I'm  fishing a lake that I have avoided since 1984. I was encouraged by a local bait and tackle owner and my son-in-law to give this lake another chance. 

 

It's a beautiful place but can be difficult to fish and it's  definitely out of my comfort zone in that it's  fairly clear and deep. It has Largemouth, Smallmouth,  Walleye, and I have heard Musky. There's Bream, White bass, Crappie, and Striper also.

 

There's  been a learning curve of sorts but the one thing that surprised me is the fact that my perception of gear changes, line sizes, and presentations   has been minimal.  

 

That said, me and my son-in-law went last night and had the best night on this lake thus far. There was nothing of any size but we boated 17 total and would have had more if not for trolling motor trouble. (Fn1)

 

We fished 7 hours and used R. I.  Spicey Beavers, R. I. Man Bear Pigs, and some locally made Balsa crankbaits.  I did throw a R. I. Skinny Dipper and lost a nice Smallmouth trying to boatflip. Don't  do that.

 

Fn1: we had fished for two hours and  I went in to free a hung up bait. I went to back out and there was no power to the unit. We stowed the gear and loaded the boat. After strapping it down we looked at it and it was dead. My son-in-law,  a mechanic,  was looking at the wires an started to laugh. At some point, some how, while freeing the bait I hit the switch on the side that cut it off. In a bazillion years of fishing I have never had that happen. It never occurred to me to look. 

 

We relaunched and the rest is history. lol

 

 

I'd find it deeply gratifying to fish a lake that's hard to fish and that had spooked me for decades. Clear and deep sounds like a tough nut to crack, but you cracked it!