Got to lake about 5:30AM and on the water a little after 6:00AM. Was raining steadily, light, misty, soaking kind of rain. No other fishermen out. Surface temp. was 61 degrees, took reading at 45', was 51 degrees. Began trolling a beadhead black/sparkle Wooly Bugger (inter-med sink tip). Had a good hit about 20 minutes after start, then another about ten minutes later...figured to be an easy day!...wrong! Trolled another hour without a hit. Switched to a beadhead olive WB, a few minutes after, had a humungous hit, took most of my flyline off the reel and dove deep... no surface acrobatics for this one! Could feel the head-shakes as he struggled to free himself. Got him up near the surface after 5 minutes, then another run and he threw the hook. Continued with the olive for another hour without a hit... tried about a half dozen "favorite" flies, with nothing. Throughout the morning, when the wind died and the lake went flat, saw numerous fish rise, tried some dries, but nothing! Millions of tiny midges on the surface, but I don't carry any #36's! A few resident boats on the lake about 9:00AM, but only one other boat put in at launch. Watched an eagle hunt and snatch a duckling. Ducks were feeding along a stretch of cattails, so the eagle flew around a stand of firs and approached from the shore side. This made the ducks scramble away from cover out into the lake. The hen fought valiantly, but her family was scattered by the diving eagle... finally, one duckling got too far removed from its mother... the eagle made one more swoop and plucked it off the surface... went to the top of a nearby tree and had breakfast.
About 10:00 I broke down (sorry fly-fishers everywhere!) I tied on a f5 perch scale flatfish. Lake had become quite windy, from the South. Allowed the wind to blow me along the northeast shoreline, and almost immediately began to have hits. Caught two beautifully colored rainbows, one went 11", the other 12"... lost two more at the boat (how do they throw those trebles?)... with a half dozen more hits. Left the lake at noon, for the only thing that could have gotten me off the water... my grand-daughter's fifth birthday party.
Trout had beautiful deep red flesh upon cleaning. Wonderful, awesome day of fishing, even though I left most of the fish at the lake. Tight lines everyone!

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