Lake Trout Fishermen, esp. Bear Lake guys

[Tarponjim]

I've been reading the posts about the tough to so-so mack fishing on Bear Lake recently. You guys need to come to the Gorge! Just go into Linwood Bay. It's packed with lakers. The fish have moved onto the spawning beds, but are still eating with reckless abandon every morning.

You don't need to be on any special hump. Just find any place with 50 to 70-foot-deep water in the middle of the bay. You'll do better staying away from the little group of boats (and the two big boats) jerking treble hooks on the "snagging hump." There's all kinds of high spots out there, away from the idiots. If your sonar isn't covered with fish constantly, its broken!

Drop down a white marabou, tube jig, sluggo, mister twister, straight grub, plastic worm---anything white and about 3 or 4 inches long. Put it on a 1/4 to 1/2 oz. lead head. Then, drop it into the fish or to the bottom, and don't do anything but watch your rod tip. Just hold it, or move it up and down VERY slow. If you just can't stand still, drop it to the bottom and then reel it up very, very slowly for about 20 or 30 feet and repeat. No twitches, no "jigging." You should get bit every 5 minutes for several hours. LOOK for the hit on your tip, don't wait to feel it. The bite goes from wild to dead sometime mid-morning every day, but its been crazy each early morning. [#ff0000](NO FISHING ALLOWED before 7am!!!--By Law)[/#ff0000] You can still some bites in the afternoon and evening, but why bother after a crazy-good morning?

Most of what you'll catch will be in the 2-5 pound range, but I've been getting fish over 10 pounds more mornings than not. You WILL get bit from some over 10 every morning.

[#ff0000]This will only last another week or two at most. Then, the fish will begin dropping their eggs, and fishing will slow down dramatically.[/#ff0000]

From the reports I've read on here, its certainly better than the 2-6 fish days guys are reporting at Bear.

It can get busy out there on certain days, but there's LOTS of room, so give the other boat one or two-hundred feet of elbow room, and catch 'em up. See ya out there.

(I've never fished Bear Lake in my life, so I'm just going by what I hear and read.)
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[Kent]

Thanks for the great information Jim. Lousy time to have outboard problems with my boat!
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[FishingWaters]

Thanks for the heads up Tarponjim. I need to find some time to get up there. If someone was to twist my arm hard enough they could get me to find some time and take them with me.
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[Old_Coot]

[font "Comic Sans MS"][size 2][#002850]Jim,

Just want to say thanks for that great info. It's great that someone like you, a fishing guide, would share those kind of tips. Now it's my job to get up there and try.

Again, thanks ....[/#002850][/font][/size]
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[CROSSINEYES]

hey jim. thanx. sounds like fun. but when do the hogs start getting active again? o and did the deposit show up?
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[Tarponjim]

Hogs get active after the spawn-Dec.-if you can find one. They get out of Linwood quickly and try and hide from everyone. They stay on the move. We'll get a few on the beds before that though.

Got the Deposit. Thanks.
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[wiperhunter2]

Thanks for the info Jim, sound like the Gorge is hot right now for smaller lake trout. The reason most of us regulars fish Bear lake(BL) instead of the Gorge is because it is almost half the distance and time to get there. It makes a trip a lot easier when you are able to get there and back in one day with time to spare. The Gorge is do able but it makes for a long day and a lot more gas $. Most of us that fish BL a lot remember those rare days when the catching is hot and we are hoping for repeats. There are big cutts in BL that the Gorge doesn't have but most of us are after the big macks. That being said, it sure is hard to pass up a trip to the Gorge when we hear a report like you posted, thanks again for posting it. WH2
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[DonInDenver]

WH2-

I guess things are all relative. If I lived close enough to the Gorge to be there in 3 hours I would wear out the highway!
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[piscispursuit]

You are the man Jim. Thanks for the heads up on the situation at the Gorge. For any on the boards who have not had the best of luck at the Gorge, cancel all your plans, load your boat, and get out there. Do just what Jim posted and you'll catch more Mac than you've ever imagined.
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[Ryno]

Hey Jim! What kinda line are you using for those depths? A couple of weeks ago I was fishing some humps near Mustang Ramp with a buddy from work. He got several bites and 8 fish. I got skunked and had only two bites. I was using a super braid with a monofilament leader. Apparently the difference was his line, which was flourocarbon. Just curious what you gear choice is? Thanks.
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[Tarponjim]

I use braid most of the year, with about a 5' mono leader. Now that it's getting cold, I'm removing the braid and going with all mono. because it doesn't freeze to the reel as bad as braid. Braid also seems to carry more water into the guides, which freeze faster. I don't believe the braid bothers the fish at all. It's smaller diameter provides better sensitivity and tracks through the water with less bow in the line. I love it, except in all-day sub-freezing weather.

I'd say your buddy was out-presenting you. He was more focused and/or making a better presentation. It doesn't take much of a difference. Its a game of split-seconds, and fractions of millimeters. Really!!!

If that wasn't the case, then that was just how the cards were dealt. I see that on my boat all the time. One guy gets most of the hits, but there's usually a reason. Occasionally, it's just luck of the draw, or something unrecognizable to humans, but not the fish.

PS. Those Mustang-area humps are known as the PHD humps. Those fish know when you coming after them! If you caught fish over 10 lbs. there, you were doing something right. Especially any of the older fish, say 20 lbs. and up.
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[Ryno]

Thanks Jim. I know I've sat next to people on the ice at Rockport or Echo Reservoirs and its funny to watch the variability in catch rates, even when using the same gear! It was probably a bad day for me. Maybe I wasn't noticing some suttle hits, and I definitely had a couple of chances to put a fish in the boat. His fish were all "pups", but his 5.5lber was still exciting to see and pretty tasty smoked up!
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[Copro]

Hey Jim,

Will this weekend be too late??

Thanks copro
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[Tarponjim]

Its not too late, the fish are still loaded in there. The bite is not "crazy" like it was though. I'd call it about average, good but not steady. The fish are dropping their eggs and suspending above the rocks, and they get moody faster when this is going on. A decent bite for the first couple of hours, then slowing rapidly. Forget the afternoons right now unless you can take one or two bites an hour. And, Saturday you'll have plenty of the dreaded snaggers out there as well if the weather is decent. If its windy, then you can't do very well anyway, though you'll have it to yourself if you can stay afloat.

I'd guess the fish will start leaving the beds in a couple more weeks, though there will still be fish on and around them for another month. So, they'll bite this weekend, but not like I was describing at the start of this post. Use the same jigs/techniques though. And now some bigger ones will bite once in a while as well! I got a couple over 20 lbs. out there "field testing" by myself late last week. Haven't been out since then though.
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