It's been a long time since I had a trolling rod in my hands and a true sense of optimism about my chances of catching something worth keeping from the deep water of Hayden Lake.

The days of getting up early with the osprey and their calls and making a successful run at a cutthroat or rainbow trout below the glassy summer surface of the lake are long gone.

I'm 37, and my fishing days have grown fewer and farther between.

In my mind, it's always been my grandfather's and his friends' lake for trout fishing, not one I know much about firsthand. I've heard plenty about it, and my dad, Larry Cole, got a good taste of it.

But it's been about five years since anyone in my family has landed a trout from the lake. I've never landed one big enough to keep, but I've been close.

I've sat on the sidelines during the past 15 to 20 years after striking out too often while trolling. It's been a bass and pike man's game in that time.

But now with the planting of 100,000 kokanee fry in Hayden Lake in both 2011 and 2012 by the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, there has been a visible increase in morning trolling traffic this season. Add to that, a couple family members, including my dad, have reeled in kokanee, a fish new to their backyard lake.

Fish and Game officials said they've stocked kokanee to provide a more consistent troll fishery on the 4,500-acre lake.

With that welcome news in mind, I decided I'd wet some leaded line to pursue some of these attractive newcomers with my dad, who could still teach me a thing or two.

First, I stopped at Fins and Feathers Tackle Shop in Coeur d'Alene. They recommended a wedding ring lure, mostly pink in color.

They recommended covering the hooks with a couple kernels of corn treated with a bright pinkish Pro-Cure dye. The corn is held on by a tough, wriggling white maggot.

Because the kokanee have soft mouths, the Fins and Feathers guys sold me an elastic snubber, a shock absorber that softens the impact of strikes. Finally, I needed a flasher. We had that.

All of this is a long ways from a simple Triple Teazer used for years by my dad to reliably catch trout. While the Triple Teazer pretends to be a little fish, I noticed the wedding ring resembles a shrimp.

Kokanee fishing is a long ways from trout fishing, we're both finding.

In my dad's 12-foot aluminum boat we set out Tuesday morning from where we launch near Chicken Point and headed south toward some of the lake's deepest waters between Yellowstone Point and English Point.

The water gets as deep as 180 feet between those points, and the kokanee are flourishing there, living on abundant zooplankton and Mysis shrimp. They're also consuming fly larvae.

My dad had caught two kokanee after 11 a.m. a couple of days before, on Sunday, off Yellowstone Point, and that's where the trolling traffic was heaviest when we went together.

We didn't even bother letting our lines out until we got there, motoring past spots proven in the past to produce trout, including off Chicken Point and a point directly to the northwest that doesn't have a name I know. It long had a large satellite dish at the tip, but it's gone now, replaced by a smaller version and a large orange windsock.

I caught a trout around that point about 25 years ago that was less than an inch below the size limit. That's about as close as the lake gods have come to rewarding all of my reverence for this place.

But on Tuesday, my dad and I were determined to get me in on the action, and Mother Nature set the stage with clear skies and a light breeze.

We followed boats driven by fishermen who looked like they might be relying on fish finders.

While we're learning where kokanee go, we're also learning about the best depth to fish for them.

It's hurting us, no doubt, to fish low-tech, without fish finders or downriggers, but that's how we're approaching it.

We're not serious Hayden Lake fishermen, but find it's one more way for us to enjoy the place when it's good.

For trout we'd always go down three colors, a tried-and-true depth, and no flashers were necessary. For kokanee it's more like five colors.

I spent more than three hours on the lake Tuesday without a bite, which was disappointing.

We had the right gear, the weather was perfect, and the location was spot on. We sighted a couple fishermen in boats near us reeling in fish, and their catches looked a little small, maybe 10 inches.

Anglers this spring reported catching kokanee in the 14-16 inch range, Fish and Game has said. The kokanee my dad and others I know have caught were about 12 inches.

My dad said the kokanee provided a good strike, but he said some of the feel of the fight is lost with the flashers.

I'm determined to get mine this summer. I should have been out there earlier in the year. But mostly I need to put in my time.

My dad and I always have plenty to talk about, and we accomplished that. I figure we can just as easily accomplish that out on the lake while trolling as we can from his cabin's deck looking down through the trees on to the lake's surface.

Not only do I still have some to learn about kokanee fishing, I'm still learning patience.

Learning to enjoy each sport as I play has proven an elusive catch, too. Sometimes I focus too much on the scoreboard at the end. But it is zero for me, I can't help but notice.