11-05-2003, 06:21 PM
First of all, a big thanks to BLM for the tips on fishing the mack spawn. He is right, there is a definite technique to catching these monsters--you can't just throw anything and expect to land fish (I know from getting skunked many times). Anyway, the wife and I braved the elements on Halloween and headed up to bear lake at 2pm. We arrived at the marina at 3:30, suited up (gortex snomobile suits, sorels, and parkas) and were fishing by 4. What a beautifull day for fishing-it was snowing, the wind was blowing about 15mph sending waves crashing into the rocks and splashing into our feet and legs, but we stayed dry as a bone, and very comfortable considering the conditions. I rigged up the wife and she made the first cast but when she went to reel in there was nothing on the end of the line. We were only using 6lb and I think she must have held on to the line too long and her gloved finger cut the line. I have learned the hard way DO NOT GET MAD WHEN THE WIFE MESSES UP, just be thankfull she is fishing with you--so I faked a laugh and dug out another $4 lure and rigged her up again. We both started fishing and after a few casts I had the first hit of the day- a 10lber that took ten minutes to land, what a nice looking fish--see pic attached. at 10lbs 32" it was my biggest fish ever. It took a few minutes to revive her but she was released safely. A few minutes later I had another fish on, this time a nice 6lber. Now I'm having mixed emotions because I have 2 fish and she has none, so I insist that we switch poles and she can use the lucky one for a while. A few minutes later, BAM, she has a fish on--it was the highlight of the trip watching her try and bring it in--it was another male just under 6lbs see pic attached. A few minutes later she has another one -this time a bigger one. It took 15 minutes to get this one in--with the 6lb test we set the drag very light. This was a 7lb 27" and I went to take a picture but my camera got snow in it and broke-the only bad thing about this trip. Half an hour later I landed another monster--11lbs 33" but could not take a picture as the camera was broke. By then it was getting dark and time to head back. We kept the too smallest fish as the neighbors have been begging us for some fish--although after reading about how long it takes for them to get big like that I wish we would have released them all. It took us 2 hours to drive home through the blizzard in the canyon, but it was a nice time to reflect on the best fishing trip we have had. Now I have to look at getting a new camera-Inkleys wanted $320 to fix it and its only worth about $100--does anybody have info on water resistant cameras. My research has turned up the Pentax Optio 33WR as a possible choice. Any help on this issue is much appreciated. pm me for questions on what we were using.
[signature]
[signature]