We put the boat in the water about 9 AM & started trolling near the south end of the cliffs using spoons, plugs, flies, and worms off of downriggers. The only fish to the boat was a 13 inch rainbow that came on a half ounce, gray rooster tail right at the surface before the line was clipped and dropped down 40 feet. Of course, after releasing it, the lure was snapped off the line on the next drop.

Worst part of the day is a two-way tie between snapping a family heirloom Fenwick trolling rod & losing a broken downrigger over the side of the boat! The rod broke about 2 feet down from the tip for no apparent reason. I've dropped hundreds of lines down with the downrigger without ever seeing a rod just snap. Must've had a weak spot in it from years of use. The downrigger was set to 40 feet and we were trolling in 50 feet of water when the damn thing snapped its clamp (a removable Canon mini troll) and went straight into the lake. Probably caught it on one of the many anchor ropes that have been donated to the bottom of the lake due to the rocky depths. Two other times while trolling we also hooked into other forms of junk that we culled out; an anchor rope that snapped before we got to the bottom of things & leaded line that was mid water column.

Only fish we marked in numbers came near the buoys in 100+ feet of water, suspended everywhere from 50 to 100 feet down. This is also where we hooked into one of the anchor ropes while trolling at 50 feet.

Water was down 4 feet from normal. Be cautious on this lake if you choose to go!

Schenk

8/25/2015 2:22:00 PM

Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the rod and downrigger.
Can't help with the downrigger but if you have all the pieces of your rod (or even not) this guy can repair it and it will look like new.
He builds beautiful custom fly rods but he also does repairs on just about any rod and they look good. He has repaired 3 of my "bad luck" days with rods and I can't even tell where they were repaired:
Steve Moran Custom Rods
6107 E. Trent
Spokane Valley, WA
99212
Cell Phone: 509.869.3474

SharkFisher

8/25/2015 6:53:00 PM

Thanks for the tip! I've already ordered a pair of replacement downriggers (these will be mounted a bit better), but I just might give that guy a call.

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