07-19-2005, 08:49 PM
During the summer, wind blows up-slope during the day and down-slope during the night. This is particularly true on the eastern side of the lake with its steep slopes and canyons. Insects are blown out onto the water during the evening. Small to medium size cutthroat will feed on the insects in the morning and to a lesser extent will again feed on the leftovers at dusk. Surface lures can work great under these conditions. Larger cutthroat can occasionally be caught on the surface.
Larger cutthroat feed primarily on other cutthroat, sculpin, cisco, and whitefish, but sculpin are a big part of their diet in the summer. Large lake trout feed on the same, but whitefish are a big part of their diet in the summer. Given that, if I were jigging I would first try colors resembling whitefish and/or scuplin and tip with cisco.
Look in deeper water for these larger trout and their prey. Finding the larger trout in deeper water is not that difficult, but finding actively feeding ones is tough. If you find some and can't get them to bite any jig in your tackle box, move, find some more, and try again. Perhaps move shallower and shallower until you find active fish. During the summer the thermocline starts at about 35 feet, so from from 35 to 50 feet the water temperature will drop rapidly. Studies at Bear Lake have shown that it's where this layer of water (the metalimnion) is in contact with the bottom of the lake that the most actively feeding fish will be found.
A good tactic this time of year is to go after those surface feeders in the morning and when the surface bite dies go jigging or downrigging for the big boys.
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Larger cutthroat feed primarily on other cutthroat, sculpin, cisco, and whitefish, but sculpin are a big part of their diet in the summer. Large lake trout feed on the same, but whitefish are a big part of their diet in the summer. Given that, if I were jigging I would first try colors resembling whitefish and/or scuplin and tip with cisco.
Look in deeper water for these larger trout and their prey. Finding the larger trout in deeper water is not that difficult, but finding actively feeding ones is tough. If you find some and can't get them to bite any jig in your tackle box, move, find some more, and try again. Perhaps move shallower and shallower until you find active fish. During the summer the thermocline starts at about 35 feet, so from from 35 to 50 feet the water temperature will drop rapidly. Studies at Bear Lake have shown that it's where this layer of water (the metalimnion) is in contact with the bottom of the lake that the most actively feeding fish will be found.
A good tactic this time of year is to go after those surface feeders in the morning and when the surface bite dies go jigging or downrigging for the big boys.
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