My dad and I hit the lake around 4 in the afternoon, there was a light breeze on the lake. Temp was cool around 65. From the boat launch we headed to the far side along the rocks, My dad was trolling a #5 jack a loyd on a leaded line long shank hook on an 18" leader and rainbow power bait. We were in about 40' of water when he got a good hit and after about 15 mins of playing the fish he landed a nice 17" rainbow. My dad was 76 yrs old handicapped with major heart problems and on oxygen. Landing a 17" rainbow in less than 30 mins. on horse shoe lake the first time we ever fished there, excited doesn't even come close to describing his reaction. I was trolling a orange wedding ring with power bait and 10 mins after dads catch I got a 12" rainbow.
We trolled for another hour got lots of bites but no more fish, dad was getting chilled, so we packed it in. After loading the boat we headed up the road, we agreed that we would for sure be back to fish horse shoe lake again, hopefully on a warmer day. As we drove home my dad said he had his greatest day ever on the lake and was looking forward to our next trip to Horseshoe Lake. Little did we know that was his last fishing trip, my dad passed away that night at 11 pm.
Everytime I go back to the lake I remember the joy and excitment of my dad and his 17" Rainbow.

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