Thank you to Busterdog3 for the report on Big Lake. I haven't fished Big Lake since I was a teenager throwing a worm under a bobber off a friends dock.

Started a little late, about 8:45. Trolled north from the launch along the west shore. Started both lines at about 5 feet down, and fairly quickly had a takedown that did not stick. Then nothing for quite some time as I trolled around looking for where the fish were. Saw lots of marks surface down to maybe 10 feet. Nothing was biting there though, and it's possible those were all perch. Once I hit the very north end of the lake out in front of the mouth of the Nookachamps, I started seeing fish around the 15 foot mark. Dropped my lines down there, bingo. I had consistent action with my lines between 12-13 feet down at the very north end of the lake and heading south along the NE shore. seemed to be that the fish were in 18-21 feet of water, any shallower and I didn't mark as much. Dang it was cold. about 37 degrees all morning with a periodic light almost snow flurries all morning. Plus as the morning went along the wind gradually increased, making it feel even colder. I didn't count, but in the end I think I landed 12-15 fish, kept 3, had a couple of others hit the line but not stick, and 1 or 2 that got off on the way in.

Best producer today was an Elgin Fishing God's Tooth Spoon in 50/50 brass/nickel, set to fast action with about 4-5 foot of leader. I caught probably 75% on this basic set up. On my other line I caught fish with a perch pattern God's Tooth rigged up kokanee style, about 16 inches of leader off a Mack's Double D Dodger. Also messed around with using a 50/50 brass/nickel God's Tooth like a spinner blade in front of a fly. I think I caught 2 fish with this set up, also ran about 16 inches behind a dodger. Caught a perch on a brown trout pattern, and did get a few strikes on 50/50 blue/nickel God's Tooth, but nothing that stuck. After cleaning the 3 fish and seeing the 1 1/2 - 2 inch perch in their gut, I think I should have stayed longer with the perch pattern set up, or even just ran 1 right out of the package like I did the 50/50. Oh well, next time. Still a great day even with the cold. Fish I kept were 2 at 13 inches and 1 at about 12 inches. I don't think any of the fish I released were any larger than that. Fish I did clean were all close to spawning. You can see in the picture above how close by the eggs and milt sac.

Video shows most of the action from today. I did have to delete a few clips because the lens was too wet.