Took my son out for the opening day derby for the second year in a row. The weather was cloudy and wet and on the cold side. Fortunately, the fishing kept our minds off the weather.

As usual, this was our first foray of the year and having spent a small fortune on electric trolling motor, new battery, mini-troll downrigger and assorted fishing tackle, there was much to shake down.

Spent the night in the back of the pick-up and forgot to set the alarm so we got going at about 4:15 AM instead of the planned 3:45 AM. By the time we got dressed; made a pit stop; enjoyed the pancake breakfast; and got all of the gear down to the boat it was probably just before 6:00 AM.

The fish gods smiled on us and all of the new gear fucntioned well right out of the gate. We shoved off and assembled our poles near shore. I set up my son with an F4 perch scale flatfish, cast his line behind the boat and engaged the motor. I stripped out an add'l 20' or so of line and handed him the pole (didn't even have the pole holders in their sockets yet). We made it all of about 10 feet before he had a fish on. I don't even think we were in ten feet of water yet. It was a typical 8" planter but went on the stringer to kick the skunk out of the boat.

We got the pole holders in place and got my rod fishing also with a perch scale flatfish, but in the F5 size. 1 large split shot and about 50-75 feet of line out seemed to be about the best combination. Over the next three hours we hooked a total of 11 or 12 fish. A few self-released on their way to the boat, but we boated about 9, letting 3 or 4 more small ones go. We did manage to boat 3 nice carryovers (all on the larger flatfish). They went 14", 16", and 21" and the 21" was just over 2 pounds.

Fishing was pretty steady for the first couple of hours but pretty much died about 9:30 AM (at least as far as trolling was concerned).

It was a little bit of combat fishing with all of the boats out there (I think we could have fallen out of the boat and never hit the water), but most everyone was considerate so it was tolerable. We entered 4 fish in the derby and went home with a few shiny new trinkets for the effort.

All-in-all a satisfying trip enjoyed by both of us. Looking forward to trying the lake again on a non-opener day and also to next year's 'Event.'

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