the sun was out and that made it a little more tolerable. I really don’t know how long we went before we had the first reel fire, but I do know that it was somewhere after lunch before it happened. I had managed to find water temps that were above 46 degrees and decided to troll all around the area hoping for a taker. This was the right move as Christiane battled a salmon of 16.5 inches right into the net. This was the first fish so far this season that I can honestly say was hungry as the hooks were all the way inside its mouth. After a little surgery, into the livewell she went for dinner tonight. The water was really looking good in this area and we worked it for quite a while getting two others up to 17 inches and one missed strike as well. We had managed to land only 3 salmon and were looking for our fourth to fill out the limit and had to cover plenty of water to do it too. About an hour later and almost 2 miles away we had one on that went to the air and threw the hooks. I really wasn’t being too optimistic about landing a fourth and was just about to call it quite when another reel went off and this one came to the net. I was definitely ready to call it a day now as it was 4:00 and we had decided earlier that we would end the day one way or another at four. Talk about getting in under the wire! It wasn’t what I had expected, but it was still a great day with lots of water being covered in order to find fish and stay away from the other boats at the same time too!

With the weather holding stable and sunny, I just had to get back again to battle more salmon & hopefully browns today. I immediately called Norm, seeing as how my wife had to work today and he accepted the invitation with open arms. It’s always better when you have someone to share the gas expenses with not to mention the company! There wasn’t any real need to get there too early as generally speaking, the best fishing occurs during the afternoon anyway. Arrival time was about the same as Wednesday and once more we were fishing before 10:00 A.M. The weather was a beautiful sunny one with temps near 45 degrees when we started and over 50 degrees by days end. Winds were still from a horrible N direction but switched to the west late in the afternoon. They weren’t too bad at 5 to 10 in the morn and 10 to 15 later on. This was not looking good for us as we trolled for over an hour without even a sniff. I was going over all kinds of bait in deeper water and knew that there had to be dome salmon & trout in the area as well. We tried shallow, mid and even deep water before finally, one of the reels actually went off. Ironically enough, I had just marked a couple of fish around a ball of bait seconds before in about 18 feet of water. Thankfully, one of them ate! The skunk was officially out of the boat as a plump 17-inch silver bulled went in the livewell. We trolled around for quite a while afterwards without even a touch and I knew that a move was about to happen. This was the day that I was going to explore some new water and dashed off to the other side of the lake looking for some action. Unfortunately, the fish weren’t cooperating there either and we moved once again. The reel fired within minutes at this place over 35 feet of water and I really thought we were into something. Unfortunately, the tiny salmon of 14.5 inches had to be released and we never got another touch again. After hitting about 4 or 5 other spots, I decided to head back to where we started to see if the fish had turned on and was I glad I did. Less than 3 minutes after we had the fourth rod out, the long line started screaming and the game was on. A lengthy battle was had before the almost 19 inch salmon came aboard and we finally had a couple in the livewell. For the next couple of hours, the action was just insane. We had doubles, triples and one missed quad landing both browns and salmon before the clouds moved in threatening us with rain. The winds had changed to the west blowing all the warm water into one area and that was where the fish were. This was also where we were for the remainder of our day as well! Several of the browns were decent with the largest going about 3 pounds and they’re always a bonus fish. By 6:00 P.M. we decided to call it quits and head home. In the entire day leading up to the last 2 hours, we had only managed to land 4 fish with a perch and white bass as 2 of them. The last couple of hours however, accounted for almost 25 fish making the day just incredible. It’s amazing what a little wind from the proper direction and some warmer water can do for the activity level of these fish. What an incredible afternoon that we got to experience!

I headed back to the lake today with Norm to see if we could repeat the success that Christiane & I had just a few days earlier. We arrived at the ramp and were fishing by 9:30 A.M. under sunshine and light winds from the N/E. Air temps were hovering around 40 degrees but would eventually climb to 55 late in the day. Water temps were 42.5 degrees at best, but I wasn’t worried, as we had fished with success in 39.5 just a few days earlier. It took a little while before we had a reel fire and as luck would have it, another drive by! The next fish wasn’t as lucky however as it stayed pinned and eventually came to the net. Norm was amazed at the power and attitude these little salmon had and couldn’t believe how much fun it actually was on a fly rod. We had not seen too much action in the shallows with just one missed strike and decided to concentrate a little deeper with the open water. I think this was the right choice as the deep lines were the first ones to contact anything. It wasn’t fast & furious, but we had enough action to keep us happy as all the lines eventually accounted for fish at one point during the day. The lighter 5-weight rod was the star once more as it had at least 50% of the fish, as usual! Although there weren’t any browns to add to our quota today, we were able to take home a couple of salmon apiece for the bar b. The highlight of today would have to be when one of the salmon came to the net sporting hooks from two of the deep lines. It seems that when it hit one of the lines and it immediately went slack, it shot over and took the other one at the same time. Talk about greedy! Overall, we had a good day going 7 for 10 on the count. I can’t wait for another round of this crazy fishing!

Well, the maiden voyage finally arrived today as my wife Christiane & I headed to the lake for a day of salmon fishing. I knew an early arrival wouldn’t be necessary with the cold nights still upon us, so we began our day around 9:30 instead. We were closer to 10:00 by the time the lines were in the water and the game was on! The surface water temps were just above 38 degrees at the start and I knew I would have to work for each & every fish today. Fortunately, the air temps were to reach 48 degrees with sunshine and this would definitely help the cause. Unfortunately however, the winds were coming from the N/E at about 10 knots and that would prove to feel quite chilly. It took a little longer than I expected before we had the first reel go off & the fish was gone. A drive by on the first hit, crap! The next time it fired however, it did stay pinned and a chunky little salmon was soon in the net. I noticed a pattern beginning with both attacks coming on the deep lines and the next hit was no different. I decided to concentrate in deeper water around 20 to 25 feet and dropped the sinking lines a little more. We continued to pick a fish here & there for a while and all on the deep lines. The long lines just didn’t seem to be working and that wasn’t surprising seeing as how all the bait was pressed on the bottom, offshore. It wasn’t until around noon and the major that the action really heated up. While trying to eat a sandwich, we had all 4 reels fire off simultaneously. Talk about a fire drill! Ironically, we somehow managed to land all of the salmon and had quite a laugh afterwards. Throughout the afternoon hours we had many hits, misses and landed fish with a few more doubles as well. A few fish were caught in shallower water, but the bulk of them came from offshore, still in deeper water around baitfish balls. We even managed to land a few small rainbows and browns with the largest brown going about 2 pounds. Considering that it was our first trip of the season, we did remarkably well and decided to call it a day after another double header around 3:00 in the afternoon. We had managed to locate fish in deeper water allowing us to land close to 25 with several others either lost or just missed all together. The water has a long way to go before it warms up to where I like around 47 degrees and I can’t wait to get back for more of this tremendous fly rod fishing!