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Mike was with me today and this time he brought a couple of friends along as well. Mark & David would fill their trio and allow me to have the luxury to complete a spread of two high lines and two shorter deep lines. The fish wouldn’t stand a chance today! Although they drove to the lake in heavy to moderate rains, it was barely a drizzle here and I just hoped it would stay that way. The forecast wasn’t a good one and we knew what to expect as we set the lines and started the troll. I was seeing some activity up high and the bait had also risen off the bottom where we were, making it look good. After an hour of nada, we pulled the lines and headed elsewhere. I thought we would try a little deeper on the bottom and opted for a jigging technique that had also produced a laker earlier in the week. Without the aid of any wind, I was forced to use the electric motor to get us in motion. All three were fishing from the back as we slid along a 20 to 30 foot break line. Mark was the first to hook up and it looked heavy. When it went to the air I couldn’t believe my eyes as it was another smallie and almost 5 pounds. He had pulled this one out of 30 plus feet of water and right on my icon from the lake trout this week. A few minutes later, David had hooked up but managed to bring a perch up from the same depth. A couple more bass and perch after, I decided to pull the plug and go back to trolling. Cooler water temps of 44.5 degrees on another drop had the minnow & flies working like champs. I was running from as shallow as 7 feet to as deep as 60 feet on a steep ledge and wouldn’t you know it, another smallie. This fish hit over 50 plus feet down about 8 feet on the pins minnow. Another plump, pre spawn football, ice cube of a brownie was in the boat. What the #$@& was going on? These things were all over the lake and just about everywhere I was trolling. We pulled the lines after another one and went back to the bay that had produced the salmon just yesterday. Unfortunately the water temps had fallen almost 6 degrees without the aid of sunshine and several passes yielded another zero. Across the lake to some of the other points and breaks we went and still the same thing. Lines would fire and everything would be brown. I saw a bunch of other guys trolling the same areas and never saw anyone hook up. Why were we so lucky to have all the action from all the wrong fish? By now I was getting desperate and decided to make a long run down the lake to slightly warmer, dirtier water in hopes of changing our results. First pass over a submerged rock pile in open water had all four lines firing off! Unbelievable, but not good! They were all bass and came from 8 to 28 feet of water on the steep break. I just couldn’t win today and to make matters worse, it was raining a whole lot harder now. I attempted to cover this whole area and reset the lines after the fire drill only to wash the baits for over 20 minutes. I thought I would swing by the side I began and see if maybe it was just a fluke but soon found out different as three of the fur lines fired off once again. Same %$#@ crap! Relocation was in order once more and we went to the tip of an island to try again. Several passes over an area that had given up many a salmon over the years had no results at all. Although it was only 30 feet deep at best and there was bait all over the place, the water color had me wondering if their visibility was allowing them to see our offerings. I dropped the deep lines even deeper to about 15 to 20 and one went off. Another smallie and another kick in the butt! It got to a point that I knew by the sound of the reels that they were bass until another reel screamed and didn’t stop. Salmon, I yelled and after struggling to get the rod from the holder, all went silent. There was no mistaking the difference between the two and I’m sure if he had put some pressure on the fish he would have locked it up. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be! With the rains falling even heavier now and the temps dropping I thought we would run back up the lake and see if we could scratch something up on one of the other points along the way. With the cold rain there was also a fog moving in and visibility wasn’t great. Add the cold rain and it was just miserable! Water temps were dropping and so did the bait as I wasn’t seeing anything along the break. It had all fallen to well over 100 feet of water and the entire area was like a desert. In the 15 minutes we fished the area I had also lost over a degree in water temp with the cold rains falling. We’re out of here! Plenty of action all over the lake today but not what I was expecting as the bass just took over. Unfortunately they wouldn’t be taking anything home with them today other than memories of all the action they had. The heated car was welcomed as most were either wet or really damp from this day of misery. Mother Nature strikes again!!

Guided Fishing!
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