With the forecast for temps in the 80's today, was able to convince my wife, Boni, (mostly a "fair-weather fisher-woman") to join me for a morning's fishing at Lake Ballinger. We arrived at about 5:45 AM, on the pier and lines in the water by 6:00. Air temp was 54 degrees at the outset, skies were mostly free of clouds, and water temp was 56 degrees at 10' depth off the pier. Set up one of my rigs with nightcrawlers under a float, as well as Boni's; my other rig I set up with chartreuse Power Eggs and a 6' leader. Fish were rising like crazy, slurping midges which were coming off the water in clouds. Ten minutes in, Boni's float was jerked violently beneath the surface and she reeled in a chunky 12" Rainbow. She is an excellent fisher-woman and handles rod and reel with ease; also handles the net very well, so that I never worry about her scooping up a fish, even when we fish for salmon! Fifteen minutes later my float began to move laterally then slipped beneath the surface, and I reeled in another 12" 'er which Boni netted for me. Over the next hour we lost several fish on the 'crawlers, coming off the hook on the way to the pier. About 7:30 the tip of my PE rod doubled over and I reeled in another Rainbow in the 12" range. By 8:00 the sun was rising higher in the sky and a slight breeze began to blow from the south... the bite stopped completely. Tried various colors of PE and Power Dough... switched Boni's rig to PE with a 3' leader... nada.
About 9:30 a fellow named Ted came to the pier, have known him for several years... mostly fishes LMBass... he was tossing spoons, but no luck. Shared a few fishing stories with him before he left an hour later. I had put pink PE on Boni's rod, and about 10:30 her rod tip began to dance... waiting... then she set the hook and reeled in her second of the day. Twenty minutes later, she repeated the same scenario and had her third. I hastily put "pink" on my rig, and twenty minutes later I was into a fish and Boni netted my third.
By now it was nearly 11:30, the sun was high and the temperature was rising and becoming a bit uncomfortable... people were filling the park and the water was full of swimmers. We had six beautiful Rainbows so we decided to leave the lake.
A glorious day sharing time with my wife and catching some awesome trout. Love to watch the birds, the eagles and ospreys as well as the ducks and geese. Was reminded of the continual struggle for survival in the "wild kingdom", as Boni and I had watched a hen Mallard with eleven newly hatched ducklings (had to have been hatched during the night as they were so small)... she paraded them down the lake. Just before we left, she showed up again, now with only seven ducklings trailing her. Hope she's able to get most of them to maturity!
Saw six boats of various sizes and shapes launched while we were on the pier. Saw several trout caught off the boats as they trolled gang-trolls and flashers out front. Perhaps a dozen fishermen and fisherwomen tried their luck off the shoreline and off the pier, but did not see a single fish caught beside ours! PTL!

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