Replay of last week in the inland sea

[Reelax]

Launched Saturday morning at 515am to a dark but flat lake. We motored to the southern zone of the fishing grounds and setup as the sun peeled over the hills in vt. 4riggers with cheaters and 2 slide divers setup the spread. Thermocline has dropped to 70fow and surface was 71.5

Had a seasoned crew of Average Joe and Tunamas on board.
Expectations were very high and the cooler was full:)

1st fish of the day was a pig. Joe fought it long enough to have it make a huge leap out of the lake and break the cheater it was on on the reentry. We saw it well enough to see it was a very dark Kyped hog that woulda been great to get in the net. With about 3oz of adrenaline
Dumped into his system it took over and he for Joe to calm down:)

We started picking away at the salmon and if we had any sets above 50 they were peppered with white and yellow perch.

Had Bigbear swing by mid morning after our salmon counter was at 6. They had come over from the Outter bay and setup to our north.

Not many boats out and the bite seriously slowed after noon. We turned focus to the new magma and the many courses we had aboard to bbq!!

Menu started with lobster Rangoon grilled in little pockets with bacon wrapped scallops…

Joe bbqed up a custom marinated pork tenderloin as an appetizer as we worked lines…

Later in the day Scott cooked up some newyork strip steak sandwiches with toasted buns, carmelized onions and melted Swiss topped off with a garlic sauce that made you smile:)

Wow it is times like that where you almost don’t wanna have a rod fire….

Thanks for the great stories and memories guys. A day like that on the lake adds a day to your life.

Fish on!

[Big Bear]

Is was great to finally see you and your boat on the water, Matt! Looks like we needed to get there 2 hrs earlier… Even 60-80’ we were still catching white perch and even a bass or 2 as well as some yellow perch which is all we caught above 60’. Saw all the salmon there you did and tried all colors and speeds, could not get them to bite. Was a fun time regardless. Good catching up with you.

[Reelax]

Is was great to finally see you and your boat on the water, Matt! Looks like we needed to get there 2 hrs earlier… Even 60-80’ we were still catching white perch and even a bass or 2 as well as some yellow perch which is all we caught above 60’. Saw all the salmon there you did and tried all colors and speeds, could not get them to bite. Was a fun time regardless. Good catching up with you.

Good to see you out on the pond. The best bite had subsided by the time we saw you, think we only did one legal salmon and a few yearlings after 10am.

Next week this time we will be fishing the Kenai;)

Hope for a good fish there

[Big Bear]

That is likely to be epic!!! Enjoy the trip, Matt.

[TUnamas]

A few further notes: (1) That picture of the seagull on the floater wasn't our doing. We didn't get close enough to see if it was a walleye, a carp or a smallmouth, but the one tough salmon release that we had we circled back when it floated, recaptured and rehabilitated it, and then made a second healthy release. (we circled back on a lost hat too, with similar success on the recovery!) (2) Watching the cormorants work the bait from below and the seagulls and terns from above was awesome. Lots of life, but hard to get a bite. (3) That tiny fish in my palm was spit up. It's smaller than even my smaller needlefish. Hard to match that hatch. Maybe a smelt, hard to tell. (4) I was glad to meet Joe. I'd fish with him again any time! (5) I'm not complaining about 9 salmon in Mid-August. (6) No lamprey scares and no fleas. A few fish in at least 3 different age classes. The Inland Sea isn't my home water, and I always feel like a foreigner, but we made it work! Hope it keeps working!