I apologize in advance for a Montana fishing question on the Idaho forum but I don't know where else to go and ask.
I am taking the family up to Georgetown lake near Anaconda this next weekend and would like to try and catch some fish with my daughters. We will be able to troll or throw lures or flies.
Has anyone fished that lake? I have heard the fishing can be fantastic. Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. (and I promise to post pics of any fish we catch :-)
Thanks
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I've never fished it but heard of some dandy 'bows and even better brook trout from there. It's catch and release on the brooks though.
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I've fished it a few times from the bank and caught some nice trout but can't say I know it well. It is an incredibly beautiful lake and I hope you have fun. I go up there most summers but usually fish the Big Hole, Beaverhead and Rock Creek. They have been restoring the Clark Fork which is close to Anaconda but I've never done any good there. One fun thing to do with the kids is to go to Fairmont Hot Springs which is a little south of Anaconda. They have mineral pools and a waterslide. Here is a link to their site.
[url "http://www.fairmontmontana.com/"]http://www.fairmontmontana.com/[/url]
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As odd as it may seem, the Ice has been off for just a little over a month now! Many of the 'bows are still spawning and close to shore or are cruising for feed. Nowhere is it much over 30 feet deep! The North East section of the lake just opened on July 1st and you'll see many Fly fishermen casting damsels and damsel nymphs at the fish in that area! If you want the girls to hook up hard and often go with some ultra light spinning gear 4 or 6 lb Fluorocarbon line and some small rappellas in a little brookie or rainbow colors!
They'll smack these hard and often when you get the retrievals speed down! The water temp was 60degrees yesterday and the lakes at about 6000 feet high?
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I usually fish georgetown a couple times a year so I'm not an expert, but the damsel flies should be hatching and fly fishing with damsels can be fantastic. Bring along some yellow humpies as well. As far as bank fishing rapalas can be good as well as rigging a worm and a miniature jiffy puff marshmallow eight inches or so off the bottom. Try fishing sunnyside FAS. Good luck hope you do well
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try panther martini's i think they are called. love this lake my dad fishes there a lot and he uses these. as for me many memories........lost my virginity at this lake [
] hope this helps. good luck fishing
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Thanks to all of you for your advice. It is greatly appreciated. It sounds like rapalas are the way to go for the girls. I may try to wet a few flies while I'm there as well. I'll give you all a report when we get back.
I know we are staying on the south end of the lake. Hoping the bank fishing will be good there. Also planning on doing some trolling.
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another great hit for the kids to hook up at Georgetown in the late spring early summer, is to use a small bobber, with light line about 3-4 feet below / a split-shot at 8-10 inches above a size 8-10 snell hook and a single salmon egg or a homemade egg-sack smaller than a marble! When my kids were younger I'd hook them up with this rig and they'd slaughter 'em! It really p'ed off the powerbaiters. and nymph fisherman who were hitting a fish an hour to watch a couple little kids come in a hook 8-10 fish each, in less than an hour.
Often times George Town is a sight and stalk Fly fishery.
If you don't see evidence (rollin' 'bows) of pods of fish 20-30 feet off shore ~ drive around until you do!
Other flies? Use a small drab or whitish thingamabobber as an Indicator and invest in some fluorocarbon 4x and 5x tippet - these fish have been casted at for the last month and the flouo will be the differance maker! Try some light orange egg patterns in 14-16, orange,bighorn and tan bead-headed scuds sz16-18 and small 12-14 san juans in red, maroon, purple, tan and orange worked great for the wife last year around this time. I use mostly small tungsten beads on my top flies eliminating the need for a split shot / I use the unweighted egg or scud to free float below that. usually 4-5 x from indicator to 1st fly and 5-6x for the final drop tied from the hook shank of the top fly.
I may see you up there! [
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Good luck and get some Good Polaroid glasses so you have a better chance of seeing the fish.
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flyfishing from shore here!
[url "http://maps.google.com/maps?q=46.179251,-113.318954&num=1&t=h&sll=46.181239,-113.286901&sspn=0.030907,0.06403&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=46.179333,-113.318921&spn=0.003796,0.008229&z=17"]http://maps.google.com/...96,0.008229&z=17[/url]
and from a boat with damsels?
this bay!
[url "http://maps.google.com/...38,0.131664&z=13"]http://maps.google.com/...38,0.131664&z=13[/url]
drag the second map to the right to find the green arrow?
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Osprey,
The second link/map didn't work for me. Could you resend it?
Have you ever trolled in G-town lake? If so what is best way to do it?
Thank you very much for your help. I am really looking forward to this weekend!
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Trolling the lake gets tough this time of year. The lake gets very weedy. There are areas you can troll but the fish tend to hang in the weedy areas. Rapalas or small spoons work well trolling early in the year. Ive never trolled it when the weeds come in.
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[url "http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS358US358&q=georgetown+lake+montana&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Georgetown+Lake&gl=us&ei=DCs1TMbsEIOksQPTo5HZAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ8gEwAA"]http://maps.google.com/maps?rlz=1T4GGLL_enUS358US358&q=georgetown+lake+montana&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=Georgetown+Lake&gl=us&ei=DCs1TMbsEIOksQPTo5HZAQ&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ8gEwAA[/url]
The bay on the lower right off dentons point rd
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Update:
Returned home from a great trip to G town lake yesterday. It is a great lake with many fun things to do. Fishing was good, probably would have been better but the girls aren't fly fishers so we relied on bobbers and trolling for them. Bobber fishing was best with worms, didn't catch any on salmon eggs, trolling worked well in middle with rainbow rapalas and kamloop lures but moss/weeds were a problem. I had some decent success with my fly rod when the girls were playing on shore but I didn't have a float tube so I was just wading in shallows casting a damsel imitation. Guys in float tubes seemed to do best in evening and seemed to be casting and stripping. Not sure what pattern they were using, assume they were using sinking line of some sort.
Thanks very much for advice. This definitely won't be my last trip to that lake. I would love to learn more about the lake but info seems to be word of mouth. Not much online.
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