Got done with work a bit early... wife had a meeting scheduled for the evening, so looked for a little "me" time and headed out to Blackman's to see if anything might be on the bite. Arrived at the lake a little after 3:00 PM... beautiful afternoon, even a little too warm. Temp was 73 degrees and getting warmer... went to the park, half dozen fishermen (& women) on both piers... chose the southernmost pier and started fishing with Power Eggs (fl. orange on one rig, chartreuse on the other). Water temp off the pier at 10' was 58 degrees. Nothing the first hour, then, Bam!... line went taunt, rod tip doubled over and Fish On!... a really scrappy and big fish, jumping out of the water three times and peeling line off my reel. Finally brought him to the net and landed a beautiful 18" triploid Rainbow (fl. orange PE). In the next hour I had several hits, lost another large fish that jumped three times and threw the hook on the last jump, then caught two Rainbows, one at 11" and the other at 11 1/2", thus completing my three fish limit and left the lake at a little after 5:00. All fish caught on fl. orange PE and a 3' leader.
The first hour I saw no action at all, then about 4:00 it was as if someone had turned on a switch and lots of fish were suddenly being caught both off the piers and off the shoreline. Saw three other trips landed in the time I was there. Lots of boats and rafts on the water and many more anglers spilling on to the piers and taking their places on the shoreline as the afternoon wore on.
Great afternoon to be out enjoying the art of angling... smoked a bowl of my favorite pipe tobacco and took in some Springtime rays... and was renewed a bit! PTL!

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