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Oh boy, I didn't mention the big C130 water dipper that flew within a couple hundred feet of the boat did I?
It came from my deaf ear side and it was such a loud roar that I turned around and was saying WTF is that then I saw it!!! :eek: :eek::eek:
HO-Lee-Crap! You know, there's been a time or two, over the years, those fly out of The ANG base just North of me. They sound a LITTLE different than all the other commercial and military planes that fly out of the area.
 
HO-Lee-Crap! You know, there's been a time or two, over the years, those fly out of The ANG base just North of me. They sound a LITTLE different than all the other commercial and military planes that fly out of the area.
Especially when they're flying that close to the
FV: Bloody Deck!!!

Damn them for harassing this old fisherman!!! :s0143: :s0143: :s0143:
 
Well yesterday's adventure was with my regular crew, I will call them normal because they are not. Lol
Anyways the duck started quackin at 2:45am :eek:
Yeah, I was thinking about the hoards of Bubbas that would show up at the ramp trying to figure out how to launch their boats like last year…
We got to the park entrance at 5:15 AM and there were two boats ahead of us so that was a relief. Additionally, there was actually only a dozen boat trailers in the parking lot when we arrived so we did not have to wait to launch.

The only thing different from my last trip was that yesterday played out with no sunshine, just clouds. I didn't need my Oakley's nor my sun hat, the sun did decide to appear around 11:30 after we were out of the water heading home… :D

Riffe lake is my own personal rinse and repeat fishery…:s0062:


9CD11A72-5253-42E0-8160-7A5A7056188B.jpeg

if you zoom in you will see the only area that we finished and all those way points are fish that bit only after we figured out how to mark the waypoints on the new FF, we figured we had at least 30 bites from 6:30-11.
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5 am came awfully early and I was lookin for the shotgun to silence that friggin duck that kept quackin!!!
I was anticipating the long awaited adventure with @Mikej and his better half that was to happen today. Let me tell ya they are some serious salmon fishin people.
I believe that I mentioned they needn't "set the hook" like on the big ones a time or two.:s0140:

I was a bit early and so were they. It's nice to be punctual when everyone is meeting at one place from hours away. They cheated and stayed in a cabin near the lake… (good thinking). :p:p:p

The lake was filled with water today, the highest I've ever seen it. I talked with a gentleman at the launch and he was saying that the temperature up on the glacier was about 115° this weekend and that's why there was so much 72°water. Just a week before it was a lot lowered and 62°. :eek:


I don't remember exactly what time we started fishing but it wasn't long before we found some willing biters. Honestly, I think we actually lost more than we boated and the catchin was a bit slow but the fishing was great. We were catching them while awaiting to get the lines in the DR's, most came at 10' and down to 32 feet 0TW (on the wire).

We did wind up leaving fish to find our last 3 fish, which is a big no-no in certain circles of fishermen. :oops::oops::oops:
The reason was that I have not fished the dam area all season because my go to area was hot hot hot so there was no need to go to the dam but I wanted to give it a try anyways.
We ended the day with 12 nice size 14-16 inch fish and one 8 inch that could not be released because it was hooked too deep and bleeding.
Suffice to say I'm going back to my go to spot even if it has slowed a bit.

I really had a great time giving Mike and his wife a tutorial on how to troll, the use DR's and how to fight these smaller cousins of the big boys. They did very well after I let them have the dance floor for a well deserved break and to try and put them on more fish. :D:D:D
 
5 am came awfully early and I was lookin for the shotgun to silence that friggin duck that kept quackin!!!
I was anticipating the long awaited adventure with @Mikej and his better half that was to happen today. Let me tell ya they are some serious salmon fishin people.
I believe that I mentioned they needn't "set the hook" like on the big ones a time or two.:s0140:

I was a bit early and so were they. It's nice to be punctual when everyone is meeting at one place from hours away. They cheated and stayed in a cabin near the lake… (good thinking). :p:p:p

The lake was filled with water today, the highest I've ever seen it. I talked with a gentleman at the launch and he was saying that the temperature up on the glacier was about 115° this weekend and that's why there was so much 72°water. Just a week before it was a lot lowered and 62°. :eek:


I don't remember exactly what time we started fishing but it wasn't long before we found some willing biters. Honestly, I think we actually lost more than we boated and the catchin was a bit slow but the fishing was great. We were catching them while awaiting to get the lines in the DR's, most came at 10' and down to 32 feet 0TW (on the wire).

We did wind up leaving fish to find our last 3 fish, which is a big no-no in certain circles of fishermen. :oops::oops::oops:
The reason was that I have not fished the dam area all season because my go to area was hot hot hot so there was no need to go to the dam but I wanted to give it a try anyways.
We ended the day with 12 nice size 14-16 inch fish and one 8 inch that could not be released because it was hooked too deep and bleeding.
Suffice to say I'm going back to my go to spot even if it has slowed a bit.

I really had a great time giving Mike and his wife a tutorial on how to troll, the use DR's and how to fight these smaller cousins of the big boys. They did very well after I let them have the dance floor for a well deserved break and to try and put them on more fish. :D:D:D
Thanks for telling the story Jim, you're probably better at it than I would be. There's a learning curve for a person that has fished for nothing but salmon/steelhead and perch for many years. You set the hook, Hard! With down riggers you have this huge "Bow" in the line that needs to be taken up first. Then, just a short jerk, or not at all, after the slack is quickly taken up.

We sure didn't think the action was slow. No one got to sit except who ever was at the helm. While I was at the helm following a path on the depth finder Jim got to showing Wifey how to rig up FOUR rods on two down riggers so they run at four different depths covering roughly 20' of depth. So many times once rods got set on one side one of those rod would go off with a fish before the other side could be let out.

Jim needed a break from working the rods and took the helm and I learned how to set the rods. If the fish would have let us work on the rods for just another 5 minutes every time, we could have got everything set and then waited for a take. But no, you look around and a rod had released! Or Jim would see it while we were working on the other side tell us about it.

There were times the fish would hit the lure very near the surface, or while you were letting down, or while your were already bringing a fish in! I'd describe the experience as a 'Semi organized fire drill". It sure was fun though. Wifey and I have done so much nothing for over a year. This experience was an overloading of the sense due to that, I think. Ad only getting about 6 hours sleep for the two night before and we were dead tired last night.

Thanks again Jim!

Oh, and Jim is a real animal when it come to this kind of fishing, just fishing in general I'd say, he's out there again today with a friend! I envy him. I've lost a good deal of my passion for getting up at 0'dark thirty, driving hours, fishing all day and driving home....Twice a week.
 
Wow, sure sounds like fun to me !
Went out once with a buddy on Mayfield. Caught a few !
If I wasnt tied to this darn O2 bottle, I'd jump at a chance to fish with Jim ! :s0053:
It was one hell of an adventure, that's for sure! I'd become somewhat of the lazy fisher. I traded in hiking miles and covering a lot of water for my salmon and steelhead, in summer heat and winter cold, for getting out on the big rivers/bays early in the morning and sitting in a hog-line with fishin' buddies waiting for the fish to come to the us.
 
Thanks for telling the story Jim, you're probably better at it than I would be. There's a learning curve for a person that has fished for nothing but salmon/steelhead and perch for many years. You set the hook, Hard! With down riggers you have this huge "Bow" in the line that needs to be taken up first. Then, just a short jerk, or not at all, after the slack is quickly taken up.

We sure didn't think the action was slow. No one got to sit except who ever was at the helm. While I was at the helm following a path on the depth finder Jim got to showing Wifey how to rig up FOUR rods on two down riggers so they run at four different depths covering roughly 20' of depth. So many times once rods got set on one side one of those rod would go off with a fish before the other side could be let out.

Jim needed a break from working the rods and took the helm and I learned how to set the rods. If the fish would have let us work on the rods for just another 5 minutes every time, we could have got everything set and then waited for a take. But no, you look around and a rod had released! Or Jim would see it while we were working on the other side tell us about it.

There were times the fish would hit the lure very near the surface, or while you were letting down, or while your were already bringing a fish in! I'd describe the experience as a 'Semi organized fire drill". It sure was fun though. Wifey and I have done so much nothing for over a year. This experience was an overloading of the sense due to that, I think. Ad only getting about 6 hours sleep for the two night before and we were dead tired last night.

Thanks again Jim!

Oh, and Jim is a real animal when it come to this kind of fishing, just fishing in general I'd say, he's out there again today with a friend! I envy him. I've lost a good deal of my passion for getting up at 0'dark thirty, driving hours, fishing all day and driving home....Twice a week.
I hear exactly what you said a lot from those who have never trolled…. Fishin I mean…. :D

I try and live by lyrics in one of my favorite songs, Last dance with Mary Jane by Tom Petty. He sings, if ya never slow down ya never grow old, makes sense to me. And no I'm not going to put on that damn party dress. Lol ;)
I will say this, I have slowed some over the years but I'm never gonna stop until I'm in the ground.

Things do happen quick back there with all the stuff that you have to try and remember that's for sure, y'all did great with the Chinese fire drills.
You always have to have your head on a swivel on the boat as you do on dry land because if you don't get to that rod PDQ you're just gonna be reeling in and rebating an empty lure instead of neting another fish.:s0054:

Hopefully we'll get another chance to fish together and limit the boat like we did by 10:30 today.:s0060:
You'll never guess where we caught all those fish today, yep right across from where we fished at the dam yesterday.:eek::eek::eek:
 
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Thanx Caveman and MikeJ.... I've been waiting to read this story for a long time. Glad you got together and had so much fun!!!
It was a great time, it has been at least 5-6 years since we met at a TNL cleanup but seeing his face I knew it was him.

I'm still trying to get a trip set up with Mr. @No_Regerts. That's gonna be one heck of a trip I think. :s0140:
 
I've had a cancellation for tomorrow's trip to Riffe Lake so if you feel the need to call your boss and tell him not to expect you in the morning then let me know before 9 o'clock tonight.
Let's go :s0071::s0071::s0071:
Oh, if only my wife hadn't committed to taking a friend to her doctor appointment tomorrow…. We could have gotten up at 3:00 a.m. and been there by 8:00 a.m. Hopefully someone closer can join you. I promise you will have a great time!
 
Caveman
We have about half a day today on the houses we are painting and then we have a deck job to look at over in Morton afterwards.
What time tomorrow do you want to meet up at the lake?
And what all should we bring.
 

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