The Opener

Opening day finally arrived yesterday and I hit the water with great anticipation. With no clients, I decided to scout the water in preparation of their arrival on Saturday. It’s always tough with one line in the water but I managed to eliminate plenty of it and finished the day with two short lakers. Definitely a lake change in the future! This morning found us launching on Massawippi instead of Magog, with plenty of others too! There must have been close to 75 boats on the lake when we arrived. We set out on the water and I decided to get clear of the crowds, searching for a quick bite. Well, it didn’t happen as several hours passed before the planer board finally went back. The lead core had locked up on something and our skunk was about to leave. Scott reeled in a brown trout, somewhere in the 2 pound class and the livewell was fired up. High fives all around! With two riggers and one board in the water, we had all the upper zones covered and this fish hit at 12 feet deep. Water temps were ranging from 39 degrees all the way to 50 in some areas and they all had plenty of bait. With almost flat calm & plenty of sun, warming water was inevitable! I did try running the fly lines for over an hour but soon found it too difficult with all the other boats around. Trolling in a straight line was hard enough let alone zigzagging all over the place. We had taken a break around 11 o’clock and fished the flies till almost 12:30, before we went back to the riggers and lead core. Not long after we set the lines back, one of the rods began to bounce. A fish was on the slider and technical difficulties ended in its loss when the star drag mysteriously went loose. Several hours later we finally had a real hit when the deep rigger popped and John was officially into his first trout. As with all lakers, the fight was quick and I soon slid the net under a 21 inch fatty. This fish had bulges in its stomach from all the smelt it was eating. As with earlier, high fives all around again and back to trolling we went. It was getting so hot out that the guys were taking advantage of the heat and basking in the sun. So much so that talk of taking a dip was being thrown around. I personally thought that they were just joking & said they were nuts. Well, it wasn’t long before I pulled the lines and stopped the boat for the “Polar Bears” to take the plunge. I’m pretty sure that they were the only crazies on the lake that did this today. Almost as fast as they were in, they were out! There was no time for swimming as 50 degrees definitely feels cold when your core temp is almost double that! It was getting on in the day and I wanted to get a few more fish before we called it, so we ran back to where the action was. I barely had time to get the riggers in the water and one of them fired. Scott was on the rod quickly and managed another lake trout just over 20 inches. It went into the livewell with the other two fish and back to trolling we went. Although I was marking plenty of bait and hooks, we weren’t getting any more hits and an hour later we decided to pull the plug for the day. This was to be a lucky day for the fish as neither wanted to take them back home. A few quick pics and back to the lake they went. Overall it was definitely a day full of excitement and one to be remembered. I don’t think I’ll ever see anyone take a swim in April, ever again. That is of course, unless they’re back next year!