It was another great week at the Lake - nice and cool with a few sprinkles. We dodged the lightning heard a bit of thunder here and there - all in all it was a good week - and best of all we got Alpers this past week ranging in size from 3 to 10 pounds.

Fishing slowed a bit this week - fishing the inlets was best using NightCrawlers or PowerBait. Trolling was also a bit slow (and wouldn't you know - Rick and I went fishing Thursday - he won 11 to 6 - caught and released), but if you use leadcore at 4-5 colors with flashers and a NightCrawler - this was producing the best. Drifting with a NightCrawler and a split-shot over the shoreline between the two natural lakes was getting some fish. Shore fishing with Salmon Eggs, PowerBait or NightCrawlers in the small coves was what was working. If you're not sure - come into the building and ask! DFG stocked the Lake on Friday with another load of Rainbows - thanks!

Yup, we got a load of Alpers on Tuesday and on Wednesday James Greer of Temecula caught a 5-pound beauty of an Alper on a dark red PowerWorm at the DingleBerry Inlet. Then on Thursday, Bishop local, Pat Powell caught a 3-1/4 lb on a Salmon Egg and Charlie & Cameron Marchesano of San Diego teamed up to catch a 4-pound Alper on yellow PowerBait. Great catching guys!

Lo the Lion is Back - he finally got his summer doo and there couldn't be a happier and much cooler dog around. And A.N.N. has finally learned to swim and she's much cooler now, too - Max spends his days hoping for someone to throw his Frisbee and Nimrod enjoys his days somewhere on the side of the mountain teasing people into thinking he's the lion. Sweet Pea is keeping cool chasing the ball in the Lake and Sierra pretty much sleeps under the eaves of the building.

Well this is the 3rd week of working on the bridge. The first week - they had roped off the North Lake Hiker parking area at the North Lake road last week - the second week a storage container and forklift were delivered to the roped off area. Now for the 3rd week - we couldn't figure out what was done on the bridge last week. We'll keep you informed of the progress. We have been assured the road will remain open during the season, so do not fret, you will be able to get to the Lake.

KEEPING THIS IN - Guess it's that time of year to remind you of a few things - when using BUG JUICE - not many of them - think the last cold streak killed most of the big ones and the smaller ones haven't hatched yet (could be because of the lack of run-off) - or SANITIZER you need to really wash your hands before fishing - then rub some Salmon Egg juice, worm dirt or Anglers Bros Trout attractant (got it in stock at the Lake) to take that smell off. Remember your polarized dark glasses and sunscreen - we saw a few anglers that looked a bit like cooked lobster last year.

Temperature cooled this week due to the cloud cover we had for a few days - lows in the 70's for highs and in the low 50's for the lows. The weather gurus are talking cooler temps this week. DON'T FORGET TO PACK A JACKET WHEN YOU COME TO THE LAKE and if there's a chance of thunderbooms - DON'T FORGET YOUR PONCHOS. You can check www.weather.gov and enter ASPENDELL, CA on the site and it will give you a fairly good hint at the weather or check in with Howard at www.MammothWeather.com.

And, of course, we'll have HOMEMADE pie and ice cream (until it's gone), sodas, beer, wine, coffee, tea and hot cocoa!

Looking forward to seeing you all in the very near future.

Juanita, Rick, Patti, Bryan, Len, Ginny & Thomas