Fishing Forum

Me and my fater-in-law was thinking about heading up to Bear Lake sometime soon and try to catch some lakers. Whats a good trolling speed for trout?? I still have to buy my downriggers, but whats a good depth to drop it too? Tight Lines The Fisherless Fishermen

A good speed is faster than the speed traveled by the sound of the honey and mother-in-law saying, “come back here and cut the grass, do the dishes” and all those other mean and nasty things on the honey doo doo list But seriously I would move according to the suggested speeds on your lures. If none are provided then any where between 5 and 8 miles an hour, in other words a hefty walking pace. As for depth, that really depends on water temps and depth of the lake that your are fishing on. Trout like cold water but the feeder fish like warmer water so you will want to be in that transitional area. A river fed lake could be any where around 20 to 40 feet even deeper a spring fed lake they will be much more shallower depending on the proximity of the spring or flow of the spring. All the way to the surface of the lake as on the lake on which I live on. It is both river and spring fed and by the spring I have caught trout on surface plugs on top of the water in the dog days of August. <A HREF="http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/" target="_new">http://myweb.ecomplanet.com/MESS6438/</A> For Kids Sake Recycle your old Equipment Dave

Now someone who fishes bear lake is going to have to tell you about that. But trout is trout and at the gorge for lakers and at the berry for cutts and just about anywhere else I fish for trout, 1.5 -2 mph and sometimes up to 2.5 is where I spend most of my time. Thats not really out of trial and error because I just set it and go. It has always worked so I have never tried it at high speeds. I know that you arent goling to out run a fish at 5 mph but I dont know if it is thier comfortable feeding speed. For lake trout you need to go deep. The lake trout is a cold blooded mother chicken! He spends his summer down below the thermocline where the water is cold and to his liking.Generally this seems to be the 100 ft and around there range. Toss your lure out, let it go back a ways, clip it onto the downrigger, and set the depth at a position just above the depth that you are seeing the fish. Seeing as you dont have the downriggers I was assuming you are new to them. One thing you may want to look into is jigging for them. Bear lake mack could give you some advice but it can be a difficult thing to do. I have serious respect for the guys who have put in the time and can do it consistently. UNICORN CATCHER F.L.P.

Try jigging. It's cheaper and you'll catch just as many, if not more, fish.

Can you give me any tips Mac?? What jigs and all that, I've only been up there once and fished from shore The Fisherless Fishermen

I tell you what if your going to jig for macks just make sure you have a bow mount electric trolling motor. An electric makes it much easyer to stay on top of the fish. Another thing I have found out is that you need to keep your line as vertical as possible. I don't know why this is true but I know that by doing this it will produce more fish. As far as jigs go I usally use tube jigs in brown or green colors. But my information is from the Gorge I have only fished Bear lake once.

Thx Mac. I printed that out to put in my tackle box. Cant wait for some of your techniques! The Fisherless Fishermen

My Techniques for finding and jigging Bear Lake Macks: Let's talk about the jigging aspect first. Most times you will be jigging for fish located on the bottom of the Lake. Sometimes you will fish for suspended fish but let's stick to bottom jigging now. You will have your rod all set up with the jig tied directly to the leader and baited. Drop to the bottom. Set the tip of the rod on the water surface and take up the slack. you now know that when your tip is at water level, you jig is at the bottom. This is the first key in successful jigging. Lift your rod a few feet to bring the jig off the bottom. When you drop the jig back down, drop the tip of the rod just a bit faster then the jig is sinking. This will create a small bit of slack in the line. You want to watch that slack at all times. After you jig that tube jig a million times, you will know exactly how it falls and where the bottom is. This is the second key to successful jigging. IF the jig stops dropping before your rod tip get to the water SET THE HOOK! A fish has picked it up on the drop and is tasting it. You want to hit him Before he feels tension from the upstroke of your next jigging action. If you're feeling the tug of every fish you get bit by,you will lose more times then not. It means you're not reading you signs correctly. Again watch for that "coil" of slack to develop on the drop. If you're doing it correctly, you will have the hook set before Mr. Mack has any idea at all. After you hook him, by all means, DON'T DROP THE TIP OF YOUR ROD to reel in. This is by far the most common mistake beginning jig fisherman make. They make a great hook set but blow it by dropping the tip to reel and giving the fish slack. More times then not, that is enough for the fish to spit the hook and leave you hanging. Instead, keep the pressure on him as you very swiftly reel the tip down after the hook set. When you get the tip back down, SET THE HOOK AGAIN! Big macks have tough mouths for rooting up meals on the bottom. One hook set is rarely enough to drive the barb through the boney roof of their mouths. If it's a big fish, I set the hook 2 to 3 times in a fast pumping motion, always keep the pressure on the fish. If you happen to jerk the hook out of it's mouth, drop and start jigging RIGHT AWAY. Sulk up and feel sorry for yourself later when you're off the water. If that fish is hungry enough to strike, he'll more often then not come back for more. That's when the baitcaster pays for itself. you can drop back down on a fish in a fraction of a second and start jigging again before a spinning reel can pull back the bail, feed out line and get the bail back in place. Got to go before I get fired. If you want more, teroy, I'll come back later and fill you in.

Mac, you are the man once again! Couple questions for ya though. Do you add any weight to the jig to get it to drop?? Wheres a good place on bear to go after them?? I don't expect you to give away your secret spots. But maybe just generalize a little bit? Its a BIG lake [laugh] The Fisherless Fishermen

When you go to the tackle shop, you will buy leaded jigheads that are made to fit inside the tube. the lead is attached to the hook like a round jighead for curly tail grubs. They weight from 1/4 oz to 1 oz. I made a mold that goes from 1 1/4 oz to 1 5/8 oz for the gitzit 5" magnum tube for ROUGH conditions. When you have 2-4 ft of swell and the boat is swinging like a mad dog on the end of the anchor ropes, you need something that will keep you down. Again, 1/2 to 1 oz will suffice for your needs now. Rig as light as possible according to conditions. Anywhere on Bear Lake can yeild fish. Right now the lake trout are DEEP. Fish from 70ft out. Use your sonar to locate fish on the bottom. Check the wind and go up wind and drop on them while you are drifting. If the wind is pushing you too fast, throw out a line with 10' -15' of chain on it, adjust the drag or amount of chain on the bottom to allow the boat to drift but slow you down to maintain a vertical presentation as possilbe. WATCH YOU SONAR! You'll see fish as they are checking you out. I took WH2 out and he was amazed at the way the sonar showed everything. Of course, it takes a little time using it to know what your really looking at. Electric trolling motors are nice as Skeeter said but you don't need them. Don't be afraid to anchor up and wait for fish. The macks are on the cruise most of the time. The bottom is flat and sandy on the west side of the lake so the fish move around a great deal. The structure is so limited in that lake that some times anchoring up works very well. Again, watch your sonar for activity. If you don't see fish (big marks) or bait fish (clouds on your screen) move and try another location. Launch out of the State Park Marina in garden City. Try straight out of the marina for starters. We have caught a lot of fine fish no more the 1/2 mile straight out from the marina. If that is slow, head south along the west shore. Try anywhere you spot fish on sonar. Don't be afraid to idle around looking for fish using the drift method to get on them. You're on your own now! I'll be on Bear Lake for the next week starting Saturday on a family vacation. Let me know which day you'll be up and I'll keep a watch for your green tri-hull. Good Luck.

Teroy

davetclown

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Teroy

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