Every year my extended family go fishing and jetboating at Steamboat Rock state park on Banks lake for 10 days so this is a report from 9/3 til 9/13.

After last years slug fest from the lake being 25 ft lower than usual we were very optimistic that it would be similar this year. We started with the base plan of trolling around in devils punch bowl out in front of the park because it always produces fish, from bass to perch and the occasional walleye. But after two days we didn't touch a single thing. So the 3rd day we decide to hit the rocks adjacent to and across from the Northup ramp... throwing ralapas all morning and were able to put 3 smallmouth in the live well. Our depth finder would go nuts sometimes as we cruised over random rock piles throughout the lake but the fish just would not bite. I mean we would find holes with fish everywhere and drop a whole worm down and run over it time and after time and couldn't catch a thing. We fished almost every morning from 6 - 10ish and for 3 of us fishing we took in 22 total is 10 days. The biggest being 17" but most were in the 10 - 12" range. And for the first time ever in our 8 years of fishing banks lake we failed to hook a single walleye or largemouth. I also may add that we set two lines out every night off the beach and were able to get a few catfish with a simple bobber and worm with a weight underneath to catch a weed and keep it stationary, I did catch my first ever catfish this way.

Saturday night a lightning storm roared thru right over the top of us as we were around the campfire, but the next morning we woke up and the place was completely smoked out. Listening to the radio we heard that almost 60 wildfires had sparked over night between Wenatchee and Coulee City. We drove up to the airport and I snapped a picture looking west over the north part of the lake close to electric city. The rest of the time there it was smokey but still very nice and I am glad to be able to enjoy this beatiful country year after year. It really is paradise in our state.

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