Post By: MathGeek      Posted: 9/9/2012 12:59:06 PM     Points: 351    

Today was our first perfect limit of the year (two trout 16+" and two < 16") for all the anglers in the boat. When we put in at North Shore at 0630, the water temp was 59 deg F, and when we pulled out at around 1000, the water had warmed to 61 deg F. We hit the west side, starting at the big island. There was a clear thermal band of water from 8 ft to 20 ft deep on the sonar, and the bait was spread throughout this thermal band. We were marking plenty of bigger fish just below the thermal band with the bait (20-25 ft deep), but it was no dice until we got to the little island headed west and the first big trout volunteered to come aboard. We were running the lures 18-22' deep and the first group of trout were caught running the lures that deep in 22-27 feet of water.

Once the sun was good and high 0830 or so, the trout moved into the band of bait and we started running the lures higher, 10-15' deep. The last three trout were all big and all right after each other. All trout were on spoons with a splash of pink and orange. We tried trolling some crankbaits and also a different color spoon, but it was no dice. We picked up two bonus pike on the troll as well.