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Started off fishing near the launch and it was uneventful for me. Did catch a couple ~10"ers SMB.

Started moving further up the lake. Stopped off on the east side and saw lots of activity. Big clusters of blue gills and some small SMB/LMB and I believe peamouth or squaws. Maybe trout. They all ranged from 4-8" from what I could tell, in about 10-15' of water.

So I started burning a deep diving crank and tossing my swimbait around. Had a few strikes, but didn't feel powerful or stick. I started tossing out the DS and could feel a few nips here and there. I finally see my line swimming sideways. Reel in the slack and set the hook. Boom! Fish on. Not a big one, but good fish. About 2.5# SMB. Caught a few more dink SMB along there. Casting the DS out into deeper water, I get another solid hookup. Another ~2.5# or so SMB. There's a dock somewhat close by, so I figure I'll toss the DS there too. As soon as I do, I see my line moving off. Set the hook and another solid fighting fish. Maybe 2 1/4# SMB. There were more dinks in the mix. As soon as I can tell, I try to let them shake off while in the water. One of the 1#, I didn't bother netting. I just dangled it by the side of the boat and grabbed the hook. Then the fish started flopping and I lose the grip of the hook, which then scratches the back of my finger. Deep enough to need a bandaid to stop the bleeding, but nothing to worry about. After that, I went bac k to netting these dinks and using pliers again, instead of taking the lazy way out, lol.

Move to a new spot and worked a couple of docks catching more dinks. I moved out to a point and first cast with the DS and lure starts acting funny. Reel the slack and set the hook. The fish jumps out of the water. See it's a kind of bass, but too far away to tell for sure. It digs down and ripping some drag. It didn't look big, but man was it a fighter. After a bit, I scooped it into the net. Barely broke 2#. This SMB must have been well rested.

One of the things I noticed about the bass caught today was their mouths being raw looking. Not torn up from hooks, just red. Maybe just hooked in general from trebles or I'm thinking they are chowing on craws. So I tied on a hula and chucked it around for a bit. At the end of a long cast, I get a tap tap. Reel in the slack and feel the weight. Set the hook and feels like a solid fish. It comes up quickly and looks like a trout.... wait, no it's not, it's a big squawfish, lol.

I did catch some more dink SMB ~1# with the hula, but nothing bigger.

I have an idea of type of area I'm targeting and start fishing out along the edge of a flat area. Ran my crank and swimbait, had a few strikes but no hookups. Tossed the DS out and catch a few more dinks. Another toss and I don't feel the bite, but see the line moving. Reel and set and the fight was on! Felt like a really good one. I get color and I can see the SMB flexing it's jaw to throw the hook. It tires out and scoop goes the net! 3.24#. Not bad at all. After that, nothing else.

Since I was relatively close to fart hole, might as well spend a few mins there. 15 mins there, only 3 nibbles. Called it quits by 12:15PM.

Witness a heron and hawk have a dispute. Not sure what triggered it, all I know is, it sounded like that heron was screaming for it's life, LOL. It was super loud. Looked like the hawk was chasing it or chasing whatever the heron had. The heron landed on a dock and the hawk swooped around and landed up in the tree. The heron was still screaming like crazy. The hawk takes off and circles around, the heron starts flying the other direction. The hawk does another circle and goes the opposite way while the heron screams into the sun rise.

mizefish

7/6/2017 5:26:30 PM

Really nice bass, FF. Thanks for the awesome report. You see your line move more than I do... are you using hi-visibility mainline? A basser I follow on YouTube ties hi-viz yellow mono directly to 3/8oz leadheads with a smoke colored curly tail (Lindy Grubster) and catches 30-50 smallies a day on the Canada side of Rainy Lake. Water is stained there so I guess that's how he gets away with it. He hates pike & walleye; gets pissed when they bite. CaptJohnWisc is his handle. Horrible camera & audio (windy) but the scenery on Rainy is awesome. Fished there for a week 10 years in a row.

Amx

7/6/2017 5:38:56 PM

I caught your fish in the Fart Hole today, sorry, I'll leave them for you tomorrow. :-)

FishingFool

7/6/2017 6:13:47 PM

lol. Did see the Mean Green this morning.

I may have seen you buzzing back towards the launch at about 9AM, but I was too far away to tell for sure.

Also realized this morning halfway down the road, my parking pass is expired. Had to pay the $17 to launch. I was tempted to go to Meridian or Sawyer this morning, but by then, Sammamish was only 15 mins away. Too bad I cant use that ticket to credit towards my yearly pass.

mayday

7/6/2017 6:32:12 PM

I have seen this fart hole reference many times, is this north side of lake?

FishingFool

7/6/2017 5:41:05 PM

no hi-viz colored line. on my DS, it's a greenish color "nanofil" main line with a ~10' fluoro leader.

The others are just straight fluoro. I can typically see my line without issue.

mizefish

7/7/2017 2:43:16 PM

I love Nanofil, but you've got better eyes than I because I can't see my green Nanofil to save my life! Longest casting line in the world, though.

Anonymous

7/7/2017 9:29:05 AM

What is a DS?

Amx

7/7/2017 10:27:36 AM

drop shot

stevertd2010

7/7/2017 12:45:17 PM

Surprised I didn't see you out there yesterday. I must have been too busy looking at the water. I went up North to work the mouth of the slough with frogs. No interest taken. Saw something big moving pads near the edge, and casted around that. Nothing. Then far into shore I saw a monster bass skimming in and out of the pads chasing something. At first I thought it was a duck or muskrat moving quickly, but then saw it's back. I just couldn't get the boat in there - very heavily choked with pads. Was hoping for a largemouth. Did a little trolling for trout. Then got bored of that and went back to SMB. Largest was 16" and some others 14". All DS. All in about 15' of water. One puked up some craw pinchers, so I know someone had them some mudbug dinner. I quit at noon as the heat was rising and the waterskiers were arriving in bigger groups. Only fished about an hour for SMB, so not too bad given the amount of time and small area.

FishingFool

7/8/2017 9:36:18 AM

I saw lots of puking, but they weren't craws. Little minnow sized fish. Under 2".

You weren't in a black Lowe deep-v were you?

stevertd2010

7/8/2017 10:27:36 AM

No, I saw that boat also. Mine is a gray Crestliner.

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