No way to keep it short, had a great weekend with great friends and a new, photos to follow.

5/26/06 Friday/fished w Craig (Slipknot) and my friend Harry, 6 lines.
Lake was flat, got bites but lost several ??? Caught a few few Salmon on Pink/Silver DB, also some newly stocked Salmon fry, kept 1 3# + Salmon, not sure how many we caught, but did get keepers, 3+ pounds ???? Sorry for not much detail, I lost my notes for the day. Nothing off boards except a few Bass, only one rigger was working ??? (Thanks for getting it fixed up Jay., works great now after taking your advice)

5/27/06 Saturday: Fished with Dave from Up North (4 lines)
New moon a little windy, a good chop. Water Temp @ 23 feet 52.7, surface
62 degrees, nothing off boards, all on rigger.
7:30 Salmon, 22 feet off rigger, 3+ pounds Pink/Silver DB, 75 feet off the ball.
7:40 Salmon, 22 feet off rigger, a huge Salmon, 6+ easy, Pink/Silver DB, right off the ball.. When it jumped I never saw a Salmon that fat, told Dave to leave the drag as is and let him run, etc. as he obviously had plenty of fight left. Jumped a few more times and Dave got him to the boat, one more jump and he spit the spoon out.
8:00 Salmon, 33 feet off rigger, 5 pounds, 2 ounces, 23 inches, Pink/Silver DB, right of the ball.
9:15 Salmon, 22 feet off rigger, 3 pounds, 6 ounces, Purple and Orange DB
Had a real fun day both Friday and Saturday with Dave and Slipknot, allot of laughs, Slipknot had a nice nap between fish.

5/28/06 Sunday, Bright sun, flat lake, 52.7 degrees at 23 feet.
Took 14 year old Patrick Deambrose fishing as nobody else could make it and I had been promising him I would take him out some day. I had no idea what I was in for, a long day I figured. Was I wrong, this young man was quite a fisherman, he knew how to pump the rod, how to hold him steady when needed and how to follow my instructions when needed, and he also got a handle on netting big fish well. By the end of the day he was helping put the lines down, had the riggers mastered, how to set line tension and all. In short he can go fishing with me anytime. When we went out, I told him it can be very slow and some days no fish at all, but he had seen me come in with plenty of big fish before so he was not discouraged. He had never caught a Salmon or Trout before, some Bass and Pickeral.
Decided to try all Top Guns and Smelt guns today as I hardly ever use Top Guns and never used a Smelt Gun, allthough I have dozens of each, stayed at 23 feet, short bite from 6:00 to 7:15.
6:00 Rainbow, 23 feet rigger, 16 inches, Kenny G Top Gun, 75 feet off the ball, landed by 14 year old Patrick and was he excited, "I got one, I got one, etc, can I call my mother".
6:15 Salmon, 23 feet off rigger, 3 pounds, 4 ounces, Pink/Silver Smelt Gun, right off ball, landed by me.
7:15 Salmon, 23 feet off rigger, 4 pounds, 11 ounces, Pink/Silver Smelt Gun, right off ball. Landed by 14 year old Patick.

No more bites, but I had one happy 14 year old on the boat..but he was feeling bad that I didn't get another one.
Patrick asked me if he could get the fish mounted so I called AJ store and asked how he should take care of it. We had a very excited and happy young fisherman. He asked if he could come out the next day, I said 3:50 at the boat, an hour earlier than that day, he said "no problem, I'll be there"..

5/29/06 Monday, another flat day, but cloudy.
Patrick was a few minuets late, had to make his lunch. All set up by 4:50, no bites 2.5 hours, I could see Patrick was getting bored, but he came to life real quick when we would have a release. The next fish was supposed to be mine as he caught the last one the day before, but as I wanted him to keep his interest I told him all my guest get to take in the first fish of the day so the first fish on would be his.
7:30 Salmon, 30 feet off rigger, 5 pounds, 5 ounces, 23.5 inches, right off the ball, water temp at 30 feet was 53 degrees. This fish ripped of plenty of line several times, went under the boat a few times so I had to pop her in nuetral, in general was a tough one to land, but land it he did. (I allmost donkeyd the netting)

When Patrick landed this one he asked if I wanted the 4/11 he had caught the day before as this was now going to be the fish on his wall, he asked what to put on the plaque, I told him the usual, date, time of day, what Lake, who caught it, etc.. He then asked if he could put, netted by John Sampson, I said, "of course, I would be honored"

All in all a great weekend and I found an apt fishing partner. By the way we had 13 rods on the boat and a banana one day, Patrick brought it on with his lunch. Inspite of all this, we had 4 good days for Squam, a very difficult Lake sometimes.

Not bad Patrick, 1st and 2nd Salmon ever, 4 pounds 11 ounces and 5 pounds and 5 ounces.

For 4 days fishing, I only lost a small amount of gear as compared to normal and allmost one hat but we saved it, tough Lake, but worth the risk. New net was the b---s, I'll have to buy a spare.

I hope the photos came out OK, I have asked Adrien to post them for me.

John S.

Great report John. Love the part about Patrick, you have him hooked.

Sorry for it being so long, I tried to condense it, by the way below I'm sending Slipknots recolection of Friday's trip below.

Funny thing Patrick was hooked before, I've known him since he was a baby, he was allways fishing off the docks and would run over to see our catch when he came in. He loved fishing, I just never took him out til now, and boy I'm glad I did, he's going to be a good little fishing partner and caches on very quickly too I might add.

From Slipknot:
If memory serves correctly...
We caught a smallmouth shortly after Harry mentioned we needed to land a bass before we got into salmon. I believe this bass was on the gold/yellow/silver db?
Then we landed that 18" laker, same lure and off the jigger as well (but he was a "clingon"-no release).
After that we brought in two more bass... one released and one clingon, but don't remember lures or lines (but I think they were both leadcore).
Next Harry reeled in the decent salmon we caught (maybe 19"-20"?) The salmon was either on the jigger or leadcore, but definitely came off that side of the boat.
After a while of no fish (and my nap) we moved to Sandwich Bay, where we had one release on the leadcore with a 7 or 8" salmon (lure?)... and believe we dragged another the same size for about half an hour until you found it while pulling in lines (leadcore or downrigger?)
Lastly, we picked up another short bass on the jigger.

Sorry I can't be of more help. My memory is pretty bad! I do believe Harry brought in one bass/one salmon, I reeled up two bass/ a laker/ small salmon, and you had a bass/ small salmon...???


John S.

Great Report John, But nobody remembers me doing a good job netting your 5lb 2oz fish (At least i did that good LOL) i truly had a blast but like you said tough lake to fish, If i did it myself with my buddy Robert knowing us we would have lost both downrigger balls, a bunch of lures and some other stuff, At least when i fish winni i only have to worry about losing stuff if i get stupid LOL, Tough Lake but Beautiful Lake, Thanks again John I truly enjoyed myself and learned a valuable LESSON "Don't ever touch another man's DRAG LOL" Can't wait to see the pic's if you see me with a tear in my eye that's most probably me still crying from the HOG i lost LOL" Oh well He'll be BIGGER the next time i hook him LOL Take Care God Bless and Tight Lines LOL Donkey Dave from up North "The Backwards Frenchman"

Adriens a busy guy, I'm hoping he will get the photos up soon. Got some good ones, the 5 lb/2 ounce Salmon looks great even with you holding it, LOL.

I have another photo of Patrick giving his 4lb/11oz Salmon a smooch, but I didn't want to send too many photos, his 5lb/5oz photo did not come out well, so we used the photo with me holding it..

John S.

Hey John, Adrien said this morning that he had been unable to load those pics on the webpage to download here. I'm sure he'll try again, but just wanted to let you know he was having issues.

He told me a few days the same thing then of course the site went down and I believe he's gone away or getting ready to, so I'm going to ask if someone else can lend a hand here.

How about it anyone out there that can, I'll send you 4 photos, thanks.

I want to get em on before I catch better ones, LOL.

John S.