Sebago Lake 8-30-08

It was a beautiful day as Mom, Alan, Pilot & I set out on sebago for some sun & fun. After breaking the downrigger (sorry Dad) I had internally given up hope to catch togue today and I really didn't think the Salmon would be coming up from the thermocline on a hot August day. Regardless of that sentiment, I put the fly rod out there with full sinking line. I really think streamers are the way to go on this boat. It's hard to troll this thing under 3mph and streamers seem to do the best at higher speeds. Anyway, after a little while of trolling I see the fly rod tip bend just a little...no line was being taken out yet. I immediately grab the rod and execute a text book hook set (I think). As soon as I did this I could feel the weight of the fish and all he wanted to do was go back down to depths in which he had come from. This doubled my rod over and made it very difficult to hand line the fish. This thing was a powerful swimmer and at that moment I wished I had tried reeling him in as my hands were cramping. There was no turning back given the amount of line I brought in already. After a nice long battle I sense we're coming to the end and I'm hoping Alan can net him before he comes out of the water and tries to spit the hook out. I brought him in as close as possible and Alan just about jumped out of the boat to get him with the net. What a beauty.





About 22" with a beautiful hook jaw and a lot of purple in the head that did not come out in the picture that well. He made a nice meal for everyone at UB's house.

Stripah Stripah No Swipah!

Alex & I set our for blues. No dice but landed this striper.

Sebago Lake, 8-10-08

We took Ricky's boat out for it's first spin on Sebago. Turned out to be a nice day. We managed two lakers right off the bat on dueling down riggers!! Both about 17"

Things were quiet for a while after that and we got so hot that we pulled everything in to go swimming for a bit. After a nice swim we decided to troll back and BAM this lunker crushed my offering just as I got done setting the downrigger.

He was a pig. A nice fat 21" lake trout. Put up a fight too. Fresh water Char fishing at it's finest!

Day 4, Rangely lakes region, 7-22-08

We slept in a bit today. It was looking nice out so I jumped in the lake for a minute.

Looks like Ryan has the biggest fish of the day so far!

After some much needed breakfast we split up and take out both boats.

Ridin Dirty'

Landed a nice little 13" native brookie off the downrigger before pulling in for lunch.

Looks like the other boat had some luck too!

Cheese

The women and children hop in one boat and Alex, Dad & I hop in the other.

We start hammering the Salmon again!!

And again...

Time to get a fire going!

I guess we didn't need to bring any food on this trip!

Day 3, Rangely lakes region, 7-21-08

We woke up a bit later and a bit groggier than yesterday. After a quick breakfast and some all important camp coffee, we set off for the usual place in Alex's boat. We only had a few hours before the rest of the gang showed up.

Pretty slow morning. I think Alan was the only one catching anything. All of them were small and about 12 colors out on the lead rig. We tried to release all of them but two were injured and would not have made it. So we ended up with an 11" brookie and a 14" salmon for lunch.

Time to start a fire and help the rest of the crew get set up!

Some of us read by the water...

After a day of getting rigged at the site, the boys & Morgan set off for a brief dusk fishing excursion.

Unfortunately, they were not biting any more...Even despite my intimidating poses with a fly rod.

Maybe if we pose together?

That didn't work either....Oh well. Try again tomorrow.

Day 2, Rangely Lakes Region, 7-20-08

Somehow we got at it before "Slider" this morning, I think we woke up 4:30am maybe...ouch. (FYI- Slider (Pronounced: "Slidah!") is the nick name for a local who gave us a bunch of info about the lake. He taught us how to use a "slider" rig on the down rigger. At least I think he did. It was hard to understand him and whenever I tried this method it wound up in a tangled mess.) So...with a fresh pot of coffee in tow, we ventured off to the main part of the lake.
Not a whole lot of action at first but we did manage a few small ones. After a while, we did pick up one on the down rigger. And not too long after that a nice 16" salmon slammed my streamer fly that I had on the fly rod. I think it was a territorial thing because he got hooked in the side of the head and did about 4 tail walks to the boat.
Not a bad morning so far...But now it's time for breakfast. Salmon scramble is on the menu today and it's my favorite!

After a hearty breakfast, the rain had picked up so we decided to take the fishing to a nice river not to far from the site.



I was working hard to get my fly across the river to some rises but was wishing I had waders...
Down stream , Alex was having some luck.
Alan was working hard to get over to some rises as well.



His hard work paid off when he wrangled in this beautiful brook trout.



You know it's big when it won't fit in your landing net!!!


After letting this lunker go & a round of high fives, we went back to the site for the end of day 2.

Day 1, Rangley Lakes Region, 7-19-08

Alex and I headed up Saturday morning bright & early to try and get some serious fishing in before the rest of the gang showed. It actually turned out to be a beautiful day. After setting up camp, we took to the lake. Somehow, we had this place to ourselves on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. I guess most fisherman don't waste their time during mid day but just when I was thinking that "BAM" Alex's rod is doubled over. This resulted in a nice 13" Brookie.

We were instantly relieved that we did not have to tell anyone we had gotten skunked. Next thing you know, it's 2:30pm in the afternoon, the sun is baking and we had not gotten a hit in a while. I glance at the down rigger to see the line had been released. After snagging the pole I feel something but it seems real heavy. After a lot of reeling, we can tell it's a brookie and it's big. Alex is on net duty and just as the thing comes to the boat he gets the net underneath the fish before it snaps the line during it's final attempt to free itself from my mooselook wobbler. Phew!

What an afternoon!

Alan showed up around 5pm to some very good news.

After getting Alan settled and cleaning some fish, we set out to a different spot for some dusk fishing. It was pretty slow. Alan hooked a nice little brookie but lost it next to the boat. Just as we were about to hang it up, a salmon crushes a little pin minnow I had running at the surface on mono. After multiple tail walks and another successful netting we now have added Salmon to our dinner menu.
Yeehaw! Time for the Jameson!