Fished Upper Goose Lake for the first time. Got on the lake about 8 AM and started trolling for walleye with a bottom bouncer and a worm rig. After about an hour with no response I went after trout. Fishfinder indicated all kinds of fish at depths between 20 and 50 feet. I tried wedding rings with worms or maggots and corn. Nothing. I tried Rapalas and trolling plugs. I tried jigs and spinner baits and came up empty. Finally I went to trolling flies on a fly rod with a sinking line. I caught and released a few smaller rainbows, between 10 and 12", on a variety of flies along the southern edge of the lake. At about 4:30 PM, I changed to a mahogany brown fly with a red head while fishing the southeast corner of the lake and all hell broke loose. In the next half hour I caught five 16" feisty rainbows that literally pulled my rod tip into the water. They were some of the best fights I've had on a fly rod. The sun dipped below the steel grey clouds and lit up the walls of the basalt lake and the surrounding countryside for a fitting end to a great day of Fall fishing.

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