Got to the lake around 6. Was surprised to see hardly anyone there yet. Usually, you have to wait to launch, but not this time. It was raining pretty hard, but slowed quite a bit as the morning went on. Lots of people still fishing and reeling in 8"to 14" stockers. Some kids were fishing the launch area hooking and releasing a few nice holdovers. "we're gonna do dis all day" "day really like my green powerbait. Guhilk...last year I caught 12 dis way"....read the regs. book sonny.
We trolled 1/4 ounce Dick Nites in Bronze and silver with one oversized splitshot. My buddy and I must have caught 50 fish before noon. We each got 2 nice triploids also. Mine both were 15.5 inches and my fishing bud's were 18 and 17. We release all other fish unharmed. Tried various other lures, but the Dick was best. Didn't see many dead throw backs this year, but after reading some of the reports posted here, it shows some people are not following the rules. Catch and release fishing is unlimited ONLY to those who use no bait. Spinners and lures only!! If you catch 5 with bait...you're done for the day kept or not. Fish take the bait too deep and it makes releasing them unharmed more difficult. BTW...I fried up one of the 15.5 inchers for dinner Sunday. It was terrible!! Mushy, white meat with absolutely no flavor at all. Maybe smoking them would be better! cough cough. Happy fishin' and grease yo' reel befo you go!

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