Haven't fished for Rainbows since last Spring due to health issues and other distractions. Had a great Coho season though. Wanting to get back on track, headed north to Gissberg to see if I still had the "touch". Arrived a bit before 7:00 AM, lines in the water by 7:15. Only fisherman at the lake... raining steadily, light breeze from the north to begin with. Started with Power Eggs (fl. orange) on one rig, nightcrawler under a float on the other (3' leader under the float, with bobber stop placed another 1 1/2' above the float). Noticed right away how low the water level is, due to the long hot Summer... going to take a lot of rain to get to normal levels. Nothing for first hour... about 8:30, float bobbled a bit, then slipped under the surface... set the hook and... missed! Changed up on PE colors several times, using a 4' leader... Nada! Reeled in the nightcrawler several times, to find that most the worm had been chomped off! Finally, about 11:00 the rain stopped and the breeze stalled... begin to see trout hitting the surface around the lake... About 11:15 I noticed my float moving sideways... bobbling, then disappear... set the hook and into a fish. Landed a nice 12" Rainbow. Fifteen minutes later, same scenario, same result... With fish obviously near the surface, I changed up to a 8' leader on the PE, fishing now with chartreuse and pink on the hook. Missed a couple more on the float, then about 12:15 landed my third. About 12:30 finally saw my line on the PE rod tighten, then the rod tip began to dance... reeled in my fourth, about an 11 1/2" Rainbow. About 1:00, observed that my line on the PE rod had tightened, but no discernible movement at the rod tip... puzzled, I began to reel in and found that I was snagged on the bottom... a few hard tugs finally broke me free and when I reeled in, was shocked to discover a 11" Yellow Perch on the hook! Fifteen minutes later my float again slipped under the surface and I reeled in my fifth, and largest of the day, a 14" Rainbow. Left the lake by 1:30. Ended the day with five Rainbows, from 11 1/2" to 14" and an 11" Perch.
By 8:00 AM there were perhaps a total of eight fishermen on the lake. Saw one fish landed on the northeast shoreline but that was the only fish I saw taken other than mine. By 10:00 I was the only one fishing until I was leaving and saw several more arriving to fish. Four of the Rainbows were the sleek, fin clipped steelhead smolts the WDFW has had to dump into lakes. The largest was a carry-over from Spring plants.
Great to get out and enjoy to the fullest this sport I love so much! PTL!

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