My father and I knocked the rust off so to speak on Saturday at the big lake. My brother was supposed to join us for the shakedown cruise but could not make it, and the two of us had lines in the water around 6am.
We were happy to find minimal debris in the water, and after a short while I was on. I fought the fish to the boat, and my dad fumbled for the net and eventually snagged the net in our gear, and had to untangle it. I got a good look at the fish by the boat, and it was a nice male with a big kype, but he was skinny and ugly. He popped off after a minute before the net was freed, but I was happy as a clam. Funny part was the salmon was caught on the same set up which yielded my first salmon of last year in virtually the same spot albeit last year it was April 1.
We made our exit from the fishing armada, and while turning around something big snapped off a fly which was in the prop wash. Once we came around we hooked up with a few more salmon which were smaller, but fat and healthy. Made a few more passes with similar results, and then I hooked into a good fish. She even did a nice 3' leap as we were trying to net it. I did not get a good measurement or pic, but she was fat and close to 22".
We kept making passes in the same area, and continued with good action, and then my dad got a nice rainbow on his fly rod. The fish ha ran epic fight with several runs from the net, and with two of us in the boat it was chaos. Again terrible picture, but she was around 20" and a healthy looking fish. It is awesome to see the fish making runs from the boat in the cold water.
At 830 the bite died. We had one more hit by 1030, and we headed for some warm food. Awesome day on the water, and we were both happy to be back at it for another year. Finished with 7 salmon, 1 bow, and a smallmouth. Fish came on a mix of lead, and fly lines. A few came on metal, but most were on flies. Welcome back everyone!
