Early Openings and Nice Tiger Trout

Ahh, casting into open water again!  This winter has been rather mild and the ice season for many lakes was shorter than usual.  My family and I went to try out the soft water on Saturday and brought some big minnows along.

We did a better job than usual of leaving early and, as a result, were the first to arrive at "our spot".  Along the way, we saw a good sized herd of elk from the road.

Zooming in a bit, we can see the bulls:

Getting us rigged up, I got Sonia's ready first and she made the first cast of the day.  As I was tying on my hook, she had already gotten a take and line was jumping from her reel, bale open.  She timed her hookset well and I started rolling in HD:

What a pig!  A great catch for Mrs. LOAH, her biggest fish to date.

As awesome as that fish was, it was the only noteworthy catch of the day.  A small tiger trout finally saved me from a skunk, but I had to put a lot of work in before that happened.

The heavy, sustained wind made doing anything difficult.  It almost pushed me into the drink a few times!

Despite the slow fishing, it was a treat to cast again, the weather was pretty nice (minus the wind), and my wife caught a new personal record.  It was a great day for all of us.

Happy Fishing, Humans.