Picked Pete up at 4:30 AM and headed north to Gissberg, hoping to tie into a triploid or two! Arrived about 5:15, lines in the water by 5:40. Partly cloudy to begin, air temp at 50 degrees, water temp at the shoreline, a very warm 68 degrees. Began with fl. orange Power Eggs on two rigs, 4' leader on one, 5' on the other. 6:00 my rod tip starts dancing (5' leader) and reeled in a feisty, 12" Rainbow... very long and slender, thought at first glance it would be a Cutthroat... but just a skinny Rainbow after-all. Had a few more hits on the 5' leader, then another Rainbow of 11" at 7:00. About that time, as I was intent on watching my gear, I heard a humongous splash and turned to see Pete coming out of the lake and onto the bank! Somehow he had lost his balance and stepped off the shoreline... anyone familiar with Gissberg knows that there is no gradual beach into the lake, just an abrupt drop-off. Anyway, Pete got quite wet, but trooper that he is, he stayed through it, even with a bad back, and we continued to fish. At 8:30 a torrid bite came on, I caught two more (on 6' leader) and Pete caught four (8' leader I believe)... by 9:30 the bite was over, and even though we tried 'til 11:30, neither of us could hook our final Rainbow of the day! No "biggies", just stockers of 10" to 12".
By 9:00 the sun was high enough to burn off the clouds, the temp had warmed to mid-sixties... also, there was an RC hydro regatta being held in the swimming area... wondered if the vibration of those model boats, or the alcohol fuel might have played a part in putting the fish off the bite?
Saw a few large splashes early in the morning, obviously are some big fish in the lake. Had a thrill as I was preparing to cast my bait about 8:00, I spotted a LMB of at least 20" slowly swim along the shoreline, only a couple of feet from my spot on the bank. Lots of insect activity on the lake surface... two of the trout I caught had numerous damselfly nymphs in their stomachs.
By the time we left at 11:30, Pete was pretty dried off, but his back was really hurting. Takes more that a little water and considerable pain to keep Pete from his quest, "for the one"! PTL!

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