We had a great season on Salmon, but we also fish where the Salmon live most of the Spring and Summer. One thing to take into consideration for this past season was the amount of wind we had. It seemed like it never stopped! It would come from one direction one day, and then swing around and blow from the other. Our "inside water" at the Oak never set up. We fished 25N-32N all of July and August. It was the most stable water!
There probably are other factors, but I'm blaming Mother Nature!
Not a problem Chris! I enjoy writing them, and our clients enjoy seeing themselves on the net! Next season can't come soon enough....until then expect cabin fever to kick in and guys 'tudes on the net to fly off the rocker every once and a while.
I disagree Bri....The East end of the Lake tore them up this spring due to a lack of Kings and clear water, which made the BT fishing tough. It's all they had! Not to mention you still have guys in the middle of the Lake who would rather set-up on those things rather than using them as a last resort. They still take a HUGE beating! Then there is this guy named Brian Gamble. This kid goes out and power fishes them FOR FUN!!!!
September 5th - Fishing was tough today! We had a group of six out for a Bachelor party. We ended the day going 3 for 6. We were able to put two small Salmon in the boat and a Steelie.
Fishing has rally come to a halt out on the big pond!
September 7th - We headed out and had to weave through the boats doing harbor patrol. Too many for our liking, so we motored out to 100’ of water and set lines. The picture was amazing, but we never turned a rod, and as the sun came up the fish sunk to the bottom.
We pointed the boat North and trolled out to the 26N line, and still not a rod moved. There was so much bait out there it’s no wonder the fish weren’t eating. We told our guys at 8am we were going to cut the trip short and finish at 10am because it wasn’t worth the effort. Talking with captains all over the lake it seemed the whole lake was shut down.
Anyway, we pointed her South and got back into the 130’ range around 9:45, and the picture looked good so we leveled out. No sooner did we do that and our 300’ diver takes off with a Marv’s Big Fatty Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hijacker. We put that gal in the boat, and no sooner our 130’ Cannon downrigger fires and it’s on! This fish fell for a Stinger 2 Face E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Glow Hammer.
We stuck to the plan, and headed in with a happy crew under the tough conditions. They understood how tough it was out there, and were willing to give it a go in 2014 when the Lake is back on fire!
Wasn't easy out there! Easily the worst Labor day weekend of fishing I've seen out there in 5-6 years! Prior to that I wasn't fishing that area much, but some of the veterans at the Oak couldn't remember it that tough this early.
August 30th (Morning) – We left the harbor around 6am and headed offshore. We had a couple of kids on board, and figured 2yr olds and steelies were the best option even though it was only a half day trip! We set up at the 29N line and worked out to the 32N line with a decent pick of fish once we got past the 30 N line.
I can’t say we hooked into a mature fish out there, but there were some to be had. Most of our pick was 2yr old Salmon and some nice Steelies.
August 30th (Evening) – We did a little afternoon trip with some friends, and again figured offshore was the place to be. We set course for the 30N line and fished for a few hours. We ended up having half a dozen bites during the two hours we were out there. We hit a nice Coho, some Steelies, and a couple of 2yr old Chinook Salmon. Hot spoon of the night was a Stinger double crush glow. Another boat tipped us off about it earlier in the day, and it wasn’t down long before it started producing.
August 31st – We had enough of the offshore thing, so we decide to stay inside. Not to mention the clients were in the derby and hounding us for a 40lb’er! We broke the pier heads and set up in 50’ of water. It didn’t take long and we were into them!
Our HOT rig was a Stinger 2 Face E-chip/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist on our Cannon fished at 50’. AS fast as we could get it down it would fire! Our diver also took a nice shot on a Legendary Smart Fish in Wionder Dot pulling an A-TOM-MIK Glow Blue Hammer. There was a point in the morning where the fly bite started to slow, and that’s when the Familiar Bite meat started to take it’s share of fish on our deep Cannon.
We ended the day with 15 bites, two of which were Brown Trout, and some happy clients. Our big guy was around 26lbs, but most of the Salmon we landed were 15-20lbs.
September 1st (Morning) – We had the same group, so we headed out to the same waters from the day before. We not only were derby fishing, but we were also fishing the last King of the Oak event. The bite was a lot slower, but it was for EVERYONE! We ended the day taking five King bites, but only landing 2 of them. We also took two Brown Trout, and a MONSTER Sheephead! LOL
Our best rigs were a Marv’s Big Fatty Stinger E-chip/A-TOM-MIK Hijacker fly on a diver, Stinger 2 Face E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hypnotist on a diver, and a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler Mag on our highest Cannon downrigger.
We ended up third for the event, but we took the King of the Oak title after a tough 5 event schedule!
September 1st (Evening) – We slid out for our afternoon trip totally stumped on what to do, but we headed back out to the waters we were in earlier. We rotted for most of the night until we made a turn out over 140’ of water, and there they were! Our screen lit up, and it wasn’t long until we were into them! In two hours we would go on to take four shots. Three came on a Marvs Big Fatty Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hijacker fly, and the fourth bite was on a Moonshine Green Shorts on our highest Cannon Downrigger.
September 2nd – We started the morning in 40’ of water, but it was void of fish! So we slid out, and word on the radio was no one was getting them. On the way out our highest Cannon downrigger hooked up with a nice Coho on a Dreamweaver Sea Sick Waddler. Shortly after that we hit the 140’ mark from the night before and our Familiar Bite meat rig on our deep Cannon takes a shot. The rest of the day was slow! We had a shot on a Dreamweaver White on White Spin Doctor/A-TOM-MIK White Halo on our 400’ A-TOM-MIK copper, but it was a skippy!
We made the decision to go try for some Lakers near Devil’s Nose, and it wouldn’t take long until we were into fish. Our Hammerhead cowbells stirred a King off the bottom, which took our Marvs Big Fatty Stinger E-Chip/A-TOM-MIK Hijacker fly on our 175’ wire, and shortly after that we were into a Laker on silver and blue Hammerhead Cowbells. One more Laker would find the deck of our boat and that would wrap up our Monday.