I've had a pretty good first day out on Dragon Lake. The ice came off on Thursday, but today was the first chance I've had to get out. Weather was bad and then that damn inconvenience called work got in the way. Today however I arrived at the lake about 6:30 am, it was cold, around -2 *C, but nothing warm cloths couldn't fix. So, I rowed out in my new pontoon boat and anchored up in one of my favorite spots. I had heard that red chronomids were working so that was my first offering.
After no takers for about a half an hour I switched to a black super floss chironomid ribbed with red wire. I was slow on the draw with the first strike, but about five minutes later my strike indicator went down and I set the hook on a nice 14" rainbow. I landed it, removed the hook and admired my first fish of the season for a moment before slipping it back into the water. I lost another fish about the same size about ten minutes later then nothing for at least a half an hour.
I switched to a black acetate chironomid and on the first cast my strike indicator disappeared. I set hook on a beautiful bow that put up a great fight. After landing and measuring the beautiful 21" rainbow, I again slipped it back into the water.
Another slow period caused me to try a black micro leach. After about ten minutes I set hook again. This time though the fish, that felt like it was a good weight, ran right at me and spit the hook when he got some slack line.
I switched back to the black super floss chironomid awhile later. After a good 20 minutes I was about to change patterns again when the strike indicator went down. A very strong rainbow busted the surface several times and gave me the best fight of the day. I was about to land the great fish when he made one last charge and broke my four pound tippet. He was in the same size range as the 21" fish, maybe a little bigger.(at least he fought like he was bigger)
After that the wind really started to pick up, the weather website had called for gusts up to 50 kph today, and the fishing pretty much was over after that.
All and all I couldn't have asked for a much better start to the season. I would have enjoyed staying longer, but the wind just didn't permit.
