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So tonight I was on the bus after work, about to go to the gym, and I thought to myself ... with both my knee and my arm hurting, shouldn't I take a day off? So I called an audible, raced home, and headed for Lake Ballinger. I knew it would be dark before 7, so I was in a rush let me tell you.

I was on the water by 5:45. The wind was absolutely the most uncooperative - blowing toward the northwest. That made for a huge amount of time wasted relocating, as the drift was the shortest possible given the direction and the location of the island. Plus the drift was fast. It wasn't fooling around.

I spent many, many hours trying to catch trout in this lake this summer. I know I had 1 bite, in 20, 25, 30 hours, I dont even know how much time I wasted. With the two pole endorsement, I caught perch with worms while the powerbait did nothing. Then after I wasted all summer, I had a talk with fellow member JonB, and he got me pointed in the right direction. Not long ago, I caught my first trout in this lake.

Well, last weekend I actually went fishing for trout with JonB. He created a monster.

I was only in Balllinger tonight for one hour. 5:45 to 6:45. A good chunk of that was wasted relocating up wind. More time was wasted with a tangled line ... a line tangled by reeling in a fish through the other line haha. Such TROUBLES! Three rainbows, 1 cutthroat (I think), in the brief span of time I was actually fishing.

Remember Ross Perot? The giant sucking sound? Yeah. That's me with knowledge. I"m megamaid. I vacuum knowledge out of people's heads, if they let me. And what's awesome, is that there is clearly still a ton more left in JonB's head that I can go after next time I bump into him!

jgwinup

10/22/2014 10:24:00 AM

Nice fish. I am not from here so don't know much about trout. But I too watch and try to learn. Anyone use Trout Magnets?

whorde

10/22/2014 10:39:00 AM

Thanks. I've got some trout magnets actually. I use them to fish for crappie heh. Truth is it's just a tiny jig. Nothing exciting about it beyond that really. Maybe I'll try jigging for trout the next time I'm 1 from my limit and have lots of daylight left. I can't imagine they would outproduce a piece of nightcrawler in the same presentation though.

scraig1962

10/22/2014 11:31:00 AM

Jgwinup - the pink body/ white collar trout magnets under a bobber are pretty much all I use in trout lakes around here now. If thats not working, the 3" pink or green power bait power worms rigged on a #6 bait holder hook with a small split shot 2 feet above slowly retrieved will.

N E 1 FISSION

10/22/2014 4:06:00 PM

Great job!! Going to be more challenging these next couple of days,...props on success!!

Gonefishing

10/22/2014 9:12:00 PM

If you are trolling this lake what really seems to work for me is pop gear with power egg (pick a color) and a little bit of worm. Put some scent onto the egg and troll a lot on the south end of the lake near the Ballinger Way/205th/244th area. You can also pull a fly along the surface and entice some fish that way. If the wind is blowing towards the north the east side of the island or the north east side of the island seems to work well too.

Personally I wouldn't bother fishing this lake from late June to some point late in September unless you are fishing for Perch. Wait for the lake to cool down and catch the Cutthroats and eventually the trout will wake up as well.

The Quadfather

10/22/2014 9:24:00 PM

NIce job Whorde. Those salmon should start getting nervous!

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