Palomino Pleasures

Kyle and I finally got out for some long overdue fishing. Rumor had it a local stillwater was starting to pop so we decided to investigate. When we arrived things looked good, but after ham and eggs gave us a report that fishing was slow, our hopes were a little dashed. We made our way over to the spillway and started our day. My 1st cast came up empty, but 2nd, 3rd, & 4th all rewarded me with fish. This is the second time to fish this lake and the first to catch fish. There are some beautiful Cutts in this lake

Kyle was a little slow on the stick but hooked into a nice albinoish trout he adamantly classified as Palomino. We caught well over a dozen fish in only a few hours. It seems that Kyle and I have been cursed every fishing trip together; until now we never seemed to catch fish on trips together...nice to break the curse.

Leeches were the meal of the day. I tied up a few blood leeches with a red craft bead the night before and was happy I did.

Cold, Windy, Skunky Weekend

My day started at 3:45am Friday morning. I got up and went to my 2nd to last nursing clinical this semester and decided to go fishing after I was done at 5pm. I drove back home, loaded up and pulled out of Cedar with the tent trailer in tow. I arrived at my destination just before midnight and furiously looked for a place to set up camp. I was hoping to find a spot close to the lake in hopes of taking breaks during the next day to warm up. The temperature read 14* F, snow was flying and there was a strong wind making it feel much colder. After nearly getting buried to my axles in snow I found a small pull-out along the side of the road. By the time I got set up, I was completely worn-out. I slept well that night thinking of what was to come in the morning.

I checked out the lake the night before and found 50 yards of open water around the North end of the lake. I started where the main creek runs into the lake. I was happy I purchased a step-ladder to stand on as the water was cold and the extra altitude gave me a good perspective of what was going on. I hooked one fish at this location but it unbuttoned before I landed it. I moved around the rest of the lake with no other luck. At the last place I stopped I spotted two huge fish cruise right in front of me as I flogged water. Not sure if they were Lake-trout but they were well over 30". What was to be a full weekend I cut short and went home with my head held low. I still have a lot to learn when it comes to stillwater. The cold, windy weather didn't add any luck, but hopefully gave me good juju to draw on later this season.