Day 1 we had a tiki tour before fishing and had a good look around. Dan made the call for day 2 to fish the edge of Matahina from the dam. Gail is a little slow in the morning so we did not get onto the water until about 10 AM. The lake was as low as I have ever seen it. They were doing some work at the dam and had clearly dumped a lot of water overnight. To me, these were perfect conditions for edge fishing.
Gail started in the bow while Dan sat in the middle of the canoe. Edge fishing is a challenge too, it is mechanical, precise, repetitive...but it is very rewarding when you see that fish take and yell, "strike". "What? I did not feel a bite", said Gail. She picked up a few then Dan got in the fishing seat. He did pick up a couple but it was quiet for a long time in the mid day sun. It was not the action I expected for this time of year, especially with the low water conditions.
We went all the way up to the river and fished our way back with a southerly helping us along. It was nothing like I expected. That's why they call it fishing, folks.
There were no browns to be see along the lake. I have observed this trend for decades. By the end of March the browns move out, presumably to think about spawning. Then the big rainbows move in to take their place. Today we saw medium rainbows. Gail did break one off when she did not let it run after the strike. That was a big one .
