Late post here, but we had a killer Memorial Day weekend up at Silver in Whatcom county. 27 fish between two of us over two and a half days on the water. Handful of boats on the lake, plenty of room for everyone, and only a few jackasses flouting the no-wake rules. Weather was around 60, no rain, overcast most of the time with partial sunbreaks. Saw people pulling fish in with pop gear and spinners, worm and bobber, and whatever kids were using from the bank off the bottom seemed to bring it at least some fish as well. Found a nice hole about 3/4 of the way toward the north end on the west side of the lake, maybe 25 yards from shore and about 30 feet deep, and fished morning and afternoons there with good success. Evenings were spent on the east side back toward the south end of the lake, making sure to keep that bait up above the top of the weeds. Worked with 4 lb leaders of about 3 feet, slip weights and light colors of power bait. Never went longer than about an hour without landing a fish, and didn't catch anything under 11 inches or so. Biggest were a little over 16 inches and fat, and all were triploids, with some appearing to be a hybrid 'bow and cutt mix. Those were the bigger ones, incidentally.

All in all, a really great weekend with friends and a lot of fun out on the lake. Pictured is EvilJam with first day's catch, and the second shot is the second day's haul, cleaned and bagged. Left the fish with our gracious hosts, destined for the frying pan and the smoker, most likely.

Beyond the fishing, we had fun drinking and hanging out on 7-Acre Woods (friends' property close to the lake), seeing tracks of all sorts (bear, deer, etc.) and watching the Rufous hummingbirds playing "king of the mountain" at the nectar feeder. These places up in the Baker foothills are truly beautiful, and well worth the trip even if you don't catch a thing.

---