Kevin and I hit the boat ramp at 8:00 a.m. On a seasonably warm morning. I decided today was the day for the Big Brown as my birthday is approaching it would be a nice gift. We did not mess around we took straight for the north end to around the Dorado Inn. We started trolling in 40' of water to get our gear out and the plan was to move into shallow water. With gear all in we headed towards the shore at 3 mph ripping spoons as we got into 25' of water my rip line took a hit but I missed it. Later to find out I missed my chance.
We trolled up the East shore line in mainly 7' to 15' of water ripping lures at 2.5 to 3.5 mph. We ran into Big Daddy at the Hamilton Branch but did not talk to him as he had clients and I did not want to slow their progress. The Branch is still too stained to fish but just north was clear again along with a perfect 48' degree surface temp. We proceeded north all the way to Big Cove with no action. The whole way up I looked the shorelines over for smelt but never seen a ripple. Once up at the cove we noticed a large amount of Greeves feeding in 50' of water so we trolled through them to find bait balls on the screen but much to our surprise NO FISH!
We racked the gear and ran over to the west side of the peninsula. We rolled up and back down that shoreline with no fish monitored. Where are all the fish? We trolled to another favorite spot south of the peninsula. I took 3 hits with no hook ups on the top line with Murphy's Pearl Green Backs spoon. We continued oUr run all the way to the dam.
We decided to give it one last college try and ran from the dam up the east shoreline to the point not a fish marked. On our way up we did spot a Golden Eagle which I was able to photo that made the whole day. We hooked the point and trolled towards the ramp in open water were Kevin pulled his second Rainbow just under 2 lbs with Murphy's Ice/Copper spoon.
We have only been chasing Browns for 2 years now so we have a lot to learn but generally are able to pull a couple of Browns a trip here. If you do not know this lake you might want to give Brian a call at Big Daddy Guide Service as he knows this lake and Bucks like the back of his hand and this is a tough lake to learn. Now it depends on the angler you are talking to as to which fish is harder to track down Salmon, Rainbow, Browns, Kokes etc the best I can figure is that the hardest fish to catch is the one you are actually chasing. We generally always hear of someone who has hit a big Mack while Koke fishing or a nice Brown while Rainbow fishing. To me it brings a little more reward when I smack that large Rainbow I was rigged for but will always take the lucky strike just not today.
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