Took my mom over to Fish Lake for the day. Got there about 8am, rented a boat at The Cove and tried trolling - I was using pop gear and a wedding ring - mom used one of her homemade Walleye rigs. I caught and released 2, both about 12" before we got chased off the lake by a thunder storm. Sat in the rig and ate until the storm passed, then decided to try the dock for awhile. I picked up 2, and mom got one (2-12", 1-14") in about 2 hours, there were 6-8 others on dock and all were catching fish pretty regular for awhile. The bite died down on the dock so we decided to try another round of trolling. Mom with her same rig and I went to just a wedding ring. One round on the lake produced a perch and two bullheads for me and a little 10" trout for mom. This time it was the heat that chased us off the lake.
Fishing from the dock there can be a pretty interesting place. Had a stringer with my first fish hanging off the dock, when I went to put the 2nd fish on, the first was gone - found out later that there is an Otter living nearby - he ended up getting two more from other people before we left. Also had a dad and his little boy fishing marshmallow off the bottom next to us - dad caught a trout about 14", pulled it up and was trying to get the hook out with his fingers, he messed around for awhile so I offered him my forceps. He took em and messed around some more the whole time telling his son they were going to let it go. Finally I offered to get the hook out for him, but I would only do it if he would keep the fish as it was too far gone to let go. He reluctantly agreed, I killed the fish and as I was ripping the throat out (swallowed the hook and the hook was barbed - man I forgot what it was like to remove a barbed hook) I said cheer up, at least you've got a nice little fish for dinner - he whispered "yeah - but I'm not a killer" - not exactly sure what he meant by that... or why he seemed appalled that I would only take the hook out if he kept the fish,.. or if he knew the words "Thank You"... or what he did with the two fish he and his son had on their lines when I left..

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