One Plus Ultra

 03/30/2022

Yesterday was a One Plus Ultra day but it didn’t begin that way. To begin, a One Plus Ultra day is a very lucky one and it turns out that yesterday made me happier than I’ve been for quite a while.

The day started at 21F and breezy for my morning walk so that wasn’t great. At least it was sunny. My fishing buddies and I had made a plan to have potluck lunch at our trout club and then to fish after it warmed up—the high was forecast at 44F.

We had the usual lunch and beer tasting at noon for about an hour. I went out to use the outhouse and noticed that it hadn’t gotten much warmer and that the breeze had picked up, right out of the east so it swept the entire lake surface up into a froth. We quickly decided to leave the fly rods in the car and use the spinning gear we’d brought for just such a windy outcome.

Jack B., the oldest of the guys didn’t bring spinning gear so he headed to the south shore hoping for some protection from the cold wind. Tom K. went to the same shore, but Bob M. stayed on the southwest corner near the manmade snag there, one of ten or so randomly strewn around the lake to act as fish holders and give the fish some cover. I decided to fish the northwest corner where there’s a small cove that is sometimes productive.

We fished but everyone was a little antsy because we weren’t catching anything. I had on a Cleo, a small teal and silver spoon with a single hook I’d installed to replace the treble hook, per catch-and-release rules at the club. On the hook I had skewered a half-inch piece of wacky worm just to drum up interest. The trout go a little crazy for them. I noticed Jack wasn’t staying put—he’d roam east, make a few casts in the wind, move west, repeat, and so on. Tom took a spot and stuck to it. He had two rigs and switched between them and changed lures periodically. Bob, I noticed, caught a trout in the NW corner. But it was slow.

I wasn’t doing any good so I moved closer to the others. But then I passed them one by one and working my way to the east end of the lake where there is a peninsula out into deeper water. I thought I could get the wind at my back and get my lure down into deep water—maybe they’re hiding down there was my thought. But no luck on the peninsula after a promising start. On my first cast I retrieved right into the few feet of shallow water at the shore, before the drop off. Sometimes bringing a bait from the depths up that way attracts them. Surprise! Two fish followed my lure up the bank—a golden trout and a darker fish that could have been a trout or a bass. “What a start!” I thought, and kept working that shore until my hands were numb. Never a strike and no more follows.

I worked my way back over to the southeast corner and past it heading west and had another follow—a big rainbow I thought. I casted out in the direction he’d sped off and saw a roll close to where my lure hit the water. He’s still there I thought. One more cast and I hooked him. He was pretty aggressive. After a good fight I landed him—a brown/golden hybrid trout about three pounds and 16” long. Nice fish! I continued working that spot but the fish was a one-off apparently so I moved west toward the club house stopping every 50-70 yards to make a few casts—all non-productive.

When I got to the west end I tried the spot where Bob caught fish earlier but, again, no luck. While moving west I had noticed two things though: 1) Jack had given up on his fly rod in the wind and left for the day; and 2) Bob had walked back from the northwest corner and spoke to Tom a minute before the two went back to the northwest cove. I figured something good might be happening over there so I decided to join them.

I asked Bob how it was going while I made a few initial casts. He said they’d caught a couple and that Tom was no longer a “virgin”. (I had been unaware that Tom had never caught a trout before so I congratulated him and just then he hooked another one.) I continued my casting with no luck—no follows, not strikes, no fish. I was only slightly consoled that the brown trout I caught at least kept me from being skunked like the last time.

Then I called to Bob, “Have you tried north of that snag?” He shook his head “no”. I hauled in my lure and approached the two of them.

“I’m gonna try next to the snag,” I said, pointing to the opposite end of the cove. “Hope I don’t lose any lures!” We had expected to quit at 4:00pm and it was just after four now so I hustled the 70 yards around to the other corner.

A good portion of the snag was visible above the water but a lot of branches jutted out below the water too, and it was difficult to tell where you could cast without getting hung up in them. I’d lost a number of flies in those twigs over the years. And the wind wouldn’t be doing me any favors either as it would be in my face and tend to drift my casts toward danger.

I got into position and noticed a little twig sticking six inches out of the water. Below it I could just make out the thick branches of the submerged snag so I had to stay to the left, cast 10-15 yards past that twig, and retrieve just close enough to entice a fish out of there. My first cast was perfect. I started the retrieve and –Wham! Fish on. It turned out to be a nice sized rainbow with a lot of fight in him. It puzzled me a little that he hit well out from the snag about twenty yards off shore. But I wasn’t going to argue, so I sent my next cast to the same spot and got another big hit. That rainbow dove to the left then turned to the right and came three feet out of the water. On his second leap he threw the Cleo and I lost him.

By now I’d gotten the other guys’ attention—that leaper did it. I cast again and had a light strike but missed him. Next cast, Fish on! again. I landed him then released him like the other one, checked my rig quickly, and tossed it to the same honey hole. Bam! Fourth fish of the day on. This one was cagey though—he dove for cover in the snag before I could manhandle him past it and my line got fouled. I only had knee boots on, not my normal waders, so I couldn’t go in after it. Instead I skirted the shoreline trying to get a better angle to pull it out without breaking off the bait and leaving it with the fish. Finally, it came loose and I retrieved what I thought were twigs until I felt a bump, then a stronger one—that fish was still on. I got him to shore and he was unharmed so I put him back. The only casualty was the wacky worm on the hook—it had been lost in the fracas so I just continued without it.

That was my fourth fish landed, a brown and three rainbows. We have a catch-and-release daily limit of nine fish so I had more time to work that hole. Every cast I made was hit and I caught four more rainbows in less than 15 minutes and missed a few more. Then I hooked into another leaper for my last catch of the day. He was a pretty brook trout in breeding configuration with the extended, slightly hooked jaw, bright peachy-pink stripes along his sides, white belly, dark back with light spots, and lower on his sides, light spots with red dots in them, plus white outlining on the lower fins. Pretty fish. I hurried over to show him to Tom, who hadn’t seen a brookie before, and then returned him to the water to fight another day.

I told the guys I had limited out and was done for the day and that they should try the honey hole—it was a feeding frenzy over there. Bob already had 8 fish by that time so he was pretty happy with his spot but Tom took up the offer. We walked back and I showed him exactly where he needed to put his Cleo but he casted tentatively and too far left, and came up empty. I repeated where the spot was and his next cast hit it perfectly and Wham!, he had one on. He landed and I took it off and returned it to the water. Second cast, perfect, Wham! another one. We repeated this combo until Tom was limited out too—and it didn’t take that long.

We rejoined Bob and he was already packing up his gear—he’d limited out as well. On the hike back to the cars, Tom began asking when the next outing would be. He was pretty pumped about trout fishing by that time. We explained that it had been the best 1 ½ hours of fishing either one of us had ever experienced at the club, but that more than a few other days we get skunked. But that kind of talk couldn’t dampen Tom’s enthusiasm so I’m sure we’ll see him again soon.

My enthusiasm kept bubbling up too though. I couldn’t stop grinning. A seemingly lousy day had turned on a dime into a One Plus Ultra trout fishing day. It may never repeat that all of us catch our limit in 90 minutes, but this day’s memory will remain very sweet.

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Addendum: I went back to the trout lake after five days and caught even more fish. We went at 10:00am to fish until potluck lunch at noon, and then fish more in the afternoon. I decided a few things: 1) I'd go back to the hot spot I fished before; 2) I'd use the same gear, same lure (Cleo); and, 3) I'd catch and release as before.

On my first cast I had a bump. Second cast I caught a nice rainbow. And it went on like this until I had 9 catch-and-release fish, hooked 3-4 others that I lost, had several other strikes, and had two follows by that maddening golden trout that wouldn't take the bait. I stopped fishing and yielded the spot to Tom as before. 

At lunch, Bob had been skunked along the south shore, Jack was skunked near the clubhouse, Tom caught one in my spot, and I was limited out.

After lunch I decided to catch a few to take home--the limit is three. I went back to my spot, same gear and lure, and caught my limit in six casts. On the first cast I caught a 2.5 pound rainbow. Then I had a follow by that golden trout. Third cast, a two pound rainbow I added to my bucket. Fourth cast, nothing. Fifth cast, a light strike. Sixth cast, my third rainbow, about 1.5 pounds. The fish were 16.5", 15.5", and 14" respectively. 

I've never had a better 2 days of trout fishing in my life!

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Addendum2: Jeanne and I had an errand day a few days after the good fishing. I realized we’d be pretty close to the trout club on one of the errands. So I said, “How about we take some fishing gear along and stop at the club for a while?”

She agreed right away so I packed two sets of spinning gear and we set off.

At the club we got the gear out and headed right for the hot spot. She wasn’t familiar with spin-casting so I showed her the rudiments and set her up on one side of the snag while I drifted over to the other side.

After a few casts she had a fish on—her first trout ever!—so I ran over to get the gripper on it. A nice, feisty rainbow. We took her picture with it. Meanwhile I had caught two and tossed them back. I also had that golden trout follow my bait in but fail to strike. So we switched sides and continued to fish. I caught a brown trout on “her” side. A good-sized brown. (Picture time.) Then she caught a tiger trout on “my” side. That one was a pretty fish and good fighter so she was having fun. It was the first tiger trout either of us had ever seen. (Picture time.) Again, I caught a rainbow. Then she hooked into a fish and called me over again. We saw it in the water—a golden trout—she caught that bugger! When we had it in the gripper she said it had been the best fighter of all. (Picture time again!)

She was getting a little cold by this time. We were only fishing about an hour—she had three trout and I had four, all on Cleos with spinning gear. But it was time to finish our errands for the day so we left. But we have the pictures—and she posted her first trout fishing experience on Facebook.