The accumulation of mucus-like algae is particularly heavy now and seems to get worse as each year passes. For you fellow nocturnal shallows predators, this makes fishing some of the most desirable waters (edges of the point, the dead zone, and brown alley) difficult if not impossible. Plan on plucking spooge from your fly and knots after every cast.

However, I have been into consistent action well after dark lately. Sometimes it turns on earlier in the evening-- around 9pm or so-- but often, as with this trip, I didn't see anything until 11pm and then it's wild times into the wee hours. Of course, most of the fish are what appears to be the new Pass Lake standard of 12-15 inches, but there thankfully is still an occasional monster. What happened at Pass? It was only a few years ago that I never saw a fish under 16 inches out of there and 18-22 was common. I'm not sure how this shift occurred, but I miss the old days. I see a lower percentage of brown trout too (used to be about 20% of my catch, now maybe 5%) and am disturbed by the occasional tiger trout and now regular pumpkinseed. And Atlantic Salmon-- haven't caught one in many years there now.

For those of you that still like to use the roadside launches, perhaps as habit from the illegal parking fee days or just to get to the prime waters more quickly-- 2 notes:
First, in my middle of the night haste I left one of my Force Fins at the first roadside pullout heading West. If you happen to run across it, please, please let me know. I'd really appreciate it and will reward you appropriately. These were custom modified to fit my monstrous feet and I don't want to start over. Thanks!
Second, there are 2 hostile guys that have been laying out crawdad traps there. If those are there it might be best to just use a different launch. They apparently had a poor haul one night, yelled a string of obscenity out across the lake to my fishing partner and I, and took it out on his truck, keying it stem to stern.

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