We were on the water at 4:30am - conditions were cool, 5deg C, calm and slightly overcast. A 20 minute run out to the target location was enough to freeze our hands and faces, then line in water by 5am to start the blood flowing again. Surface temp 58C
First fish was on at 6am. 3lb natural, back in the lake. When I released the trout, instead of diving, it swam horizontally with it's dorsal fin out of the water. Funnier still, it did a large circle about 200', and came right back to the boat.
I picked it up and released it head first, and this time it dove straight down about 6 feet then went horizontal and swam away. I believe the swim bladder was full of air. In mid summer this would concern me, however, with the surface temps at 58C, it will survive.
By 6:30 had caught 1 more and my partner had also caught 1 laker around 3lbs - both released.
At 6:45am, had a SOLID hit. Lifted the rod and cranked it in steady. Lots of drag pulls, then a decent fish appeared at the surface. They always look bigger in the water!! Back down it went, about 40ft of line drag pulled. 2nd time to the surface we netted it.
<img Src="http://www.fish-hawk.net/photogallery/a ... 4T_01a.jpg">
This fella measured 29" in length and had a girth of 14.2" The actual weight was measured on a digital scale at 0.5lbs lighter than the standard formula, (Length) * (Girth * Girth) / 800
<img Src="http://www.fish-hawk.net/photogallery/a ... _01b~0.jpg">
We net weigh / release most lake trout, and we release all natural lakers, as they generally won't survive in a livewell, even with ice. We use the honour system with 2 people per boat for verification of weights and lengths. However, the hook was embedded in the bottom of this fish's throat where the gills meet, and it was bleeding heavily unfortunately.
While this was not my PB LT, was a great start to the season, put a big smile on my face and made my day. Weighed in at 6.8 lbs. It had the length of a 10lber, but didn't have the girth. It did win me the tournament, first time winning this opener tournament.
With the two of us, we brought in a total of 10 trout, with my partner getting 7/10 while I caught 3/10, we released 9/10.
Total 5 hours of fishing, 6/10 fish were caught between 6am-9am - seemed to be prime time. Total time on water 7.5 hours, Total time fishing 5.0 hours, Catch 10 LT, Released 9 LT, no incidentals were caught.
A really enjoyable morning on the lake.
O4T 
