After taking a week off from work to look into some heart arrhythmias I've been having, I couldn't resist heading out for a few hours on such a beautiful day. If I'm going to have a heart attack I might as well be doing something I love right? I used some of that free time to spruce up my little 12 footer with new electronics, carpet and other little goodies. Even built "Seahawks" planer boards and a homemade mast! I'm on a mission to show what can be done with this little old boat this year. But for now just a short drive to Offut Lake where a recent cutthroat stocking got my interest.

On the water by 9am, crisp and beautiful with a slight wind. New Garmin worked beautifully and I marked fish all over the water column. Fishing was slow with no bites on a variety of spoons, flies, worms, power bait or spinners for the first 3 hrs. Those fishing from shore were reporting the same. I usually am a hardcore troller for trout but I tried drop shot and jigging too....nothing.

Then I rigged an orange Macks wedding ring tipped with an orange power egg on the lead hook behind a rainbow dodger and 5 min later a fat 18 in. rainbow slammed it and put up a decent fight. I was on the downrigger, 15 ft deep, 50 ft back in 22 ft water trolling at 1.3 mph. Not long after that I landed a 15 in Brown on my long line. She bit at a rainbow colored spoon with no dodger or weight set 150 ft back. Gets a bit tricky setting that far back in shallow water but I've had more success that way.

Two fish in the cooler on 2 bites then landed 3 small baby bows in the 6-7 in range safely released. The orange wedding ring was the lure of the day.

Had to leave the lake by 2 to get fitted for a 30 day heart event monitor, ugh, just when it was getting fun.

Although the bite was slow I had to rate it at least a 3 as I'm back on the water doing what I love and hopefully can continue to do for many more years to come. Even caught my first Brown! This new hobby/lifestyle started last spring and I've fished in over 30 lakes in less than a year!

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