Arrived at the lake at 0630.Conditions were flat calm overcast and air temp was 46 degrees.
Signed in for the trout derby my brother and I were fishing in ( 8 year old nephew was also with us) and headed out from the Cove Resort. Only 2 other rigs at the launch and 4 people fishing from the dock.
Water temp was 51 degrees. We started out trolling the shallow weed line hoping to find some big fish still snacking.
I used a 4" rapala, my brother was trolling an ALIVE! leech with a lead head and the nephew was trolling a black fly.
The nephew was getting slammed right off the bat. Nothing for me or my brother.
I switched to a home tied red bead head black leech with red krystal flash. Got slammed also. My brother was to stubborn to switch so my nephew and I were catching all the fish. We released all the fish as most were 10-12" and we had the whole day to fish.
Decided to anchor up and do some bottom fishing on one of my favorite spots. First cast for all of us and fish on. Same size as before so strung those three up and switched to tossing spinners and spoons. Hooked a lot of fish but again 10-12".
The wind started to pick up around 1130 so we decided to do some more trolling.
I used a fire tiger needlefish, my nephew used an orange wedding ring and my brother used a black roostertail.
Not great fishing but not to long between hits.
My nephew finished off his limit while trolling the wedding ring with a piece of worm.
Derby was about to end and we still hadn't got any big fish. Ran back to the spot we had still fished and my brother and I finished our limits in less than 15 minutes with gulp eggs( orange) and marshmallows ( plain white) 4' off the bottom in 18' of water right on the edge of a dropoff.
Most of the trolling was done in a zig zag pattern covering water 18'- 30'.
My 5 weighed in at 2# 6oz. Brother 2# 4oz. Nephew 2# 14oz. My nephew took 2nd place in his age group and my brother and I got ziltch.
Big fish of the day went just over 5#. The only big fish for over 70 entries in the derby. Almost everyone limited out.
Strangest catch of the day was by my brother. Fishing a leadhead jig he says" I got something but it isn't fighting"
He pulls up a freshwater mussel that had slammed shut on the jig head. It took a screwdriver to pry it open to get the jig out. Picture.
It was an OK day but after getting spoiled fishing Rufus with the ultra lites were 1 fish weighs as much as 5 fish did today, I'm going to need another Rufus fix.

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