Westport South

[Detritus]

Launched today about 6 45 out of redgate, Myself, Brody, Liam, and Tess were aboard. Headed south in breezy conditions, water temperature 47 degrees.

Went 10 for 12 today, all Lakers except 1 small salmon. Changes lures a lot in the beginning, because the bite was pretty slow. Fished from 12 to 60 feet down, most came from about 30 feet or so. Best lure was brass and red speedy shiner, I think that caught 3.

Met up with Dilly Worm and Tess and her fishing buddy on the other boat got to use the radio to give each other real time fishing reports.

Tess started off with a nice little laker.

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But the fish of the day was later on in the rotation, Tess again. Lake Trout, 30" and 8 lbs. Personal record for her. Adult master angler too.

Here's a couple of her brothers helping her land it.

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And the fish.

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Then another good one for her.

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Probably another master angler fish for her, but we didn't measure this one. The boys didn't want any pictures of their fish, they were too small.

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Three seats now on the port side.

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Another fun day on the water. Waves did build to a good 3 feet right when we packed it in for the day. Also spotted Troutcrazy, said hi on the radio. Saw 4 or 5 other boats total, a few warm water fisherman in the river. Got to say the upgrades to the boat were awesome. Heater worked great, out of the way, no sliding around. Fished in a sweatshirt again. My kicker bracket was rock solid, and the steering arm clip is so fast. Might fish again somewhere tomorrow, not sure where. Brody is 1 fish species shy of youth master angler right now, and he already has the lake trout and salmon. He needs a warm water fish now, but, we're not sure where to get one right now.

[troutcrazy]

It was good to see the fleet out there! Detritus that's a great crew- you are crushing it! Fun to hear about Tess' PB on the radio. Haha I'm a little socially awkward with the radio-- that was the first time I ever used it. I'm still not sure about etiquette and protocol and I don't usually monitor it because it makes static noise.

It was an absolutely thrilling day for me! Just being out there in the kayak this time of year is pretty amazing. I caught 10 lakers of varying sizes. The biggest was a beast but I don't think it was 30". Measuring is tricky in the kayak and I don't even net them if all goes well- it's easier to unhook them in the water. I had doubles at one point which is comical in a kayak!20

I ran a Purple People Eater (the only PPE needed out there) between around 25-35 feet down using snap weights.
I ran a Fishy1 around 17-25 feet down using a Torpedo Diver. The Fishy1 caught 7 of the lakers, I think.

At one point I decided I needed to make a change if I wanted to catch silver so I sent the PPE deeper by letting out a lot of line and slowing way down. Immediately I hooked up with something that felt a lot different than the lakers. It turned out to be a big fat brown! 20" long and a solid 6" tall! I measured it on the cutting board and it gave me nice orange fillets.


I haven't seen a salmon since spring. I'm thrilled with the brown, though, and I'm left with motivation to try again in the morning.

[troutcrazy]

About the warm water fish you're looking for: I've been catching big smallies on the offshore humps in 18-25 feet of water. A few big pike too. I catch them while trying to find walleye but I haven't seen one of those in a month. I've been catching the smallies on 3/8oz jigs with curlytails. I cast it downwind, let it fall to the bottom, retrieve it slowly, and let it fall back to the bottom every 5 cranks or so. Also on deep-diving crankbaits. I've never targeted bass but I'm starting to like these things.

[Detritus]

It was good to see the fleet out there! Detritus that's a great crew- you are crushing it! Fun to hear about Tess' PB on the radio. Haha I'm a little socially awkward with the radio-- that was the first time I ever used it. I'm still not sure about etiquette and protocol and I don't usually monitor it because it makes static noise.

Thanks Troutcrazy, I'm glad I have them for sure. I'm trying hard to keep it fun for them. Some kids love it immediately and completely like Liam, but, others have to warm up to it. I didn't notice anything weird about your radio use. As long as you're not having conversations on the Hailing channel (09) or the emergency channel (16) you can't mess it up too bad. It wasn't me on the radio, I think that was Brody. I was changing lures or something. We brought our handheld today for tess to talk to her buddy on 72, but, apparently it wasn't sending very well. Plus, no squelch knob which is rediculous, so yeah, static comes and goes, and you can't do anything about it. So we just switched back to the big radio. Which is pushing 30, but still works pretty good.

That Brown is a beautiful fish. We've only ever boated one, and that was 2 and a half years ago during the annual Bulwagga circus in the spring. Thanks for the tips on the Smallies, we may give that a shot. Means going to get one of the other boats out of storage though. Which is no big deal, it's just so nice to come in from the wind and cold aboard the Country Angler in between setting rods, and boating fish. Oh, the other thing come to think of it, is neither of the other boats has a fish finder. I've got to get a transducer and mount for the Garmin aboard the Country Angler so I can just snap it into either boat.

[ChessieMan]

Awesome brown!!!!!!!!

Dave and I were out amongst you - my radio doesn't work as I tried calling, have to figure that out - it was nuts for us - first fish was a salmon that shook off at the stern - so I'm, "Oh Yeah finally" - well, it was the "First and last salmon" we saw all day - !@#$%^ - but we didn't want for fish - conservative estimate was 30 for 40, really quit counting around 25-26 - 2 doubles and a triple - a couple pushed 27-28" - but most 20-24 - 3 more heading to the smoker - at 10 we found some birds working center lake ~ 80 FoW from then to 11:30, I just ran north/south over the same line we never went more than 5 minutes without a release - 2.8 knots, black/purple MP6 HB and Sun Rise Speedi 15' down

Can't complain one bit - the ride back to PH was a bit bumpy and wet - but smiles all around - tomorrow is looking good.

[Detritus]

Awesome brown!!!!!!!!

Dave and I were out amongst you - my radio doesn't work as I tried calling, have to figure that out - it was nuts for us - first fish was a salmon that shook off at the stern - so I'm, "Oh Yeah finally" - well, it was the "First and last salmon" we saw all day - !@#$%^ - but we didn't want for fish - conservative estimate was 30 for 40, really quit counting around 25-26 - 2 doubles and a triple - a couple pushed 27-28" - but most 20-24 - 3 more heading to the smoker - at 10 we found some birds working center lake ~ 80 FoW from then to 11:30, I just ran north/south over the same line we never went more than 5 minutes without a release - 2.8 knots, black/purple MP6 HB and Sun Rise Speedi 15' down

Can't complain one bit - the ride back to PH was a bit bumpy and wet - but smiles all around - tomorrow is looking good.

Thought that was you out there. Tried calling you on 68, and there was no answer. Every fishing trip the last month has been pretty good for fish numbers for us. Lots of reeling and netting. Tons and tons of small Lakers though. That shark Tess reeled in today was our biggest fish in months. We had to come off plane for a half hour or so on the way in because of the waves.

[Dilly Worm]

Another fun day on the south lake ! Great to meet up with Jack and the kids on Country Angler... it was a lot of fun hearing the kids talk to each other on the radio, "I just caught a huge lake trout!" "good job, what kind of lure ?" etc...

my daughter caught her first laker, and then a bigger one later on. It's taken a while to convince her that trolling is fun, she prefers casting for bass so there's always something to do, but today was a success and she came home very happy to have reeled in a couple togue. No fish pictures unfortunately, but here's one of her waiting for the fish to bite and a good one of the Country Angler in action early in the day:

[troutcrazy]

Awesome brown!!!!!!!!

Dave and I were out amongst you - my radio doesn't work as I tried calling, have to figure that out - it was nuts for us - first fish was a salmon that shook off at the stern - so I'm, "Oh Yeah finally" - well, it was the "First and last salmon" we saw all day - !@#$%^ - but we didn't want for fish - conservative estimate was 30 for 40, really quit counting around 25-26 - 2 doubles and a triple - a couple pushed 27-28" - but most 20-24 - 3 more heading to the smoker - at 10 we found some birds working center lake ~ 80 FoW from then to 11:30, I just ran north/south over the same line we never went more than 5 minutes without a release - 2.8 knots, black/purple MP6 HB and Sun Rise Speedi 15' down

Can't complain one bit - the ride back to PH was a bit bumpy and wet - but smiles all around - tomorrow is looking good.

Awesome! I saw you out there by the birds. I'm always tempted to chase the birds but I've learned the lesson that it can be exhausting to try and catch up to them in the ''yak