Saturday morning, get to the lake, drill 8 holes on my favourite shoal. Jig jig jig... 2lb lake trout. Switch to a different hole...Jig jig jig... another 2lb lake trout. Raise 10 ft. Jig jig jig... 1lb lake trout. Lower 20ft... Jig jig jig... 1/2lb lake trout. What the heck!! 4 little lakers in 1 hour. Nice that they are biting, but...the size was ridiculous. Come on! Time to RELO. Get up and move 1 mile down the lake to another shoal. Drill 4 holes, Jig jig jig... 1/2lb lake trout. Jig jig jig... another 1/2lb lake trout. This scenario kept repeating itself. In the meantime, 10ft away, my buddy lands (2) lakers each between 5-6lbs, with the same lure, at the same depth!! The trout were biting better than I have seen in a looong time. Call Mrs Out4trout - tell her we may be a bit later than planned...

Mobility pays a dividend
Get up and move again, about 500yards further. This time, no shoal below, 120ft to the bottom, but not too far from a cliff. Drop to to the magic depth, same lure. Jig jig jig... nada. Jig jig jig... nada. Switch to a copper/gold lure. Jig jig jig... nada. Jig jig jig...
THUNK!!

Easy does it
Eventually, the laker passes under the hole. Now the heart starts beating faster... this one looks decent...!! Take your time buddy... we're at the critical point now. Lined him up... a gaping maw comes into the hole... Crap!! The lure is hooked deep. I've lost fish to that before - if they close their mouth and spin, the line could be sliced!! Not done yet... a bit further... intense!! Finally the Gig is up - hand plunge into the water, fingers behind the gill plate - a splash, and it's rolling in the slush!! What saved the line from being sliced was the 40lb Flouro Leader, as the fish was hooked behind the tongue where the gills meet. The Flouro had knicks in it from the teeth...
Enough report already...
The one on the right was 3lbs, my "typical" laker.
On the other hand... Booyah!!

The day of the little lakers, with some perseverance, turned around nicely.
PB Hardwater Lake Trout

O4T