Shoe Heads North For A Visit

Shoe and I were able to meet up and get in a nice stillwater trip. The lake broke up enough that we could put on the toon and float tube but the wind was terrible. Floyd showed up for a short time but the wind was a bit much for him. He called it a day after too much time fighting the wind due to anchor failure. It was a bit of work to get out to where the fish were but it paid off handsomely. The ice was only about 30-40% off the lake and we fished the edges and weed lines extending out perpendicular from the ice. It proved to be very effective with midges really shining throughout the day. We both managed to break off a fish up high on the leader too at a hinge point near the indicator. After the fact I could see it was a bit nicked up and I cut it back and replaced with 0x to give it a bit more strength at the base. Shoe was on fire through the entire day taking fish after fish. I was set up a little shallower than he was working a weed line that was a little slower but I seemed to be getting larger fish. The best sized rainbow of the day was just shy of 20 inches. The prettiest fish was a leopard spotted 17 incher that had some beautiful spawning colors starting and those large dark spots all over his body. The camera battery had given up by then however. The wind was too much for the camera and the battery sapped out.

Shoe working the edge of the ice


Shoe battling a rainbow


Assorted fish from the day