Hadn't been to Gissberg for a while, so that was my destination this morning. I enjoy fishing this small lake... always lots of wildlife and birds to observe. Arrived just about 5:00 AM and headed down the south side of the lake to perhaps my favorite spot of all. Sun not yet up, but plenty of light to see the coyote dart across the trail, fifty yards ahead of me. Sky was totally clear, but the temp at the outset was a surprising 45 degrees... chilly for a June morning. Water temp at 8' depth off the bank, was 66 degrees. Began fishing Power Eggs, pink on one rig (4' leader) and green on the other (5' leader) lines in the water by 5:15. Watched a beautiful sunrise and sat back and waited. Shortly before 6:00, had my first hit and reeled in a small Rainbow of about 9"... when I scooped it into the net, it let go of the pink PE and was uninjured so I released it to grow up a bit. Had a few subtle bites over the next two hours, but no hook-ups. Just after 8:00, I noticed a movement of my line on the green PE rig... nothing definite, no strikes, but the line was moving the wrong direction, against the breeze. I began to reel in and could feel the struggle of a fish. As the fish neared the shoreline I could see that it was coming in sideways... I was totally baffled until I netted the 10" Rainbow and saw that my terminal tackle had become tangled in a 4' mess of leader and line that the fish had been towing behind it. Surprisingly, the hook popped off its jaw in the net, but the fish was bleeding from the gills, so I administered the coup de grace and tossed it into my ice chest. I tried several other PE colors, tried marshmallows and worms... nada. By 9:00 the sun was climbing into the sky and the temp was rising... surface activity from the Rainbows diminished to virtually nothing. The only hits I had had all morning, were on the pink PE... on a whim, I added a pink with white headed Power Bait "Mice Tail" ... have had luck with them at Gissberg in the past... Bingo! Over the next two hours I landed four more Rainbows, the largest at 11 1/2", as well as missing at least a half dozen long range releases (I think the PEs were too big for the mouths of what were surprisingly small Rainbow plants). I landed my fifth Rainbow by 11:30 and headed for home. My limit ranged from 9" to 11 1/2" and I was a little surprised and disappointed at the small fish the WDFW had planted, compared to the much larger fish I have been catching in other Snohomish Co. lakes.
Wasn't disappointed, however, with the show nature provided for me. Watched eagles soar, my first sighting this spring of an Osprey, several astonishingly large turtles that swam by... hundreds of Bullfrog tadpoles gulping air for their developing lungs, and a couple of their parents in the nearby shallows. Many small Bluegill in the shallows in front of me, and a couple decent sized Largemouth Bass lazily swimming by. Lots of waterfowl constantly moving over the lake.
Saw many other fishermen and fisherwomen come and go through the morning. Only saw one other fish landed from my vantage point, but did speak with another angler heading out about 10:00 who said he had caught two small Rainbows. For me it was a very enjoyable morning... smoked a couple of bowls of my favorite pipe tobacco, soaked up a little sunshine and took home some trout for the smoker. PTL!

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