Got out here with Mark I. getting underway just before 9:30 am. He was up for different stuff today, so I brought a laker set-up along with some outfits set up with jerkbaits, tubes and hair jigs. That was all we needed today. As is generally the case going into a holiday weekend, the boat traffic was light. I doubt that there were ever more than 6 to 8 rigs in the parking lot on the day. We encountered very few boats on the water - the few we saw were people cruising in pontoon boats.
The water level is still high but the lake is clear and we did not encounter any debris. The north end surface temps were at 45 degrees and around midlake they hit 50. I had Mark start with bladebaits working around 25' to 40' of water for lake trout. He missed a fish or two, then got a phone call. He handed the rod to me and within a couple of casts I lucked into a laker around 19". We kept that fish. Mark then landed a 17" and a beautiful 23"er! All gorgeous wild fish, that taste great. We spent around 2.5 hours targeting lake trout.
We tried one area for bass/trout without luck and then I remembered an area that fishes very well this time of year for smallmouth bass, especially on a north wind. We hit a terrific bite window and Mark had a bass on virtually every cast for awhile with a jerkbait. He started off nailing one on a tube jig. After landing 20 smallmouths, Mark went to the fly-rod and nabbed another half-dozen more. Another large one came in a different area on a jerkbait. Overall, the fishing was excellent and the bass ran from 12" to 18", with most being chunky 13" to 15 1/2" fish. One nice wild rainbow trout also hit a jerkbait. We released the post-spawn 17" bow. His first fish on the fly was a jumbo perch. We did see a few more as the day went on. They appear to all be post-spawn now. Anyways, it was a great day to be on the water and also a great day fishing.
