Trout Lake Report: A Tiny Little Muddler

Made it back to the home waters on a hot afternoon, and found nobody home.

It was very slow on top, at least with a muddler. The water is down and the weeds are up, so the fish are no longer hugging the bank. I tried casting to various locales, but the few fish I found coming up once in awhile weren't interested in a muddler.

So I backed into the willows for a little break and had an early supper.

I'm still enjoying seeing how far I can get fishing primarily muddler variations. So far so great. But on this day I gave in, clipped the muddler, tied on a damselator, and kept going.

It was lovely combing the shoreline with a hot wind at my back. Much more relaxing than driving 3.400 miles on the Interstate.

Then, the perfect moment: a fish comes up along the weeds near you, you drop the damselator in the zone, and in the blink of an eye he's on it. A good, heavy fish who eschewed jumping and attempted long, ripping jags that almost got the best of me.

These are strong fish.

Then I missed three. Same scenario, except they all came off. So I crossed over to the other side.

It was slow again. A few fish were in evidence but they wouldn't come to the damselator anymore.

So I made a more radical switch and tied on a battered little Irresistible.

And I found a taker.

And another. Dead drift and wait was the successful formula.

For awhile. Then things slowed down again.

I fished a big muddler back to the truck but caught nothing. It occurred to me it was the first time this season I haven't caught a fish on a muddler.

But then again, that Irresistible is really just a tiny little muddler....