What a week it was - and what a day Sunday was! It's going to be a long report so sit back and relax!

The week started out with high white fluffy clouds, nice cool breezes and lots of fish coming out of the Lake. Brad Garrett, his son Max, & Darren Colton, pictured know the secret - 2, no not 1, but 2 - 3-1/2 pound Alpers. They know the secret. Chris Lorenzi, Photo #1 landed a nice 4-1/2 lb Alper on a NightCrawler. And Boy Scout Troop 915. Photo #2 of Westchester had a great time on the Lake earning their 'Fish Cleaning Badge' along with their Camping Badge this weekend - it's our understanding all the boys limited out - cleaned all the fish - then cooked up dinner - Good job, boys!

Had a nice cherry-red '55 Thunderbird come up to the Lake on Friday - what fun & oh, so pretty to see - Thanks, Lester!

Fishing was still a bit slow this week - although you couldn't tell that by the Boy Scout boys - fishing the inlets was best using NightCrawlers or PowerBait (and that's where the Boy Scouts were fishing). Trolling is still on the slow, it's a bit better if you can get down a bit - you can do this by using leadcore at 5-6 colors with flashers and a NightCrawler or Thomas Buoyant. 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 what to do or how to do it or where to do it - come into the building and ask! DFG stocked the Lake on Monday with another load of Rainbows - thanks!

Now for Sunday - Sunday started like every other Sunday, and well then it all broke loose.But first, an educational opportunity - when meeting stock (packers and mules/horses) on the trail, PLEASE step to the down-side of the trail - that's because if the animals are startled, they'll go up the side of the trail and not down the side of the trail. We had a backpacker (on the upside) startle a mule, the mule went down the side of the mountain - took another mule and ended in the Lake a 100 feet down - crashing thru trees and across boulders and finally into the Lake. Luckily, a rope broke or two additional mules and possibly the packer might also have ended in the Lake. Mike, owner of the Bishop Pack Outfitters got one of the mules back up to the trail thru the brush and trees, calmed the 2 mules that didn't go down while Rick and Kyler an experienced packer with the pack station at North Lake helped the injured mule swim across the Lake using a fishing boat. Quite a sight to see and we hope never to see it again. We understand both mules will be fine. Kyler of Bishop Pack Outfitters kept his cool thru this ordeal - so very proud of that boy. And that was all before noon.

Then about 2:00pm, the heavens opened, and I do mean opened - at one point it was raining and hailing at a rate of 5 inches an hour - luckily, it didn't rain that hard for an hour, but by the end of the deluge at about 5:00pm we ended up with almost 2 inches of rain and lots of hail. We had thunder and lightning and at one point, it was wall to wall people in the Café - lots on new friendships made.

At about 4:30pm, Kyler and his mule from the Pack Station came trotting down the trail for Rick to meet him at the Trailhead - he and another Packer, Colter, had to finish the initial packing in of supplies for backpackers, and a mule got his foot stuck in a hole - they tried for an hour to get that leg out during the downpour - and did - All mules, all packers are safe and sound!

Oh, and then about 5:30, a rock slide on the east side of the Lake right at about the shoreline between the two natural lakes - sure made lots of noise and dust.

Well this is the 4th 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. And now for the 4th week progress report - nothing has progressed as far as we can tell. We'll keep you informed of any 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 checkwww.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