Camped at Steamboat Rock State Park from Mon-Fri.

On Monday, setup camp and had a late lunch. We hit the water and it is windy. Couldn't fish properly at all. No whitecaps but was getting blown all over the lake. Only fished for maybe 1 or 1.5hr and called it quits. No bites.

Tues, started off hot and stayed consistent. We fished the back of the PunchBowl. I got the first SMB on a crank off some rocks within 5 mins. The wife caught a nice 17" SMB about 5 mins later, weighing 2 lb 9 oz . Her biggest bass to date. I rotated in a wacky worm and dropshot. Wacky was the ticket. Soon after catching her big bass, I get one similar sized, but only weighed 2 lb 7 oz.

We ventured out the bowl. I was trolling up to some rocks and spooked a nice SMB. I pitched my wacky worm towards it. I get a nibble but didn't stick. I drop my dropshot straight down. BAM fish on! I get it halfway up and pops off. Booo. We boated to some weedy bay. I caught several along the reed lines and point.Anyways in short, caught a bunch of 1-1.5lbers. Should have went back out later in the evening because the wind was so nice and calm the entire day. But wife got sun-burned really bad. For some reason, she never learns....

Weds, the In-Laws are going to visit in the afternoon and stay overnight for 1 night. The wife and I headed out in the morning towards Barkers Flat. Got about 1.5hrs fishing there. Only got 1 bite each. Saw several small ~12" SMB though. Couldn't get them to bite. Late afternoon, In-law arrives. We go out and it's very windy on the lake now. We tried hitting the area where we lit them up on Tues. Only presentation that would really work for us was cranking. Nada. In-laws tried bait and some jigs. We boated across the lake and let the wind blow us back. Dragging everything across the bottom. Zero bites.

Thurs, we'll try trolling. I know the FIL would like a fish to take home. I found out, my boat isn't the greatest with 4 full grown adults, but it is manageable. Casting is a little tight, so I was hoping trolling would be a little bit better. Very little wind too, which was nice. We marked plenty of fish. Couldn't get a single nibble. We were trolling in the area north of the PunchBowl with the rocks. I'm thinking what we were marking were tons and tons of carp? The In-laws left in the late afternoon. In the late evening, I noticed the Punchbowl was still calm. The wife and I hate out. Definitely don't want to be skunked 2 days in a row. We decided to stay in the Bowl. I wanted to headed to our previous hot spot, but I noticed 5 boats in the area..... So we turned and went to the south end along the 1st set of camp sites with all the reeds and weeds. 1st time fishing this area. Didn't realize it was so weedy. But I realized this is the perfect excuse to use my topwater lures. I still haven't landed anything with them yet. So I start chunking a Sammy. I get a HUGE explosion. Feel weight and set hook. Fish on! I'm reeling it in and feel it's a nice quality fish. It makes a big jump and I see it's a nice fat football LMB. Looked to be about 16-17". Next thing I know, I see my lure come flying back at me. So close! Keep working that area with soft plastics and my topwater, nada. We go over to the highway side. I get a ~13" SMB off a crank. I get another explosion on my Sammy. But unfortunately, I wasn't paying attention. I made my cast and was working the lure. I hear the wife pulling her drag and turned to see what she was doing...line twist. That's when I hear the splash and felt the fish on my line, lol. Set the hook and a couple of rotates of the handle and fish was gone. Wasn't big though and didn't see anything. Then I caught a 2lb 2 oz on a weighted worm. Wife gave up, she got another skunk.

Friday, Wife wanted 1 more chance. We packed up our gear and gave the lake another 1-2 hours in the morning. The hotspot was filled up once again, so we went to a "canalish" that we didn't fish yet. I had 1 small SMB chase a crank. Numerous nibbles on my soft plastic. The wife did land a healthy ~10" perch. That was it. Windy for the most part.

On the drive back home, it was SUPER windy the entire way until we go ~Cle Elum or so I believe. All I know is, for the first 2 hours of driving, it was hard to stay on the road.

Even though the wife only caught 2 fish. She does have bragging rights to biggest bass and biggest perch.... even if it was the only landed perch, lol.

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