Hemlock 2/7

[FLXTrolling]

Well, its quite a bit late, but I thought my fellow fisherman might enjoy a quick read about some winter trolling -

 

On Super Bowl Sunday (2/7), my buddy Kevin and I spotted a prime day in the forecast, cleared the calendars, and found ourselves along the shoreline of Hemlock Lake around 7:30 a.m. The day called for plenty of sunshine and a high of 45 degrees later in the afternoon - a mid-winter gift for sure!  

 

For this outing we decided to keep it simple and start with proven colors like Oranges, Greens, and Pinks. The Riggers were set at 25 and 30 feet respectively with two different spoon sizes - standard and super slim.  We also ran two (2) planer boards per side rounding out a six (6) rod spread. The outside boards would carry smaller Cleos, and the inside boards would drag some big, K15 Kwik-Fish. 

No matter how many times I fish Hemlock I'm always impressed with how scenic and pristine the area is. For the better part of the morning I found myself staring off in the distance as we trolled along, really enjoying the moment and patiently waiting for both a strike and for the sun rise over the steep, tree lined horizon. 

It was a pretty slow morning, but sometime around 9:30 a.m. and the action picked up, heading south over 40' of water along the east side. I first noticed a big rod bend, followed by our inside board moving in the opposite direction. Fish on!  Kevin grabbed the rod and began reeling it in only to see a big splash at the surface behind our skiff boat. This was a large fish! After a tough battle, a beautiful Brown had found the net!  This was by far the nicest, Finger Lakes Brown I've ever caught - he clobbered a vintage Luhr-Jensen K15 Kwik-Fish, a lure primarily designed for targeting larger predator species. I know the Finger Lakes guys tend to do well with smaller baits, but on Hemlock, bigger has been better.  At least for me, and at least in terms of quality fish!  The Brown was promptly released and swam off strong in the cold water - (Oh, the water temp was 36 degrees on the surface.)

About an hour later, the 25' Downrigger showed signs of life when the rod tip starting dancing over 90' of water. I grabbed the rod and began to reel it in. Sure enough - to our delight - there was another sizable fish on the line. The bright flashes in the water showed signs of the big Rainbow that would soon be in the boat.  This was another Hemlock beauty!  We landed it further down the lake cutting across the middle of the South End on a Super-Slim Dreamweaver spoon, in the "Magic Man" Pattern (Orange & Blue). 

All told we landed 2 gorgeous, sizable fish on a very favorable mid-winter day.  Both were promptly released unharmed to hopefully be caught another day. Enjoy the pics, and hopefully you guys have been getting out too!!

 

Matt B

 

[hermit]

Sounds like a great day!  Nice fish!

[FLXTrolling]

Thanks! It was a great day. I wish today wasn't so windy...

[Sk8man]

Beautiful fish and great report....felt as though I was right there with you Matt.

[jmaggio93]

Nice job!!where did you launch out of and was there any ice on lake?

[Hookedup]

Great Brown!

[FLXTrolling]

Great Brown!

Thanks!  The Rainbow was a real nice fish too - unfortunately Kevin has massive hands so the fish looks small, haha