Eureka angler is thankful for fishing

Some know it as Tetrault Lake while others call it Carpenter Lake.

But for Eureka resident Valerie McMaster, 73, the name matters little. It’s just a great place to catch trout.

McMaster, who used to live in Libby, reeled in a nice rainbow trout on Good Friday from the lake a few miles from the Canada border. She thinks it’s a fish she hooked and lost a few weeks ago.

“I was there about three weeks ago and I hooked a big one, but lost it,” McMaster said. “I use fake salmon eggs with chunks of marshmallows and this time I landed it. An eagle tried to come in and steal it while I was reeling it in, but I yelled and the bird took off.”

That same day, she reeled in a bunch of old line. McMaster realized the line and the rigging was what she had lost while trying to reel in a trout.

“I’m sure it was the same trout,” McMaster said.

McMaster had shoulder surgery in October and had been dealing with a lot of power outages over the winter, so she was happy to be able to get out and fish.

“When I get out there, all the troubles go away,” she said.

The lake has been stocked with rainbow trout by the state for several years.