SIOUX NARROWS, Ontario _ Whatever was down there peeling line off my drag was heavy as it bulldogged back toward the bottom of the lake some 85 feet below.
"Stay hooked, stay hooked," I said, gripping my fishing rod. "I want to see this fish."
There wasn't much I could do but hang on and enjoy the ride.
It was Saturday afternoon, July 20, and two friends and I were fishing lake trout on Whitefish Bay of Lake of the Woods using a drop-and-reel technique known as "bombing," or "bomber fishing."
As fishing techniques go, it doesn't get much better in my world. ...
Drop and reel. Reel and drop. Drop and "argh, I missed one."
Or, in this case, reel and ... "fish on."
Even though they head for the depths once water temperatures rise past 50 degrees, lake trout are notorious chasers, known for hitting a lure just about anywhere in the water column. Their anatomy allows them to expel air from their swim bladders and adjust to water pressure changes that would kill other fish being reeled up from deep water.
The fish peeling line off my reel hit about 50 feet down while I was reeling my blue and chrome Buzz Bomb jigging lure to the surface.
I might have thought I was snagged if my lure hadn't been more than 30 feet off the bottom when it got slammed.
