Well, just got back last night from the land where REO Speedwagon can be hear as background music in all the gas convenience stores, where the trucks and 5th wheels in the driveways are worth more than the owners mobile homes, and where powerbait rules the tackle shops.

It was hot! As you might have guessed. The water surface temp. was 76 degrees, daytime temps around upper 90's and 100's everyday. Usually it cools down quick there once the sun goes down, not this year. Rarely did we have enough wind to chop up the glass water, so therefore the boats ran constantly, pulling kids and adults alike, doing our best to leave our carbon footprint behind while on vacation. Off to the rope swings along the lake a minimum of 3 times per day with boats full of kids, and my friends and relatives who even though in their 60's some of them, still thought they were kids. It was a blast as usual. The water was pretty much perfect all week except for a two hour wind and lightning storm for skiing and wakeboarding. The fishing was ridiculous it was so good. It was so good that some of the friends and relatives who do not fish got licenses and fished. Tons of nice trout, bass, and some huge tiger muskies, none of the big muskies made it to the net however. For a lake, it is a perfect place. It is why in movies,tv, and books often the lake is the center piece. The scenery was as always beautiful with hills, mountains, and tall trees the background to the lake and sunrises and sunsets. Every possible hour that you could be awake was spent doing something. Largest trout was 25.5 inches caught by my nephew on a midnight excursion out on the lake. The bass were small like normal, but tons of them, pretty much a fish every two or three cast minumum, great for the catching sake. The tiger muskies are really getting huge. I had two huge ones on that just let go like a ling cod when brought to the dock, never had a big one on while in the boat. There was one that looked like the Lock Ness Monster. Several times a day he would pop up his head, about a foot and a half of it out of the water and just slowly cruise the water with his head out of the water. Sometimes he would roll just like the Lock Ness videos, and sometime he would slowly shake his head back and forth above the water. He was minumum 5 feet long and I believe when he is finally caught, the state record will go down big time. Doug, the owner of the "resort" we were at said many have tried to catch him, but so far, he has just been great entertainment value for the guests. Supposedly there are several in the lake that big. I've seen some monsters, and we became musky hunters while there, with rods and lures in boats and the dock ready for the next monster sighting, then we'd hurry out to try to get him, never did, but sure was fun. Though I still have a slight limp with my leg, I did water ski 4 times. I just couldn't resist the glass water. Cutting was kept to more of a carving. My 11 year old kid became a slalom skier, ditched the two skiis, and is now jumping pretty good on the wakeboard. My daughter, who got helped with a visible confidence boost from her soccer experience this year could not get enough action and was ready for anything. The days consisted of this, hearing the squeeky screen door open the morning, then the voice of, "uncle Richard, can we go fishing, or when are we gonna go innertubing, wakeboarding, etc. Then tying lines up on 4 or so rods, then sending some on their way to the docks to fish while the towing began. This went on all day, always kids fishing, always people doing something in the water, always on to the next thing. Big group dinners, where of course the fish was what I cooked. The fishing went into the night 2 or 3 in the morning on boats or the dock, taking 4 at a time, more than that was just too much chaos. I enjoy so many things, my fishing and "other" kinds of posts give you the idea, but, nothing is better than watching all your nieces, nephews, your own kids, and friends get a thrill out of catching all these fish, eating them, and getting up on a wakeboard or skiis. And then the thrill their parents have about it too. That is cool. It was sooo hot that from 7 am to midnight you where sweating. Beer could not be consumed fast enough to ever get a buzz with sweat dripping from you until you got in the water. Towels were not needed after a dip in the lake as the heat was an instant dry off. I rareley got time to myself for any fishing, but did have some. The fishing was so good that I experiminted on ways, techniques to fish. I tried Doc's technique of baiting a "busted" hook with a trailer hook behind to try to release more unharmed, it didn't work in the lake, need a river flow, it gill hooked too many. So a super quick hook set was the way to go for releasing fish, which left some in the water without ever being hooked. I caught one at 2 am on a white large moth I caught in the light at the dock, tossed it out there with a half of a white marshmellow to keep it on the top, and gulp it went down into the throat of a large trout. My neice caught one on a bare hook. My parents just got back from building houses for Katrina victims in the south, and brought back some cane poles, or bamboo poles for the kids to use for fun on the bass. I decided to annoy people on the dock and use a cane pole to catch a trout, and it worked. Pretty funny. The trout there are plentifull, big, some real big, and super tasty with their reddish orange meat. They must eat well. Their were over 60 people in our group. I saw a guy and his daughter on the fishing dock one night casting theie Zebco push button reels and zebco rods right side up, then turning them over and reeling them in upside down, pretty funny, but the daughter caught a two pound trout, reel doing that famous Zebco ziiiip, ziiiiiip, sound and the fish pulled on the drag. People laughed at our long leaders agian this year, until we were catching fish pretty much every cast. I had a chartruse green power bait stain on my finger all week. Even those who never catch fish with their 15 pound, 6" leaders were catching them, usually while reeling their lines in. Topped it off with a drive home over the north cascade highway.

On a side note: If you are a Harley rider, and you are visiting a tourist town (Winthrop) and it is 99 degrees, if you are wearing your full black leather get up while walking around town so we all can see that you are a Harely rider, you are NOT that cool.

If you are a woman, wearing a sundress while riding on or driving anything with two wheels on a 99 degree day, you ARE cool.

Here is some pics.

The cabins and 6 limits for the kids.


What going to the lake is about.


The morning view


Heading to the rope swing





Going night fishing...



Dinner is about to get cleaned. All the kids loved cleaning fish.


While bass fishing, this deer decided to take a swim.


More to come in a bit, gotta upload more pics.

Man, I'm worn out from just reading your vacation report! Too cool!

Sadly, I'm back in my office now. On a Sunday. Afternoon. THE MAN won't let me escape just yet.

Good read and nice trout!

Sounds like a heck of a good time...we use to spend the 4th of july at the State park on curlew [one of the nicest in the state or 20 yrs ago it was] Does Roberta still exist or thats what we called it ? a little lake on the south end connected by a small canal
use to have both good trout n bass

More pics...
Cousins bass fishing..




Richard's boat towing service, coil went bad, luckily the local Napa had one..


The hat from Stamly, gracing the cabin with good luck..


Our visitor the bat, after crawling under the breakfst table, scattering most people eating, it then was ushered outside and proceeded to crawl up and into the chimney.




OUch, that gotta hurt.



Nice meat


Dinner courtesy of Stam. Potato's, lettuce, and elk roast, all Stams, and oh so yummy...


Jennifer liked the roast..


Jennifer and my sister-in-law on the tube.


Fun times...




now that's a boat load



The cousins double boarding.


The kid getting some air


More fish..








Jordan on one.


Jennifer getting one off the dock.



Bamboo pole fishin'




The girls of the family


My dad, 66 and still skiing..


The resort


15 minutes of fishing at midnight off the dock before bedtime and look what they got..




The bonus on the way home



Okay, now you know I'm a complete dork now that I've been fishin' in Washington with a bamboo pole.

One thing interesting, I had relatives up from California, including my brother -in-law. He bought licenses for him and my sister, he spent $400 or so at the little store at the resort because of fishing, fishing was so good when his 5 day licenses ran out, he bought them again. He released most of his fish. I hope this state realizes the value of having good fishing available not only for locals, but out of towners. The money generated from quality fishing is huge.

Man, I'm worn out from just reading your vacation report! Too cool!




Yeah, but you'll be worn out after your trip to Alaska!

We also used to stay at the State park, and still go down in that area alot. The park is still beautifull. Lake Roberta is the lake you are talking about and you can still get through. Must be more springs in there cuz the water temp is much cooler, at least on the surface. There are some lunkers in there, plus it is fun to go through the channel. The biggest bass, some in the slot limit are around the state park now. But still mostly a lot of little ones. Blacks Beach Resort is for sale, hasn't been kept up much cuz the owner has had medical problems,, so not many people there, Pine Point is private now, so there are only two main resorts open now and the state park, so not a lot of pressure for that huge quantity of fish. Seems to be getting a lot more fresh water clams in there, less turtles for some reason, and interestly, a few fish the last couple years had whole crawdad in them, which I did not realize were there until last year when we saw them in their stomachs. Quite the diversity.

Awesome report! Thanks for sharing your family vacation with us.

So when does a rod turn into a "pole"? When you get east of the mountains and are a listinening to Hall & Oates or Blondie?

Or is it when you go from glass/graphite to bamboo?

Nice report. Looks like a boatload of fun!

Great report and fun vacation Richard! Thanks for sharing.
jeff

A rod turns into a pole as soon as you start using power bait....

Or when my vocabulary turn a little too white trash.

For sure when you cross the mountains and start fishing for anything that bites, you've definately turned your rod into a pole.

And of course, about 3 times a day my rod turns into a pole, I couldn't resist.

Amazing what a couple nibbles will do.....

Nice report. Lk Roosevelt is usually one of our vacation places but it looks like I might I have to put Curlew on that list.

I made a couple of trips to Curlew in the late '70s. The view hasn't changed much and it doesn't look like the resort has changed much either. Thanks for bringing up some good memories.

Addicted,
Is Tiffany's where you stayed while at Curlew?
Brian

Tiffany's is where we stayed, cabin 10. Been going to Curlew for 34 years now, long time.

Wntrn, also, in most cases, if you are using a stringer while fishing, your rod is a pole. I have rods, I have poles, I have rods that have turned into poles, I probably have a handline somewhere. The rods that turn into poles, always go back to being rods, my zebco will always be a pole. It was born that way. I have fly rods, they are now called dust collectors. Some of them have even been hidding in the water heater closet. They don't like to be used, at least that is what I've been told.

Hey Richard another enjoyable post.I have fond memories of similar trips with my family thanks for sharing...

I wanna be you when I grow up, Rico.

Great pics, thanks for sharing them. Be glad you had the weather you did! I was there on the last wknd of June and the weather sucked big time! It rained all day every day for three days straight! We were musky fishing and caught one musky on the first day and never saw another fish after that...water temps dropped from 69 to 63 during our three day stay. Beautiful lake though, sad to see all the shorelines getting torn up though. We were surprised to see how many folks from the Seattle area were driving all the way to Curlew for a wknd stay. I hope to go back again some time.

RM

Nice report. I really like that lake. We've been over there lots. Been off that rope swing, fished at night, done it all. It's been a few years. Supposed to go over in 2 weeks but might need to cancel due to a house remodel starting earlier than expected. Looks like you guys had a great time.