Late season Rainbow, Looking for tips

Glad you caught something.

I once went for Splake in the winter to a lake stocked with 5000 per year for several years straight. I was ice fishing with a buddy. We made swish cheese of the lake and caught nothing all day. I then told another friend and he mentioned he and his two friends went to the same lake several times and got skunked.
I personally don’t hold stocking numbers in great regard when researching a lake.

I'm starting to think the same thing. This is the third stocked lake I've fished this summer and no luck so far. I'll try them again in the winter and if they don't produce maybe it's time to move on to different lakea and species. I do well with bass, walleye and pike but not so well with trout.

Still have a lot to learn I guess.

You ever wonder if a highly stocked lake is there simply to distract attention from some other nearby good or fragile natural fishery?

I thought that too. I contacted the MNRs biology officer prior to going out to ask some questions about the lake. He said it was their first time to stock it (fall 2020) with rainbows and has had no feedback yet.

He did mention that if they hear of very few rainbows being caught because of the bass then they will stop stocking the lake.

So...according to him, they should be there. I just can't catch them... Maybe I'll have better luck this winter.