Fishing Forum

I'm going to try trolling up some trout at C.J. this Fall. I understand that cooler is better and would like to pick a few brains. Can anyone give me any advice on my timing? Thanks
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I was there last Sat for my bass tournament and won the tournament with 9. 25 lbs all largemouth. So bass fishing is good right now.

Trout fishing does get better when it gets cooler. It should be turning on shortly with the cooler nite temps. Water temp this weekend was 67 degrees.
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[] Thanks for the comeback and congrats on winning the tournament. Guess I'll wait till things cool off a bit more. Almost 200 miles round trip and my truck really sucks up the gas.
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For what its worth: Son, grandson, and I absolutely nailed the trout while at C.J. in October 2005. Six fish within an hour flatlining rapalas. All fish were rainbows, all 19" to 20". Slender; not footballs. I spoke with a guy during the summer that nailed them one day the same way in mid-spring of this year.
It's hit and miss trolling. Twice I've been back and nothing doing. Perch only on both trips. So I think if you find them and conditions are right you'll catch them. We used rainbow rapalas both jointed and original. Mid-afternoon toward the end of October was our ticket. Water temp I believe was around 50 degrees. The fellow this spring mentioned blue over white was his best rapala.
I'm going to try it next week while camping nearby although I don't expect much until the lake cools off more. Still a bit early for trout trolling but you never know with C.J.. Try across from the A.F. ramp contouring along the shore at around the 40-50 foot contour line. (Our rapalas weren't diving deeper than 15 feet; maybe less) Trolling speed was around 2.0 - 3.5 mph. Good luck and remember to post your results!
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Late October early November the trout seem to have a peak on there that produces big fish on flat lined minnow imitations.
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Grandson and I Trolled C.J. for trout last Wednesday. Kept one limit for the smoker. All 13" to 17" rainbows. Fat and healthy. Smoked up great. (unlike Kokanee, I like to smoke these for 24 hours for added dryness) We lost 6 fish getting the one limit. (letting my 10 y.o. do the netting and he gets a bit too excited) Flatlining Rapalas near the perch and crappie concentrations were the ticket in three different areas. Typically running in 25 to 45 feet contours of water. Best trolling speed for our F5 surface Rapalas was around 2.2 to 2.5 mph. Stayed out about 4 hours. They hit best when there was a slight chop and the sun was partially obscured. When it was calm with bright sun they quit until the breeze came up and the sun went behind high clouds.. He also caught one big bluegill in the mix...
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Thanks for the info. Been down with the gout for awhile but ready to get back at it. The wife and I can hopefully get down there later this week. I don't need the help of a 10 yr. old to lose fish...I do it all by myself. (What did you fly in the Army?)
I'll let you know if I stumble into anything.[]
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Hey Aluma,
Glad to hear you found those elusive trout at C.J. Maybe it will get back to those great days of trout fishing several years ago. So, what areas did you fish? Seems like all summer the go-to place was the dam. By the way, just got back from Henry's Lake, and thanks to Curt69, Kali and I hooked some very nice fish. We're heading up to Cascade this Wednesday. Tackle Toms says the perch fishing remains very good. Had to laugh at your observations regarding netting (or a lack of it!). Had the same experience on Lucky Peak this summer with a nephew! Mike
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slow-troll: Grandson catches most of the fish and ALWAYS gets the bigger ones; all on his Zebco spin-cast. Now as to the netting, I have to blame something on him... My specialty rods and reels just don't match that dang $14.99 Zebco outfit. Regarding my 21 years active Army, I was dual-rated; primary fixed-wing. Flew T-41, T42, O1, U6, U8's, C12's. Had some time in the single engine Otter and C-45 before the Army bone-yarded them. Rotary-wing transition and then UH-1, OH-58, AH-1. Moved back and forth in assignments plus one European tour where we flew both categories.
Kodiak: We found them along the Black Sands stretch from the dam to the arm; then the mounds, plus one area to the left of the AF ramp that I don't think has a name? (straight up the shoreline about 1/2 to 3/4 mile.) The perch/crappie guys were around us but stationary. We skirted between them and the shore. Look for the big concentrations on your finder. We didn't catch anything where we had no schooling of perch and crappie.
Overall, I thought the bite was very good. Not red hot but second-best time I've seen there. Our most action was on black/silver surface Rapala, one F5 and one F7. Rainbow color was also productive on our third rod.[]
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Thanks for the nuts and bolts re fishing. We will give you a report about Cascade after tomorrow. Funny how lures/bait go. 20 years ago, the only lure that seemed to produce in CJ was a jointed black and white rap. Then everyone who was catching fish seemed to be using small red flourescent spoons. A few years ago when we were catching the lunkers in the Snake arm, it was all about flashers and a wedding ring. We would flatline a rapala, and it wouldn't produce at all. Now we are back to the beginning of the cycle!!! Same with Cascade. In the 50's and 60's the Thomas Buoyant was THE lure. Very few fish it up there any more. Maybe trout are faddish like humans?! Get back to you. Mike
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I talked to a guy in Mountain Home Walmart the day before we fished C.J. He said wedding rings with a red worm (trout/panfish worms) near all the C.J. arms was his ticket the week before. I didn't try it because Rapalas are so easy to fish and once we got a hit I never switched setups other than colors.
Let me know how Cascade fishes. The same Walmart guy above has been limiting on trout at Anderson as well...
C.J. has always been hit and miss for me. I think it's locating them primarily. We trolled a couple of large areas within the mix with absolutely no results. (up past the black sands arm along the south edge)
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Sorry about the blank post...old guys shouldn't be allowed to play with 'puters.
Wife, Black Dog, and I finally made it down to C.J. We went down Thursday and came home Saturday afternoon. I don't know which was better; the fishing or the weather. We took advice and trolled across from Air force dock. We had no problem catching daily limits flat-lining grey/white rapalas. We changed hooks a few times but stayed with the same rapalas. The fish averaged 16" with the largest at 18". All were nice fish with a few real footballs. Quite a lot of fishermen and all seemed to be doing good.
I should mention that Idaho Power is doing a lot of work around the Air Force dock and anyone going down there should expect a bit of confusion in the parking situation. It should be nice when finished but they aren't there yet.
Good fishing to all []
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Thanks for the update, slow-troll. We hit it again last Thursday and did the same as our previous trip. Six nice bows; a few more strikes and four non-sticks. I suspect had we arrived a couple of hours earlier it would have meant a few more fish. Just pulled them from the smoker this morning. We hit them right out in the middle and along the same area you fished. Started trolling just out from the ramp and had a double within minutes. Seems like they move further out later in the day.
Biggest difference this time was equipment. I used my ultra-light Kokanee rods (Lamiglas) and they worked exceptionally well. Easy to see the rapala action and a great fight out of the trout on these rods. For those of you pondering light trolling equipment for trout and kokanee, the Tica Gold Caiman reels are an excellent value and match the rods perfectly. I like them as well or better than my Shimano Calcuttas. We used surface runners, both F-5 and F-7 jointed and non-jointed with about the same results. Great fishing this year although the fish slightly smaller than a few years ago when they averaged 18" to 22".
The ramp at the USAF rec area is totally torn up with just the left dock functional. Should be nice when dredged and rebuilt.
Planning to head up to L.P. for a shot at the kokes before the temp drops too much more. My tolerance level is around 45 degrees provided there is NO wind and those temps are approaching within weeks.
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