After Saturday’s outing, I headed home to spend some time with my wife and I also took an appointment to have the trim looked as well as throttle control installed for the kicker, Monday morning. I must have taken too much sun or something, because I completely forgot that I had a booking for Monday and headed back early that morning, to the lake. I met up with Bobby & Chiko around 7:30 and headed on the water shortly afterwards. The weather was a little cool with the air temps hovering somewhere around 40 degrees under cloudy skies. There was also a brisk wind from the north at 10 knots making it feel even colder. Water temps were higher than the air at 51 degrees in most areas. We began by trolling lead core & planers as well as one downrigger to see if they could catch a few lakers to take home. It was a little slow at first but we eventually hooked into a laker on the planer. Unfortunately it was a little short at 19 inches and had to be released. They have to be a minimum of 19.75 inches in order to be kept and I had to throw their dinner back. At the same time the other planer was reeled in when it acted a little strange and to our surprise there was a short salmon on the spoon too. Both these fish were returned unharmed! We were really washing lures and almost ready to try something else when the downrigger rod started to bounce in the holder. I knew it was a fish on the slider and popped the line out of the release in order for Bobby to fight the fish. Unfortunately, his too was a little short at 19.25 inches and went back to the lake to grow some more. We did this up until about noon and then decided to try something different. They casted jigs and threw minnow baits on points, humps and sandy drop offs to see if they could entice either a trout or a salmon into eating. Bobby had a small salmon come up to the minnow bait and just swirl all around the thing before disappearing to the bottom, 40 feet deep. They did manage to catch some perch & bass, but were unable to contact the trout. We even tried trolling flies for a while but after having to clear too much debris from the lines all the time, went back to casting for a while. There were no more trout to be had today, just bass over 30 & 4o feet of water to show for our efforts. Although it was a crisp day on the water, it was still enjoyable and nobody got hurt!

Mike & his son Ryan joined me today on the lake for another crack at the salmon. The cool air of 40 degrees this morning had me feeling that we might get lucky with the fly rods in a couple of areas. With no wind, I was more concerned with the possibility of debris on the surface but decided to give it a try nonetheless. We made three passes over the first location varying the depths from as shallow as 8 feet to as deep as 100 plus but no takers. Oh we did have a few busting the surface around the boat and they were either rainbows or salmon based on the silver flashes they left behind. The water temps were barely above 50 degrees and I knew it was perfect for what I was doing, but we still only washed flies! I was however marking bait clouds up in the mid range areas and plenty of larger hooks as well. The second location wasn’t much better with plenty of bait marking over deep water but it was all pressed to the bottom and that’s not good. I tried the first pass close in and had a rip almost immediately on one of the high, long lines that went silent as fast as it went off. Damn drive bye! The fly was all rolled when I checked it and back out it went. A little while later another high line also started pumping and line went out once again. We had more frustration with another drive bye leaving us wondering what we had to do to lock up! We couldn’t catch a break and I began getting the other lines ready for planers and a downrigger when a third rip was also had on the high line over 100 feet of water. Three strikes and you’re outa here and so we were! We ran a couple of boards and one rigger over the area that I had caught the two lakers the last couple of days, but only managed a tiny salmon on one of the lines when we were bringing it in. After a long run to our next location, we were casting jigs and ripping lures over open water shoals and only having followers under the minnow baits. Several times, a laker came up behind the lure only to turn and dive back to the depths from where he came from. We did have several fish take the baits however, but as usual they weren’t what we were after. A few of the bass were quite large and we thought they might be trout when they ate the jigs in 20 to 30 feet of water where we had the followers. Another first was had today when Mike hooked into what I thought was a lake trout over 30 plus feet of water on a drop, only to find out that it was a northern pike when I grabbed it with the boga. It took a while to clearly identify the pike as it actually looked like it might have been a muskie at one point. I’ve caught plenty of chain pickerel on this lake before, but never a pike! The winds kicked up in the afternoon and we decided to troll along some of the wind swept shoreline, looking for a possible taker. No trout, but many more other species from perch to pickerel and both smallies and largies. All fish were between 15 & 30 feet of water. What a messed up year this is as the water temps are moving every day with the switch in wind directions. Yesterday I had a strong N wind blowing at 15 to 20 knots and today it went S at 20 plus in the afternoon. No wonder the fish are all over the place with conditions like these!!

I was flying solo today so what a better way to try a few new areas and refine some old ones as well. I began by trolling over deep water looking for either trout or salmon with a tandem streamer. With the cloud cover, I thought they might be high so I ran a long shallow line and hoped for the best. It’s tough with the one rod rule to decide where to begin, but the fish busting smelt close to the boat had me thinking I had made the right decision. The water temps had risen slightly from yesterday’s heat wave and were now 49.5 degrees where I was. The air temps were in the 50’s and expected to reach into the 60’s by days end. The winds had switched overnight and were now blowing at 10 knots from the north. I wasn’t having much luck with the fly so after about an hour or so, I decided to try the leadcore and planer board once again in hopes of changing my luck. Wouldn’t you know it, the board went back and I was tight to another fish in almost the exact area as yesterday. I was pretty sure that it was another laker as I was trolling in about 80 feet of water when the drag went out signaling the fish. Sure enough, I was right and soon slipped the net under a clone of the one I had taken yesterday. I really thought I was onto something and stayed in the area that had produced both trout, for almost 2 hours. Nay another touch was had and I was soon reeling in the line and heading elsewhere in hopes of better luck. I’m sure that if I was able to get another line or two into the water that the outcome would have been different. I had been marking plenty of bait as well as fish marks mostly in 40 to 50 over as much as 150 feet of water. I think I might bring out the riggers next time just to keep them honest! The other areas weren’t as productive on the trout, but there were plenty of smallmouth caught on spoons over about 40 feet of water. I thought that with the clouds, I might be able to get an active salmon by going slightly shallower with the board. Oh how wrong I was as I found out many a time all over the lake. I think the bass also felt the weather change and it seemed like they were out and suspended by the way they ate the spoons. Talk about spoon feeding the fish! Although we did get some sunshine during the afternoon, it was mostly an overcast day and the bite was pretty much off for me on the trout scene. I hope tomorrow will be better as I have a couple of guests and I really want to get back into the fly rod trolling for salmon once again. If not, hopefully there will be more action on the lake trout with the aid of lead core and boards. This time, I will be able to run more than one rod and cover multiple depths by doing so.

After a couple of days of R & R I was back on the water again today looking for more trout & salmon. The weather was predicted to rise as high as 83 degrees with heavy winds. Water temps started out at 49 but climbed to 51 by the afternoon under sunshine and W winds gusting at over 30 knots. There was quite a howl on the water to say the least! I began trolling with a fly rod but this time I used the deep line as I was marking fish down in the 20 foot range and wanted to at least be in the zone. After a few unsuccessful passes, I switched up to a spoon on lead core and added a planer board in case they were a little spooky. As luck would have it, I hooked up shortly after and was soon reeling in a 15 inch smallie. Go figure! Power trim problems had me cutting out of this area sooner than expected to meet my wife’s uncle on the other side of the lake. He was looking foreword to possibly getting into a salmon or laker on the fly and met me by 10:00 for a few hours. We ran a couple of deeper lines as the fish were marking down over deep water and hoped it would work. In 2 hours, he managed to land about 10 or more fish, but all smallies coming in from the deep. Oh well, it was still fun! After I dropped him off at the dock, I thought I would get back into trolling spoons on lead core to see if I might locate an area that held fish. It didn’t take long to get a rip on the board, but as with the flies, it quickly went silent. About five minutes later, the reel went off again and this time whatever it was, got hooked up. After removing the in line planer, I realized that the fish, although lethargic seemed heavy. Shortly after, I was slipping the net under a 6 pound laker and thought I was actually onto something. As luck would have it, that was all she wrote! Several more hours of this and I was ready to vacate the lake, but not skunked! This time I had at least managed to land a lake trout that broke the long dry spell. Tomorrow, I will be back on the water again and hopefully a little more successful. I have a feeling the lead core line will produce once again! Tough bite today with the big howl!!

Well, we headed out this morning around 7:30 in hopes of battling some of those disappearing landlocked salmon. What we didn’t anticipate though was the weather that we were to be faced with later in the day. After several hours of washing flies in my best niche spot again, I decided that this was the last time I would be fishing the area until next year. The fish just seemed to vacate and I couldn’t locate them anymore. Sunshine, no wind and air temps of almost 50 degrees, along with water temps of 47.5, soon were about to change as the clouds blew in. The winds increased from the S/W at 15 to 20 knots with heavier gusts at times. Prior to this, I had been getting into only bass on the flies over 20 to 30 feet of water and marking plenty of bait & hooks all over the place. Once the weather changed, so did every water column I tried. Somewhere around 2:00 in the afternoon, the skies let loose and we were being pounded by the rains that weren’t in the forecast. Lucky us! We trolled all over the lake and eventually came to an area with gravel, sand & deep water adjacent. I was marking some of the largest marks that I had seen anywhere on the lake when the long line let out a scream. Unfortunately, it also went silent immediately afterwards. If it was one of the hooks I had seen, it was a big fish! I trolled all over this area marking bait and more fish without another touch. I think the boat was spooking some of the fish as I would mark them descending to the depths as I went over the hooks. I might have to go back with planer boards and try once again. We both decided with all this misery that we would call it a day and headed off the lake hoping for better weather tomorrow. Day two wasn’t much better as we had listened to the high winds all night long with heavy rains pounding on the roof. I knew that we would have to fish another smaller lake nearby if we wanted to get on the water at all. Even this lake wasn’t very nice as the waves were 1 to 2 footers in most areas making the launch ramp quite tricky. Although the sunshine was a welcomed treat, the cold air of 37 degrees wasn’t. It actually felt colder today than any other day this spring! Water temps were between 47 & 51 degrees depending where we were. The first rod fired almost immediatey as I ran along a deep to shallow sand bar but I knew by the sound of the reel that it wasn’t what we were after. A smallie of just about 2 pounds was soon being released and I had to de mangle the fly he had eaten. The next time the reel fired the lines were over 37 feet of water and by the feel of this fish, it was big. Eventually after dogging down deep for the entire battle, we were both surprised to see that it was another bass. It didn’t seem to matter if we went deep or shallow, bass were everywhere! Last year around this time I was able to get into at least brown trout fishing the same general areas with the flies. After covering miles of water and only coming up with smallmouth, we cut our losses and headed home. I hate when the bass are coming out of the deep and begin to suspend over deep water and eat the flies. They take too long to make to be destroyed by the bass that quickly. The third and final day of our anniversary weekend would be cut short today as we would be heading home early in the afternoon. The cold winds from the north continued to blow this morning and left a real chill in the air as well as on our bodies. Water temps were 47 degrees and the air was barely 40 when we started our troll. I figured I would go back to the area that I had found a couple of days earlier in the rain and give it a few of passes before I moved on. The bait was still there and so were the big fish hooks, but nobody wanted to eat. I spent almost an hour trolling shallow and deep offerings at these fish only to watch them on the screen do another disappearing act. I knew the next location probably wouldn’t give up anything once again, but still had to give it a try. Here the water temps had really fallen as they too were 47 degrees, down from as much as 55 a week earlier. No bait on the break line, only deep hooks and schools of smelt every once in a while. I knew that this area wasn’t going to work out either and only made one pass to keep it honest. I blew out of there and hit the main lake once more looking for the niche. Reels were firing every once in a while but once more the smallies were coming aboard instead of the trout. Some of these fish however were in the 4 & 5 pound range and fought great on the fly rods. I really need the weather to warm up pushing these bass into the shallows where they should be at this time of the year and vacate the deep. I don’t want to go to the riggers quite yet and might have to make some necessary changes next time out in order to get the salmon once more. Looks like a deeper trolling pattern might be in order!!