Melissa and I headed to the panhandle this last weekend to drop her grandmother's ashes in Lake Coeur d'Alene on Saturday. I trailed behind 2 pontoon boats full of family members for a brief but sweet ceremony. We dropped flowers in the lake in front of her lakefront cabin then spent a couple hours trolling for Kokanee afterwards. Didn't spend long there as the Kokes were all BABIES and we felt guilty even hooking them. Not a lot of fishing but a pretty special day.

On Sunday we headed to Pend Oreille to chase after some of those elusive giant Kamloops rainbows. We trolled the local favorite Jenny's flies behind 8 in flashers at 150 - 250 ft on downriggers and added a weighted third line with an Apex resembling a small Kokanee. After 4 hrs without a bite we headed to the beach to let the dogs play and stretch our legs a bit. When we headed back out we swapped over to Kokanee gear and had a great time the rest of the afternoon. Landed 14 Kokes and even put a "baby" Kamloops in the boat on a Kokanee hoochie!

The views, beach, calm water and Kokanee fishing made this trip an easy 4/5. Would have given it a 5 if the trout fishing was better but I can't complain. That lake is a big, deep monster and I think probably a little luck is involved catching a 20 pound rainbow. Just gives us more reason to head back!