Took my son out on this clear but cool evening to kick off our '07 season. Had no high hopes or expectations, although I knew the lake had been recently (and heavily) planted. Just wanted to get out and fish for the sheer sake of being out fishing.

Rather than fuss with the boat, we chose to shore fish from the park side, and at roughly 5:15pm we settled in next to the other 4 or 5 bank plunkers. Tossed powerbait suspended from 3' leader, and was able to really launch it far, thanks to a fresh spool.

Caught the first fish of the year right away; a planter dink. Minutes later, we had our next one; this time a decent 13" stocker. We had made some vague promises of bringing home dinner, but I reckoned we might hold out for something of substantial size. And no sooner had that thought faded that my rod tip started to bounce again.

It was my son's turn to bring in this one, so I called him over. As he started coming over, the fish leapt into the air and I could see that we had a good one on. With no net and rigged with 4# test, I did that thing we grownups (well, some of us anyway) do when fish-lust washes through us, and hastily informed my son that his turn would be slightly … delayed.

We managed to land a very healthy looking 18” rainbow, with a #10 wooly bugger from an earlier encounter hanging from its lip. So that took care of dinner. We fished for about another hour and had light action, but no more hook-ups. Shortly before we left at 7, another gentleman arrived and proceeded to slay ‘em.

All in all, the action was fair. There were a few boats and tubers on the lake, but plenty of open water in between. The water felt quite cold, and I’ve no doubt that in a few weeks, as it gets gradually warmer, Beaver will be serving up lunch to the masses.

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