Just got home from an evening run on the big lake. Wasn't bad traffic-wise by 6pm. We had lines in the water by 5pm and trolled til about 8:30. It was my wife and my friend Jim. Jim was another Winni fishing virgin that I have introduced to the lake this year. Needless to say, he didn't see the fish this lake is capable of. As others have said, the rainbows are the majority of the catch. Oh well, we had fun. Great conversation and a beautiful ball-of-fire sunset to witness.

Fishing totals:
Not sure how many fish exactly, but these are pretty close guesses...

Ten of those runt salmon (caught in ten different locations - as soon as we caught one, we moved on)

Six of the 14-15 inch rainbows (all in different spots)

Two salmon 15 to 17 inches (both caught over 60' of water one on rigger down 26' the other on 4 colors of leadcore on the otter boat)

One salmon 21" (caught on rigger at 28 feet)

One token white perch 2 lbs (rigger at 26 feet)

Had around four LDRs and a half dozen releases with nobody home.

All the smaller fish were caught on 5 colors of lead or 30-32' down on riggers. Never knew they were there on leadcore until we checked lines (which we did often because of this).

By far the hot lure tonight was a db smelt (hammered type) in silver with a strip of green down one side. Added a second one of those to the water and immediately caught a fish on a rod that had not "popped" (in two hours) with a similar lure but with black stripe. Those fish can be picky.
Next hot lure was an Old Pete silver with orange dots all over it.

Speeds were 2.2 to 2.4 while catching. Tried down to 2.0 and up to 2.6 with no hits.

Basically trolled one big circle from Ames Farm... never circled back, just kept looking for the bigger fish. LOL.

It was a slow pick all evening... only two doubles and we only landed one of the two both times.

Hope this info helps someone.

Good luck out there.

Great report. I hope to be out tomorrow night.

I may be back out also. WIll give you a call on the radio if I am.

good report Craig,

sounds like you had steady action.

don't forget the camera tonight, love to see pics!

Only managed one pic last night and it wasn't pretty. My friend Jim kept saying he was on the witness protection program and couldn't have his picture taken. First person I've met that absolutely refuses to have his picture taken. Maybe he's part Amish?? LOL.

Tonights trip was cancelled, as I just barely finished todays portion of the "honey-do" list. One step closer to a finished kitchen, though. Its a project that keeps getting put on the back burner. Wife was ready for it to be done, no ifs ands or buts about it.

I just downloaded what I thought was ONE pic from last night and found TWO. Apparently my sneaky wife was able to get a picture of Jim and I without him knowing it! Proof that he was on the boat. Hahaha. No face shot, so it should be okay!

Pic one... Jim and I with what I believe is one of the 14-1/2" rainbows.



Pic two... Jim holding out the net with a 17" salmon that Becky landed on one of the ultralights.



Like I said, not much for pictures... but as you see, it was a gorgeous evening.
Knowing we had a chance of catching a lot of small fish, I used 5' ultralights on the riggers... at least it gave a feeling of some sort of fight from the fish.
The rod in the center was Jims spin outfit that he wanted to use for good mojo... it caught one 6" salmon and that was it. So much for the mojo. LMAO.

great pics Slipnot!
You have a good "mate", with a smile like that it looks like she enjoy's being out there as much as you! Can't imagine her giving up fishing for a to do list...haha.

Sounds like a great time on the lake. Enjoyed the photos.

Roger-