A Fathers Mothers Day

I was back on the water again this morning with Alain, but this time he was with his son Jean Francois instead of Cindy. We met up around 7:30 and were trolling before 8:00 looking for a few quick bites. The weather was cloudy with a misty rain predicted on & off throughout the day. Winds were non existent and were to remain that way making it feel like I was in auto pilot. Although it was a mild 56 degrees, it still had a damp feel to this day. I set the lines and with one board & two riggers, waited for the fish to react. I decided to switch sides of the lake earlier than I wanted to due to two other boats cutting me off as I fished the 200 foot depths. I know they didn’t know what they were doing as I had been completely alone the last couple of times out and saw both of them somewhere along the shoreline. As I crossed over, one of the lines started bouncing and Alain quickly responded, releasing the rod. The fish was on right up until he handed it to his son and then the line went slack. Wow, first fish lost on the rigger in three days! We continued trolling for a couple of hours and managed to land 4 lakers but all slightly too short for the legal limit and decided to switch it up. Off to the sheer bluff walls and 60 feet of water we went, tossing lures for roaming trout. With the low light I knew it would be difficult to see any followers, but we tried it anyway. I had been having success with browns and a few follows from lake trout previously but today we just washed lures. We headed back to Alain’s place somewhere around noon for lunch and his other son Julienne joined us for the afternoon. Back on the water, we went to a nearby point and started trolling slowly with these minnow baits in shallower water. I was using the electric motor to move the boat slower and it didn’t take long for Julienne to have a bend in his rod. He was surprised, but not as much as the other two as he rarely fishes at all. I was pretty sure it was a laker and once alongside the boat it was confirmed. As with most lake trout, it just had to go into its alligator death roll and wrap the line all around its body. We decided to throw this fish into the livewell for some pics later knowing that eventually we would be releasing it back to the lake anyway. With the exception of a few pike & several northerns, there were to be no more trout seen afterwards. I thought we would try a little more trolling with the riggers & boards and headed offshore to the deeper water where I set the lines. Although it wasn’t fast & furious, we did manage to land 4 more but they were all slightly too short and released immediately. Later in the afternoon the clouds thinned out a bit and actually showed periodic sunny moments making the run back seem a little more comfortable. Total for the day was 9 lake trout and a bunch of other trash fish as I call them. Although it was actually “Mother’s Day”, it seemed a whole lot more like father’s day with Alain spending some quality time with both of his sons. I’m sure they had memories of past years fishing from when they were all much younger. This day was a great one after all!!