Kent fixed a great pancake breakfast then we head out for another shot at those stripers. Mist is lifting off the lake as the sun burns through the clouds. It is a sunburn kind of day.
We start by trolling here in our little bay but have no luck at all. We take a quick pan fish break along the steep shoreline. Carol caught her fist ever sunfish then a couple more. It is warm though so we decide its time to run a bit. There is quite a bit of boat traffic but it is still a lovely ride and we all cool down nicely. We spot a shady little cove to float and have some lunch. Kent is entertained by a bunch of tiny panfish on his end of the boat. Time for a break from fishing so we head in to relax for a few.

The forecast isn’t great but the sky doesn’t look too threatening so we head out. Just as we get up to speed drops begin to patter all around us. We speed to the north end of the lake and manage to outrun the heaviest of the rain and settle in pursuit of those illusive striped bass. I caught a little pan fish…..turns out it’s the only catch of the day. The sky is darkening and radar says thunderstorms are imminent. We blast our way home and settle in for a quiet evening of cards or boardgames. Tomorrow is to be sunnier.

Heritage Days at Broad Top Area Coal Miners Museum: it sounds like great fun. There should be food venders and craft booths and maybe live entertainment. Let’s go. Well, actually it was free entry into the museum day. That’s it! No venders or special events. We are a bit bummed but we worked our way through the museum and it is just chocked full of regional memorabilia with focus on coal and railroads but including things back to early settlement days. To top it all off, we are going to be famous. The docent tracked us down, “we have never had anyone from as far as Texas at our museum” come over here so I can take your picture. We are going to be in the Robertsdale Paper.
Next stop, the Rockhill Trolley Museum Festival of Trolleys. Hmm, seems we are on a roll with our festivals. Nothing very festival-like happening here either. We pass on the chance to ride one of what looks like 5 unique restored trolley cars. The chair of the Historical Society is here trying to sell memberships and commemorative cast ornaments. It was a short stop.
We wind our way back toward home through rolling valleys and rural towns. In Mill Creek we find Tops Diner for some local cooking. Among us we try fish tacos, Old Bay seasoned homemade chips, chicken fried steak and a porkchop. Everyone is happy with their choice.

It is puzzle time. We spend the morning working a jigsaw puzzle. By noon its looking ok to head out so we pile our plunder (including long pants and windbreakers) into the boat and head out. Our neighbor calls out as we pull away from shore, “we limited out across from mile marker 5”. Ok then, that’s where we are heading.
Advice also says fish are at 40 feet. Check, three poles out with bait at 40ft. We drift and wait “patiently”. Fish on! Of course, Kent is the one that has the bite. He has the biggest grin as it swims deeper and peels off more line. It isn’t a long fight but it is a satisfying one as a huge lake trout comes into view. Dip net in hand I do my part getting it into the boat. 29” long and an estimated weight of 25 pounds. Note: Kent has a fish weighing scale on his Christmas list. It’s his first lake trout catch ever and they are supposed to be tasty; but, we don’t have trout stamps on our license so back into the lake it goes. Kent seems to prefer catching to eating anyway. We float a while longer but with no luck.

No more rain for now so tonight is campfire night. There are lots of people in camp but things are quiet enough to enjoy a few hours contemplating the flames and basking in the wood smoke. We have all the fixings so we end the day with s’mores. MMMMM

The fog is thick this morning and rain forecast for early afternoon. We fiddle around camp then get out on the water around 9. Today we try trolling. Kent and I each choose very fish-like lures that we are certain those bass won’t be able to resist. “They” say the bass are feeding on minnows so we go for minnow-like lures. Kent fires up the 5hp motor and we dawdle our way around our little bay…for a couple hours. Nothing! In desperation Kent puts on a spoon – that looks only slightly like a minnow – and we try one more pass. A strike but a miss. We can’t stop now! As the clouds gather over the ridge we turn for another pass and “bang”. Fish on. Our (Kent’s) first real fish of the trip is a 4 pound 20 in long smallmouth bass. He is pretty pleased. The fish is happy too, we release it then gather up to get back to camp before the rain hits. The rain is faster than the required no wake speed back to camp but it didn’t dampen spirits.
A bit damp, we settled back in at camp expecting Carol any time now.

We head up lake about 10 miles. It is cool enough to need a jacket when we are running but it is a lovely morning. The hilly, heavily wooded shoreline is just beginning to show fall color. Orange and yellow of maple and oak are a beautiful contrast to the pines.
Time to fish. We float shoreline and changes in depth working hard to find those stripped bass with absolutely no luck. Eventually I need an easy fix….find a bluegill hole. Kent finds a perfect spot and we feed nightcrawlers to a batch of hungry little pan fish. We probably catch 20 between us. It was not exactly the plan for the day but it was fun and it was out on the lake. We will try again for those bass tomorrow.
We had some aerial entertainment while we were out. A juvenile eagle tried his best to force an osprey to drop its lunch. Both birds showed pretty impressive maneuvers. The osprey outlasted its tormentor and disappeared over the ridge with its lunch.