Wake up call to the fishing group:

This is a belated report but a report nonetheless. My father and brother both passed away recently only one month apart. My fishing trips have been few and far between.

My annual trout fishing trip to Blue Lake in the Sinnlahekin Valley North of Omak was the last time I will fish with my brother Bob. We fished there since the 60's and never missed an opening day. Our father had just died before the trip and we had some good times reminiscing at the lake's shore after great
trout fishing days on the lake. We caught and released dozens of rainbows to 23". Most of the fish were around 19-20". How could I ever know that Bob would die only 5 days after returning home from a great last trip to Blue Lake.

Two weeks after the second funeral in a month I made it over to Lake Chelan for the annual derby. That was in Mid-May. We rented a huge home on the lake dreaming that we could pull our boats up on the lawn after fishing. Well, were we ever surprised when we got there and found the lake as low as it has ever been in memory. The beach was pretty big but was about half a mile from the front lawn.

We fished at the traditional spots like the "Monument" across from Wapato near the State Park. We even saw the "Rising Storm," Tom Nelson's boat , nearby, flogging the water with the other 600 guys. I actually caught a salmon this year but it wasn't big enough to weigh in. I caught a Lake Trout , too. I was using my trusty Coyote silver spoon behind a small white Hot Spot flasher with about 30" of leader and fishing deep. We were fishing in the same general area where the new state record Mackinaw was caught, a 31#
slab. True to form Chelan only yielded a handful of salmon this year to a few lucky cash winners. We had fun as usual, left a lot of money behind (even against my better judgment at the casino) and will return next year.

Today I wash the "Audrey Anna," my trusty 25' salmon fishing machine. Last weekend we did electrical wiring projects and cleaning in preparation of an upcoming trip to Hanson Island off the Northern tip of Vancouver Island.
After the mid-life crisis I am experiencing I went out and bought a new Suburban with the new Vortec 454ci engine. It tows the boat like a dream and rides like a Cadillac. That is going to make the long haul to Port McNeil a lot easier. We hope to get into some excellent King fishing, Halibut fishing and shrimping. Silvers will be closed but I'm getting used to everything being closed so what the hell.

I miss trailering down the hill to Edmonds Marina every weekend to fish. Hopefully we will see some semblance of the old days again. Take it from me, fish whenever you can and as often as you can. Take your friends and relatives. Take your kids. My best memories are of fishing trips. Fishing trips with my only brother are only memories now,too. Life is shorter than we would like it to be so why not spend the days we are blessed with fishing................

See ya on the water.

---