Took a chance that the rain and wind expected on Friday would "miss" me and it payed off. There was a brief shower that came through early but there rest of the day was almost perfect salmon weather (gray and breezy).
Since I was alone, I thought I would try a new launch and launched out of Lee's Mills. Nice facility but it is an "interesting" ride out from there. Very boney and a big ride compared to other ramps around the lake.
I had mostly hardware out and downriggers out performed planer boards by a few fish. I pulled a fly for about 1/2 hour without a hit so I stayed with hardware. I found lures with white in them all produced.
I had doubles on at one point (interesting when you are out solo) and the first fish I had back to about 30 feet and it was absolutely huge. He was bull dogging toward my other line (lead core) that had the other fish on so I had to add more pressure to him than I would have liked and he pulled loose. It was pretty exciting having him on though. He would have easily been my biggest fish of the day and I had two others over 20 inches.
I also picked up a chunky 3+ pound rainbow that was "going home to the grill with me" except I noticed it was a tagged fish. When I saw the tag I decided to return him as I know these are prize fish for the winter ice derby. I wanted to get him back in and neglected to take the tag number. It was a green tag - do you think that information is relevant?
I was suprised how many people were out. I found water temps from 47-53 and the fish were most active in the warmer water.
