Eagles Have Arrived

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we took our annual drive to see if the eagles had arrived at Coeur d'Alene Lake for the big Kokonee Salmon spawn. Linda's mother, her sister, brother-in-law, and her nephew were all present. The sun was out, and it was a cold but beautiful day. Here are a couple of photos we took when we spotted the amazing raptors.

Winter Lake Fishing?

This morning I woke up and looked at the weather and called Darren.  We decided to go fishing on Lake Coeur d'Alene for the Salmon that live in the depth.  It took me about an hour and a half to get the boat ready.

Darren arrived and we drove out to Higgins Point.  We got ready to put the boat in and I noticed that the clip from the kicker gas line had popped off and drug all the way out from the house.  It was broken and didn't work.

We drove to Black Sheep and I bought a new one.  Back at Higgin's Point we backed the boat in and idled out on to the lake. Darren drove the boat and I set up the gear.  We headed up the lake.  On the way we were able to catch six fish.  None of them keep-able.  One was 18 inched and the rest were a bit smaller.

The weather got worse as we fished, but we were in the warm boat and having fun.  I said we caught six fish, but I didn't mention that we only knew two of them were actually on.  I found the others when I reeled in to check for seaweed.  Hey, they didn't shake the rod!

We made our way back to the dock and there was about four inches of snow on the ramp.  Darren went and got the truck but as he backed it up we noticed that the wheels on the trailer were frozen.  Once we broke the wheels lose, Darren backed down and we loaded the boat.  Pulling the boat out was a bit scary, it slipped a bit but Darren was able to get it out.  The roads were awful, real bad, I mean we drove about 15 mph all the way home.

As we slowly made our way back to the house we laughed about how bad the weather was. Probably the only guys out fishing today.  Did I say we caught six fish?

Limited Out

As I passed Michale D's I hoped that the wind on the lake would be manageable.  The sun was shimmering bright and there was not a bit of wind, the lake was glass!  I picked up the phone and called Darren.  "Hey, what are you doing?  Wanna go fishing?"  He answered immediately and said that he would meet me as soon as he could get in town.

I put the boat in at Higgin's point and made my way back up to Booth's Park where I was to pick up Darren. He called when he reached Silver Beach. I had my line out and was making my way to the beach and caught my first fish. I figured I would get the first one in the boat before Darren got on board because last time he out fished me. 

After Darren arrived we fished from Booth's Park over into Bennett Bay and back.  We looped around the lake and kept busy the whole afternoon either catching fish or missing fish.  We had a great time fishing in beautiful weather, we limited out with 30 Kokanee.  This will probably be the last time we will fish for these fish, they are getting the hooked jaw, growing darker, and turning a bit red.  We'll have to hit them again next season, the good thing is that I have about 40 of them to smoke in our Little Chief.

The Wrong Mt. Top

Our new home?

Linda, Kobi and I took a Jeep drive to the top of Coeur d'Alene Mountain today.  We packed a lunch and drove past the Beauty Bay Campground.  At the final split in the road we chose the left Jeep trail and ended up at the top of the mountain.  Little bit of a let down though, all we could see were trees. We did find and old pump house or something like that.  I told Linda we were going to sell everything and homestead up there.  She rolled her eyes and shook the keys at me.

Blue Creek Bay, Lake Coeur d'Alene

Backtracking we went back to the split and continued on past a camp ground that included a pit toilet.  We finally dropped down on the Bunco Road, headed back north and drove home.  I need to explore that area a bit more, or possibly take the time to ask Jon and Jacob where the got their panoramic view of the lake and all.  Oh well I have ventured out into the back country many time without a map or even any idea where I was going.  This time I had a map, GPS and Linda my faithful guide.  Kobi kept his head in my lap, I don't even think he cared where we were.


View Coeur d'Alene Mt. Jeep Drive in a larger map

You Can Always Learn...



Sunset at Arrow Point

Checking out the new stuff available for blogging with Blogger. I am always interested in what new features they come up with.

Smoke Em If You Got Em!

Got a chance to do a little kokanee fishing on Lake Coeur d'Alene today.