cabezon99

A new ride Some nice lakers A LOT of crap for the hat... Too many nice fish in the boat last year to count A catfish that fought like a BEAST Currently I am fighting a terrible bout of Spring Fever...

In summer, because of fleas I strongly suggest 30 or 40 lb mono (I use berkley big game) with an 18 or 20lb flourocarbon leader.

Double crush spin doctor and hammer, crinkle green or stud / glow stud flies. (all made by a-tom-mik) Depending on conditions switch spin doc to silver...The gator spin doc was great for me last summer. I have spring fever BAD....

I honestly feel the guy was harassing me on purpose. He was in a red lund for sure, I got a good look at it. Never had that happen when it is just me and another boat in open water but if it ever does again I will snap a pic or 2 for sure.

More to the point of the post we had a slow pick of adolescents out deep, nothing to write mom about. Did not fish inside

I had a similar experience noonish Sunday out front Olcoot around 400 FOW. 2 guys in a red Lund fishing w/ no boards just 2 poles on riggers. I was headed back south where it was less bumpy and he north slightly off my port side. We were quite a ways off from each other so I angled to starboard inside of him and he turned pretty sharply inside of my track so I angled back to port.... then he also started to angle back and missed my boards by maybe 50ft.... I ran a big loop.to get back on track and this same boat is now heading south same as me off my starboard side slowly drifting toward me forcing me to head SE.... There was nobody for miles and this ... "other person" not going to say boater... not worthy of the term boater basically harassed us for an hour. I have had close calls in traffic but to have a boat shadow me like that... not sure the guy's issue heck even if he felt I was in the wrong to get so close to my boards in open water is just plain irresponsible.

Maybe a bit extreme for Lake O but on west coast the seasons for wild salmon and stocked salmon differ so you are required to use barbless hooks, they do much less damage when removing hooks that end up in top of mouth. I can say without doubt even the bigger fish I catch out of Puget Sound / Pacific have much better survival rate. That said surface and down temp difference not nearly as big as Lake O.

I release most fish as well and agree totally about minimal handling. Shakers almost always good and sub 10 lbs usually head right down as well so the fight plays a part as well. It is not the funnest way to catch nor is it possible with the big ones but in my experience the fish that get horsed in quick stand a much better chance. I have also noted fish that come up from the deeper water have to equalize swim bladder before they can descend and have seen many belly floaters kick there way down eventually.

Snapped brand new 20lb flouro leader saturday when I left drag too tight off the boards, rod doubled over just got my hand on the reel and it snapped. Considering the flea issues how do you get away with 25LBS test?

I was out deep yesterday in my 19 footer with no issues, fished between 400 and 500 FOW and it was well worth the run out Used to make runs out that deep in an old 16ft Sylvan Sea Monster on nice days as well.

Nice Report and I agree, our fishery is amazing!

Looks like you guys had a great time. Me and my 19 ft boat stayed home, changed oil, lower unit oil, battery water checks, replaced leaders, yard work bla bla bla

gator spin doc with crinkle green atomik fly has hands down been killing it for me this year and not to sound like a broken record but but double crush with glow stud fly Decently productive spoons this year are SS drunken waddler as well as Michigan NBK stingray usually paired with mountain dew spin docs

On the west side of the lake (Olcott) since late june I have seen no advantage to getting up and on the lake by dawn. Find the right down temp and the bait and its on. bout time - That is a great bit of info for me as fishing for salmon on the west coast/washington state during a full moon is worst time no matter what time of day. I have followed the same assumption here in NY but I have 0 evidence to back it up, just assumed.... Thank You for the tip!

From what I can tell and others have mentioned is the majority of the troubles come from the Stable fly. I have seen plenty of deer and some MONSTER horse flies on the lake but they are easy to deal with. Stable flies are the ones that swarm your ankles and harass your dog... look like a small house fly. Their bites hurt but dont have much of a lasting effect for most far as I know. I say far as I know because I am allergic to them, have to wear pants with thick socks on the lake. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_fly