Finally got to take out the big boat this year to Spectacle Lake!

The weather as you can tell from the pictures wasn't great but the fishing was. Gusty winds at times, light rain for 5 minutes at a time, but for me very fishable seeing as how the fish were active. Outside temp was in the mid to low 60's, water surface temp was 50.

We unloaded the boat around 1:30-1:45 and were able to fish for a good hour until a phone call interrupted us and we had to head out early to help family who had a seal burst in their basement. We were told 6" of water but it turned out to be 2" of water. I made the joke that we should show up in waders and poles in hand saying "Hey we heard you had a lake downstairs!"

So during that hour of fishing the fish finder was blowing up. Several schools of fish. As we went through them there'd almost always be a bite. We caught 2 small fish that were only 4-6 inches, then 5 that were 7-9 inches then finally a 15-16" fish that I believe could have been one of the triploid plants. For me if I had to bet on it I'd guess it was a triploid because the body seemed too big for the head and tail, it was pretty chubby and it seemed to be the right weight for what the plant was. I believe I hooked up with another triploid judging from the fight, but it got off before I could see it.

Also during this hour there were countless bites and several hookups that came off. I'm not sure if the fish were either too small for the lure or if they were just nibblers today. Dare I say I need to sharpen my hooks? All around us while trolling there were fish breaking the surface taking flies off the water, I assume the rain knocked them down but they weren't shy taking something 10 feet away from the boat.

I can't wait to get out there again and use the downriggers. Several of the schools showed fish from 15ft to 30ft. But most the fish we caught were probably hanging out around 10-12. Trolling at 1.1 - 1.5mph mostly.

My go-to lure for this lake is a small rooster tail in black. I belive it's a 3/8ths ounce. My Dad was using a small dardevle spoon and it was catching a few fish but the rooster tail was hot. It was also my go-to lure last year where one day I'd caught 4 different species of fish while trolling or casting.

All in all Spectacle has surprised me and I can't wait to get out there again next week. We'll be using a different setup of poles and will be using the downriggers exclusively. I'll let you all know how it goes.

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