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Today started out with some terrible news. After receiving a Guided Steelhead trip with the guide of my choice as a Xmas gift from my wife I was looking online to find the greatest guide out there when an email pops up from the WDFW telling me that Steelhead will close Jan 2nd in the upper Columbia. Licking my wounds I figured that I should hit the road anyway in search of some fishable ice. I headed up to Rat Lake thinking and hoping that I’d find some ice. I arrived at Rat Lake at about noon and the ice looked real good but you now need a discover pass to park in the parking lot so back down to Brewster I headed in search of said discover pass. I checked True Value hardware only to find out that they no longer sell fishing licenses or discover passes. Next stop was Triangle Texaco (Now Exxon) only to find that Bob only sells fishing licenses. Bob said to head on downtown to Pro Hardware and that they should have them available. They had the passes but when I pulled out my debit card to pay the $35.00 the guy says that they only take cash or check. I only carry about $30.00 cash so off in search of an ATM I go. I found an ATM just down the block at a local bank and then back to the hardware store I headed only to learn that they don’t scrape the ice off of the sidewalks in Brewster. Next thing I learned was how hard the sidewalks actually are in Brewster. After dusting off my pride and tucking my shin bone back into its proper location, I made it to the hardware store; made my payment and was headed back up the mountain to Rat Lake. Upon arriving back at the lake I was greeted by the sunniest day I’ve seen in a month an empty parking lot 8” of clear ice, an outside temp of 45 degrees, and absolutely no wind. I drilled my first hole and was greeted by my first bite before my power bait hit the bottom. I limited in about an hour and am planning on taking my son and his new girl friend back up to Rat Lake next Saturday. Oh ya, watch out for the cattle in the road way just around the corner form the timber operation. I just about had 500 pounds of hamburger to haul back to the house along with my limit of Rainbows.
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from Big D.
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