Roesiger and Storm Lake (Last Fri, Sat, & Sun)

[PeteM]

I had tried to take my youngest son (10) float tubing a couple weeks ago when he changed his mind lakeside. I had Friday off and while getting ready for the day, he sheepishly asked if we could try again. I said sure, when would you like to go. He said "now would be good". We laughed, loaded our stuff (including life vests), and hit the road to lake Roesiger.

I hauled everything to the lake and then patiently waited as he worked up the courage. It took a good 30 minutes of pacing and nervous glances before he was ready.

I got him into the tube and sat in mine. He wasn't ready for deep water so we sat in 3 feet of water letting him get the feel of it. It took awhile and then he was ready to go... sideways only. I didn't think I could float tube in 3 feet of water paralleling the shore but apparently I can. We cruised the shallows for about 10 minutes before he was really ready to try for some deeper water.

We got out into deeper water and was immediately rewarded with a nice 9" rainbow. It wasn't big but he had a blast reeling it in and releasing it. Gone were the thoughts of shallow water, we were fishing now.

We could only fish for about an hour but were able to release 3 others and lost one that was about 16".

We left the lake with him beaming from pride at float tubing and catching fish.

As my wife now says, I've created a monster. He's turned into a fishing machine as we went out again later that night to Storm Lake. There we caught and released 4 fish in about 1 hour of fishing. We then went back to Storm Saturday night and the rains just dumped on us. No fish caught but still fun. We then hit Roesiger again on Sunday afternoon with 6 fish and 3 lost.

The highlight of the weekend was watching the ospreys, hawks, and eagles fishing. They are the true fishers.

Roesiger: Fishing well. Trout are in the 15' depth or lower. Lots of bass starting to get active especially along the shore lines. Still a lot of triploids left but they are disappearing fast. Still kokanee showing. Fishing a woolley bugger with a count down and strip was working well.

Storm: Fishing well in spots. If you find fish, hit that area repeatedly. They seem to be in pods with lots of empty space. We mostly trolled as he couldn't cast a sinking line. A brown flash bugger worked fine.


If you're out in the Storm, Flowing, Roesiger area and see me with my sons (blue outcast fatcat and a TU gunnison) stop and say hi.

Pete

[Rob Blomquist]

Great story, and thanks for the report! Now that I have a little critter waiting to be born, these stories take on new meaning!

Rob

[LeakyTiki]

Thanks for the report Pete,
It is great your son has caught the fever. Keep up the good work :thumb
LT