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Sorry for the delay in posting this report... been suffering with the flu the past three days. It had been a long time since I last visited Gissberg, so headed north to see what was happenin' there. Arrived at 6:45 AM and headed for my favorite spot along the south shoreline... lines in the water by 7:15. Temp at the outset was a chilly 41 degrees, sky mostly clear with only a smattering of high clouds. Water temp at the surface was 61.1 degrees, with water temp pretty much uniform throughout the water column to 15' of depth at the bottom. What first caught my attention was the very, very low water level at the shoreline of the lake... have never seen it this low in perhaps ten years of fishing this small body of water. Began fishing with pink Power Eggs on one rig (3' leader) and fl. orange PE on the other (4' leader). Fished for over an hour with no hookups. Tried various PE colors, leader lengths, etc. without any action. Even fished worms under a float... nada! About 9:30, put a small piece of worm with a fl. orange PE and short time later saw my line tighten... not a hard hit, but definitely a fish... reeled in a 7" Yellow Perch. Re-baited and a short time later, reeled in another Perch of about 7". Throughout the rest of the morning I was able to land seven more Yellow Perch on the same bait, for a total of nine... smallest at 6 1/2" and largest just a tick under 8". All fish were caught on a leader of 3'... the problem was that when the fish took the bait, they would dive into the thick aquatic vegetation at the bottom and I would have to reel in the fish along with five pounds of weeds. Lost another half dozen Perch because my hook would break off in the mass of weeds that became entangled in my leader. Could have gone to a 10# leader, but that just didn't seem "sporting"! Did have a couple of very light bites on pink PE very early which I assume were trout, but absolutely nothing once the sun hit the water. Not a trout rising to the surface all morning long. Spoke with three other fishermen on their way out, none had had a bite. Left the lake a bit before 1:00 with a total of nine Perch.

Gave the outing a "3" because I did catch fish, and had a very enjoyable day. Enjoyed the warm Fall sunshine, the avian displays, featuring several Bald Eagles, Canada Goose, Pied-billed Grebes and lots of ducks. Early in the morning I watched the Loch Ness beaver swim by with a large Red Alder branch in its jaws (have seen this monster beaver in the past). A short walk down the south shoreline brought me to an area of on-going beaver activity. Smoked a couple of bowl fulls of my favorite pipe tobacco and fully enjoyed the morning out. Need some rain to re-fill the lake and a bit lower water temps, and I anticipate that there are still Rainbows to be caught at Gissberg this Fall! PTL!

atroutfisherman

10/13/2017 5:26:04 AM

Just curious, how did you determine the water temp to 15 feet deep?

Stansjoy

10/13/2017 5:59:28 AM

atroutfisherman... For my birthday earlier this Summer, my wife gave me a new "toy" called a "Fishhawk". It is an instrument that I cast out from the shoreline and as it travels down through the water column it records the water temperature at five foot intervals, beginning with the surface temperature. It is amazing to be able to see the temperature changes in a lake over a matter of feet. Of course the fish are well aware of the changes and live where the temperatures are most comfortable to them.

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