Set out in mid-afternoon to troll for some lakers. Marked many fish for a couple of hours, without a bite. Most fish were within five feet of the bottom, regardless of water depth or near the 60' depth. Had one downrigger at 65' and the other at 180' which was at or near the bottom. My downriggers are manual and require a lot of "cranking" to bring up. We were heading in when the downrigger released and we hastily reeled in both downriggers. The fish was "dead weight" to reel up, but did fight mightily when we tried to net it. Our little trout net wasn't sufficient but we landed a nice 28" 9 Lb laker. I had caught lakers before, but always in the 2 to 3 lb range. Also, only have had consistent luck with a yellow squid tied 18" to 24" behind a dodger.

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