I just felt a bit lucky this afternoon.
March 20, 2017
No, I did not go out on the ice.
That’s a 24″ male splake, taken by casting from shore into open water. Splake are in the shallows at this time of year, easily reached with light tackle and a floating Rapalla. This one fought rather well on six-pound test line. I could feel every rock he rubbed the line over as I brought him in, each time expecting it to part. But my luck was better than his on this day.
Do not try this on the Big Rideau or the other Rideaus. Splake are considered Lake Trout on those lakes for season and limit purposes. On the bodies of water toward Kingston, on the other hand, splake and lake trout are all lumped in as splake, and they have no season, with a catch limit of five.
A lake trout is generally not as pretty as a splake, and it has a distinctive forked tail.
My catch produced two 1 1/2-pound fillets. Bet baked one for supper. As splake go, this one was pretty edible. Elsewhere in this blog you’ll find a couple of humorous articles: How to Catch a Splake, and How to Cook a Splake. If you click Fish Stories or Splake below, the server will cue up a number of splake-related articles.
https://rodcroskery.wordpress.com/2008/04/20/how-to-catch-a-splake/
the Walnut Diary 
March 20, 2017 at 5:18 pm
Great catch Rod. Please feel free to share. Mmmm
March 20, 2017 at 5:25 pm
First read “How to cook a splake.” This one actually tasted good. Fall splake aren’t so great while they’re spawning. Ever see them come into a boat launch ramp to “spawn?” It’s quite a hoot. This one had recovered and came out of very cold water, then onto snow. I killed and bled him and then cooked one fillet. Pretty good, for a splake.
March 20, 2017 at 10:33 pm
Wow, very nice fish Rod