So here it is, the 2022 DYP from the point of view of the crew of the Country Angler.
Like Homewrecker, I didn't sleep well the night before the tournament. But, 5:00 finally rolled around, and I went into the boys' room to get them up. Got the boat ready in the driveway, and took down all of the canvas except the bimini top, thinking it was going to be hot today. 92 was the forecasted high. But, like all scouts should be, I also brought a few warmer clothes, even though it was already 70 degrees out. I told the boys "Shorts, but wear a sweatshirt". I brought 2 sweatshirts, and two coats of mine, just in case.
It was cold. And windy. We figured with the conditions, we should probably just set up along the north side of Thompson's, and do a little troll, to assess the situation. We weren't the only ones there, seeing Reelax, as well as TruViking trolling around. It wasn't very long before we had our first fish on. Then second. Then third.
But, it was very long before we had our first fish BOATED. I don't know what was going on, but, we could not get a fish in the boat. Here's what it looked like when we finally did. At this point, we were on the other side of the lake, feeling a bit like the workers on the show "Deadliest Catch".
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Believe it or not, the boys had their sweatshirts on, and my extra coats being used as blankets, as well as the heat on in the boat. Definitely the coldest 92 degree day we'd ever experienced to date. We found some good bait, and some active predators, and did a few passes over there all by ourselves for a while in the 38 degree surface temperature water. By this time, we had settled into a program of 2 riggers, and 2 dipseys running out the sides on wire. We tried running more riggers, but, with the wind twisting the boat so much, it was hard to keep things untangled. Most of the day, most of the time, we had a program of lures way back, 120'-150' or so, since we were running kind of shallow, and weren't using planers. After a few passes and several more non boated fish on, we said, OK, lets go check out another north facing shore.
Lots of boats over there, and we weren't even set up before we had a fairly sizeable fish boated, another Laker. Grabbed a quick picture for the Kids' derby, and tried to get one of Brody holding the fish. But, we didn't bother with the lip grippers, and I told him "Hey, if that fish starts to wiggle out of your hands, don't drop him on the floor, just dump him over the side". Well, apparently that fish understood what I was saying, because, it immediately started wiggling, and Yep, Brody did his job. Over the side it went. But, we did get a quick picture on the tape.
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Not bad, heading in the right direction. At this point, we were about 2 for 10, with the 2 being Lakers. The rest unknown, probably more Lakers. Wow we lost a lot of fish. No Breakoffs though, all just spit hooks. We had even dug out the hook sharpener and started tuning everything up, in case that was the problem.
We trolled around that area some more, talking to our friends on the VHF, having a very good typical tournament day of trolling. The fish started hanging on to the lures more, and we started boating more. And, they started getting bigger and bigger. The wind had even calmed down some, allowing me to film a quick little video of a fish being boated. So, if you want to see a little snapshot of a day on the water trolling aboard the Country Angler, check out this little minute and a half video of a fish being boated.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BMyJdgnWgM
You can tell the boys knew it was a Laker, by the way they weren't freaking out. But it was a good sized one, biggest fish overall for us for the day. 28" Lake Trout, just shy of 8 lbs.
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But, Liam knew that no matter how big of a Laker he caught, he now needed a salmon to take home the Kids' trophy. Because, Brody had just caught a 19" salmon. This one came on a pink Yozuri stick bait 3 colors down, 2 colors out on an inline planer.
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The fish doesn't look all that big, because this 9th grader happens to be 6'1" already. But, a 19" salmon beats any Laker. We had kept a 5-6 lb laker earlier, and this fish as well got the not so gentle pat on the head with the little bat we keep on the boat. More on that later.
Maybe an hour after that video was filmed, we were just trolling along doing our thing. When 3 very specific things happened.
First of all, Liam had gotten up to get a snack, or check a rod. When he sat back down, he sat on a pink, blue, and silver hammered Warrior. Pretty funny. After I pulled it out of his shorts, he said "Hey, that's a good lure, we should put that on".
Second, I tied that lure onto a short length of flouro and a snap swivel to use as a cheater. I pulled one of the rods, and said to the boys as I tied on a DB Smelt, "Jim Martino once told me, that if you want to catch a really big salmon, and nothing else is working, put on a smaller spoon. He says the big fish are lazy, and just hang out looking for the easy meal. They don't want to go chasing after something big that they think might get away". Now, while that's not what happened in this case, the next fish wouldn't have been caught without me changing out that dipsey for a rigger set at 40', with a sliding cheater. The lure Liam had sat on, and suggested we put out in the spread.
Third, Brody was up, and that rigger fired that I had just set up.
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We had just won our first ever fishing tournament.
Now, I wish I had filmed this landing of the fish as well as the one above. Because, lets just say, the landing of this fish was a little less laid back and subdued. Everybody was running around doing stuff, exclaiming at the size of the horse Brody had just brought in, and Liam had netted. Quite different than the Laker. When I went back to peek over the stern to see what they had, there were 9 words said by the three of us, "Oh my god!", "Oh my god!", and "Oh my god!". Guess we were all thinking the same thing. When that fish hit the deck in the net, I said, "We just won the derby".
We measured and weighed the fish and stuck him in our livewell with the two dead ones and the ice blocks, filled it, and turned on the bubbler. 27" Salmon, a little over 7 lbs. We all agreed it would be a shame to kill a fish of this size. If it died, yes, we would certainly eat it. But, we would do our best to release it if we could. It was pretty close to weigh in at this point, so we decided to just troll our way back to the ramp.
Once back, we saw EJ, Kevin, Dean, Matt, and some other guys while waiting for Jeff. Jeff came right down, and weighed the fish.
Here's the brothers getting the fish out of the livewell.
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Kevin took this picture for us.
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Anyone reading this far down in the DYP results posts has seen the pictures from the BBQ. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and there must be 10 pictures of everybody having a great time up above. Gives you a pretty good idea of what kind of crowd this is. If you happen to be reading this post, and are not a part of this LCU community but, it looks like a lot of fun, and wish you could have great fishing buddies like that that share their knowledge and skill with you, there is only one thing you have to do. Join the forum, and show up and fish with them. We didn't know any of these guys 3 years ago, and we've been welcomed in like family. A few of the long time members pulled me aside at the BBQ, and had some really nice things to say to me and my boys. You guys know who you are.
But, the reason I held off so long writing our piece of the 2022 DYP report, is coming up next. That's right, the food portion of the report. Here you see the 5th and 6th assistants to eating of catches at our house, as well as Liam, waiting for our lump charcoal and hickory wood to smoke the Lake trout we had caught during the tournament.
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That's my wife's car in the background there.
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The trout was in a brine overnight. The salmon was prepared in a maple syrup soy sauce garlic marinade overnight, and then baked in the oven. Here they are side by side, Lake trout on the left, and Salmon on the right.
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I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Lake Trout can be every bit as good on the table as a Salmon. It's all in how you prepare it. Yes, its more bones, brine overnight, drag out the smoker, smoke for an hour and a half tending the fire. But, at the end of dinner tonight, we had a small piece of leftover Salmon, and no Lake Trout. They're equally excellent tasting in my opinion, just one is more work than the other.
So there you have it, the first real fishing report from the Country Angler in a long time, and man, what a report I had to write. I was talking to one of the most famous members of the LCU community while sitting on his boat "Reelax" eating a bacon wrapped scallop of course, about lifetime memories. Sometimes they sneak up on you. You don't know that today is the day, this is the moment, but, all of the sudden, bam, there it is. With you forever.
Thanks guys.
I'll leave you with a link to another little 1 minute video, the real hero of the day. Mr. Salmon, swimming away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VlzYK5 ... ntryAngler
Saturday was a bumpy start for the fleet In the morning but the wind calmed thru the day and it was a day that many will never forget… There were many salmon at the weighin, multiple salmon caught by skilled youth…..BUT none could even come close to comparing to the fish that Brody landed on the Country angler. The only way to make it better was the release of that beast so it could grow more after the weigh in. That crew is got some good training. What a great crew you have Jack, hope you guys are in the LCI. 
