Epiphany - Landing lake trout on Victoria Day Weekend

I must have lost over a dozen fish before the Victoria Day weekend. This was the week where everything changed. My best bud Sam lent me his Abu-Garcia Morrum rod (which they don't make anymore) and I tried using a single-hook on my lures. The Morrum rod allowed me to set the hook properly.

Sam, Sandra and I were all in the "fish-n-ski" boat and I hooked a fish. I still remember Sam saying "Easy Cad... take it easy." I didn't notice but I was HORSING the fish. I guess it was all the pent up frustration between April and July of not being able to land a lake trout. I took it easy and landed my 2nd laker which I promptly released, not a huge guy - but it didn't matter. I finally landed my 2nd, in open water.

Over the next few days, I was on fire, landing multiple fish (I'll post in the next article).
The combination of having a proper rod so I could provide a solid hook-set, not horsing the fish, and having a single hook I guess was the magic formula.

Sam landed this beauty the previous day. Does the notch in the dorsal fin mean it's a stocked trout I wonder?