Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Yakking On Woods Lake

You remember the post about a month ago when Yuki and I fished Woods Creek at the outlet of Woods Lake. Here is a reminder.

July 8, 2019

Note the snow

Yuki 7/8/2019
Well, yesterday we put our kayaks in and I had a couple things I needed to do at the lake. First I wanted to try out the (now not so new) fish finder. I still don't have a handle how that thing works. I'll only say that it kept flashing 19 ft even when I was sitting on the shore. More research needed.

So after getting my Lifetime Kayak (total weight 50 pounds) in the water, we put Yuki's new (he didn't tell me he bought a new kayak), in. I don't have the information on his kayak except it is a fishing kayak and the thing weighs about 300 pounds. I lost all though of information just struggling to get that sucker in the lake. OK, so maybe is only weighs about 90 pounds. Either way that kayak is HEAVY.

Good, now we're on the water paddling to the other side which he says is where the fish are. He's already been yakking in the lake before with his daughter the Biologist and awesome photographer.

There are a lot of little water falls feeding the lake with last years snow runoff. As usual, click them to make them bigger. 

One waterfall

Beaver Abode

Shots around the lake


Beaver house again

The far side of the lake

We are not alone

Kind of rocky in some places

Another part of the back side of the lake

Ooooh, another water fall
You notice how much snow can melt in a month. From July to August sure makes a difference.

I suppose I should say something about the other reason we came to Woods Lake, fishing. Since this is a fishing blog it seems the right thing to do.

I started with a Thin Mint on my lake rod with intermediate sinking line. When nothing hit, I switched to a black Woolly Bugger. In the mean time Yuki is over there in the Ocean Liner kayak (it's 12 feet long) yelling "I got another one".

One time I looked over at Yuki and he was standing up in the kayak. One would think after the Yuki incident of March 25, 2013, he would be strapped into the chair with a seat belt. He's braver than I am.

On with fishing. Since none of the flies I tried (including a Mickey Finn, good for Brookies) I switched to my spinning rod and Kastmasters. Silver Kastmasters always worked good in Red Lake, why not here. Because this is Woods Lake not Red Lake. Jeez they are only about 5 miles apart. Is there no communication between lakes up there?

Well, when flies don't work and Kastmasters don't work, one has to slump to the depths of night crawlers. I got a single hook from Yuki (obviously I wasn't planning on fishing worms) and a half of crawler and stuck that worm out there. Damn if I didn't get, not one, but two bites in about 10 minutes. Caught me so off guard I missed them both.

As a last resort I put on the other half of the night crawler on and sure enough this one I hooked and brought to hand. Small, about 7 inch Brookie, but big enough (3 inches would have been big enough) to scare away the skunk.

With one fish (slipped back into the lake before I could get my camera out) and 2:00 pm rolling around, we called it a day.

Next trip is Upper Lake camping with the family at the end of this month.

Stay tuned.

7 comments:

  1. Mark that's a sweet place. So scenic especially from your kayak. I think your Mickey Finn was not deep enough, perhaps a sinking line.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ok. For your end of the month trip, I will try to get these streamers out to you this next week. What color are you thinking... black? Does copper, silver, or white work up there?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Black and Silver for sure, White about 50/50 & Copper is a question mark. Never used that color. I'll try what ever you send and report back.

      Delete
  3. Mark
    If someone could figured out how to keep a red worm on a hook when casting with a fly rod, they would make a bundle. I've tried it and had no success.
    The scenery on the these lakes you fish are awesome; looking forward to the next report. Thanks for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  4. Looks like a great place for a paddle. Who cares how you rid yourself of the skunk, whatever works. Laughed quite a bit after reading your commentary on the fish finder. I could so picture that in my mind...

    P.S. - I've got one of those 90 pound fishing kayaks just like Yuki, and there's a reason why I don't kayak much anymore...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ocean Liner Kayak. He's got wheels for it that fit into the scupper plug holes. I just ordered wheels for mine, but only the strap on kind.

      Delete
  5. Nice blog Mark, I'm going to have to start following.

    ReplyDelete