Loon Lake / June 25-26

Saturday: Drove 4 hours to Loon Lake with Lee, his wife and their in-laws. Got to the best campsite I have ever seen - trees everywhere and 20 feet away from the water = a perfect kayak launch spot  . Lee and I pitch the tents in lightning speed and right about 4PM we went off to hunt for the elusive Brown trout (well - that was my mission at least) We started out trolling along the shoreline to no avail. We then headed towards the Islands in the middle of the lake - I trolled around one of the islands and paddled in between two large boulders that were barely sticking out of the water - I could see all the way to the bottom = 20 feet of visibility   I had 50 feet of line behind me and my favorite shad rap rapala in tow. As I pass the boulders - my 4 pound line starts screaming - a snag    I stop paddling and start to gain line and then I feel a pumping action = FISH ON (really loud)  . Lee hears me a mile away and starts paddling towards me - and so are the rest of the boaters   As soon as I see color - I freaked out and started yelling even louder "GERMAN BROWN!!! GERMAN BROWN!!! GERMAN BROWN!!   Lee tells me to shut the hell up before the rest of the flotilla hears me. As I was fighting the brown, I was trying to reach back and grab the net that was not there   and almost flipped. So I yell at Lee - politely - for a net. But then the fish starts swimming towards me -so I grab my pliers and I managed to pinch his lower lip - it goes buck wild and his lower lip detaches   and Mr. Brown swims away = lipless   But I was glad that my rapala was still stuck on him   Round 2   - I finally get a better grip on the pliers and get him on board =  a very beautiful 1 1/2 pound -  17 inch Brown on my deck.....(without a lower lip  )   Yipeekayey   MY VERY FIRST BROWN TROUT!!! I had trouble getting the lure out of it's mouth as my hands were shaking (just like when I caught my first salmon last year at Moss).

Lee managed to catch a rainbow but tossed it back as it was not worthy of frying. We both paddle back to the camp site and Lee prepared the fish for dinner - and dinner we had!  

SUNDAY: I paddle out with Lee's sister and her husband on an expedition trip to one of the Islands. On our way back to camp - almost about noon, I bump into Travis. He had been trolling the area for a while but there was no love. Unfortunatley, I could not stick around to fish with him because I had to be back at Bay Area so I paddled back to camp and informed Lee that Travis was out there (Lee stayed for another day). Hope they did good  

What a weekend!  

Lee - thanks for the invitation!
Travis - it was nice to finally meet you in person!

Pictures will be posted soon!

Good job joel!!!!!

Sweet.

Don't burn out the emoticons button dude!  

MolBasser

Don't burn out the emoticons button dude!

dude    you can never have enough    In fact    one day, I will  post a report    just using emoticons  

LOL!

I have a pretty good supply of them.

Sounds like you had a fish party at camp!




Anyhoo, if the trout was that well hooked why didn't you just bounce it?  Its not like your more than 4 inches off the water.

Where are you fishing the rockfish opener?

MolBasser

Anyhoo, if the trout was that well hooked why didn't you just bounce it? Its not like your more than 4 inches off the water.

Normally, I do - but this was a "special" fish  

Where are you fishing the rockfish opener?

I'll be at Half Moon Bay  

VERY NICE "Party Emoticon"

Oh...I forget to mention.....I spoke to the Park Ranger about the wildlife around Loon and he told me a shocking story    I guess a few years ago, a man had his little puppy (don't know what kind) with him at the camp ground - and all of a sudden, a very large bald eagle swooped down and "picked-up" the puppy with it's massvie claws and flew across the lake - as the puppy was screaming in pain. All the camp sites around the lake could hear the poor thing  

How tragic is that  

That sucks.  Yet another reason that God invented the leash.

MolBasser

Yet another reason that God invented the leash.

true - but even if the puppy was on a leash - I think the eagle would have done damage either way.


Just like you said:

Life is interesting. For an animal to grow, another animal must die.

Here's a map of Loon Lake - if anyone wants to do a kayak camping trip - this is the place to do it! Some of the Islands already have fire rings on 'em.

http://fishsniffer.com/maps/loon.html

Sorry about that man, I am a leash crusader.

On Easter this year, I took a walk with one of my dogs to get a paper and was harrassed by a dog wandering off leash.  Made me bitter.  Then, on the way to brunch with my wife in the car, I saw the same dog dead in the road after being hit by a car.  I felt bad for the dog...

People need to keep there dogs under control.  I don't think they need to be on leash all of the time (sort of hard to chase a ball on leash) but they need to be on leash much more than they are.

MolBasser

Joel-  Nice to meet you too.  Too bad we didn't get to fish together.  I ended up paddling to the upper end of the lake and had to fight that nasty wind and rough water back.  I got skunked but I witnessed others boating fish all day.  Oh BTW there is a boat in campground on the far east side of the lake.  I think camping on one of the islands might be better though.  It could get cold at night especially if its windy.

I love Loon.  Even if your getting skunked its still beautiful.

Bill - Thanks for posting the pics  

Sean - have you ever camped on one of the Islands?

That lake looks sweet!

And Joel..... Dude.....JUST BOUNCE THAT MINNOW!!!

 

MolBasser

that "minnow" has been evading me ever since I started fishing  

gotta love the higher elevation lakes   the fish maybe small but scenery makes up for the rest  

I got more pics coming....