11-05-2013, 12:50 AM
I went out to test the waters last Saturday and found the fishing exceptional and the catching wasn't to bad either. I never ventured more than a couple of miles from the Mustang Launch.
Rainbows were stacked on main channel points and the back of the canyons, and were easily spotted by occasional rises and also watching the sonar. Large schools of smaller bows (~14-inches) were suspended in 20-50 ft of water over main channel depths. The larger bows I caught (18-20 inches) were in skinny water near the bank or in the backs of coves/canyons. I used the same gear in both cases, a 3/8 oz jig tipped with a Powerbait minnow, but used a different retrieve depending on the situation. For deeper fish, I made a cast and let the bait fall on a tight line, with only an occasional jerk/twitch. All of the hits came on the fall. For shallow fish, I used a moderate retrieve with a jerk/twitch every 3 or so cranks. Action was pretty fast, especially while the morning sun was low.
Lake trout were easy to find, but harder to coerce. I found a couple of large schools of pups in 80-90 ft of water on a large tapering main channel point. All of my attempts at vertical jigging were rejected. I switched tactics, started trolling and immediately began catching sizeable ~3lb pups. I trolled 1.6-1.8 mph, with spoons set at 70-75 ft deep. I only tried two spoons, both of which worked equally well, a Northland Forage minnow in rainbow trout and a Rocky Mountain Tackle Viper spoon in Tequila Sunrise. I suspect another time or day, vertical jigging could've been just as good.
Surface temps were 50F.
Hope it helps, Ryno
[signature]
Rainbows were stacked on main channel points and the back of the canyons, and were easily spotted by occasional rises and also watching the sonar. Large schools of smaller bows (~14-inches) were suspended in 20-50 ft of water over main channel depths. The larger bows I caught (18-20 inches) were in skinny water near the bank or in the backs of coves/canyons. I used the same gear in both cases, a 3/8 oz jig tipped with a Powerbait minnow, but used a different retrieve depending on the situation. For deeper fish, I made a cast and let the bait fall on a tight line, with only an occasional jerk/twitch. All of the hits came on the fall. For shallow fish, I used a moderate retrieve with a jerk/twitch every 3 or so cranks. Action was pretty fast, especially while the morning sun was low.
Lake trout were easy to find, but harder to coerce. I found a couple of large schools of pups in 80-90 ft of water on a large tapering main channel point. All of my attempts at vertical jigging were rejected. I switched tactics, started trolling and immediately began catching sizeable ~3lb pups. I trolled 1.6-1.8 mph, with spoons set at 70-75 ft deep. I only tried two spoons, both of which worked equally well, a Northland Forage minnow in rainbow trout and a Rocky Mountain Tackle Viper spoon in Tequila Sunrise. I suspect another time or day, vertical jigging could've been just as good.
Surface temps were 50F.
Hope it helps, Ryno
[signature]
