We didn't get a super-early start and didn't actually arrive there until about 8 a.m. by the time we got in line to launch, my son's licenses squared away and underway it was already 9 o'clock  I'm not a "bait-dunker" like the majority of the other fisherman we encountered, it was strictly a trolling approach for us. I hadn't been there since before it was poisoned and we did really well on small, 3" stick-baits. we put out 4 rods, 2 flat-lining and 2 on the downriggers at 20 feet. We were marking fish but no takers yet. I only saw a few being caught early by the bait fisherman we passed so it seemed like a slow morning anyway.

 

After about an hour we started switching lures and downsizing the offerings to see if they wanted something different. My Daughter Kayla got the first one on a small Rainbow Trout Rapala trolled on the surface. It was only a 10-12 incher, but hey we're on the board now. Not much else was happening so we continued to switch lures. I put a needlefish on Kaylas rod and sent it down to 20 feet and not a minute later it got slammed hard and pulled free from the clip. It started bucking hard and taking line so we knew it was a decent fish. I coached her to play it gingerly so it won't tear the hook loose or shake itself free. We finally got it into the net and it was a great fish, taped at 22 inches.

 

She was thrilled to have caught such a big fish Unfortunately, dad forgot the camera  so we didn't get any pictures until we got back home. Once we saw that the needlefish was producing, all the rods got them and they stayed there for the rest of the day. It wasn't hot and heavy, but it was consistant action throughout the day. I was shleprock today, only getting 3 fish to the boat.  I'm fine with that, today wasn't about me at all.

 

I did manage to get one of the 3 biggest at 21 inches and my son Tyler with it's twin brother. Kayla schooled both of us by landing the hog of the day. All said and done we landed 31 fish and lost 6 or 8 others. 30 of them were caught on needlefish trolled sans bling stacked on the downriggers at 15 and 20 feet respectively and the lone ranger was caught on a surface trolled Rapala.