06-19-2013, 04:22 AM
Trout in lakes go where the food, shelter, and comfort are. That was obvious wasn't it! [laugh] [laugh] But the buggers can be rather hard to find.
In my tube I will usually troll for a while to see if I can find where the fish are hanging. I usually start shallow and do a little casting to obvious structure. Then I will do some slow almost S sweeps parallel with the bank at different depths as I work my way out. It can really help to have some knowledge of the bottom structure of the lake you are fishing. I use a fish finder for the temperature, bottom structure, weed beds, and if I am lucky to actually spot some fish.
If you don't have a fish finder there are other ways to get some of the information that will help you. If it is a reservoir use Google Earth to look at it for years past when it was low. Even if it isn't a reservoir, looking at the sat pictures of any lake can help to show you where the deep areas, weed flats, and dropoffs are. Another way is to look at the surrounding landscape. Whatever is on the shore will generally continue into the water. Steep hillside = deeper water. Point on the land = point in the water.
Trout will generally cruise the shallows or weed flats in the morning and late in the evening. During the mid day they may leave the flats as the water heats up, and they are feeling exposed to predators. They may hang just on the edge of the flats close to deep water or they may move further into the depths to a comfortable temperature zone. If you can find those edge zones, you might pick up some good fish. They also like to hang off the sides of points.
Good food, and a close area of safety are important, but so is temperature. As the lake heats up, the trout need to move deeper to find oxygen and comfort. They may hang and cruise around at a very specific depth. If your lure is below them they won't see it, and usually won't go down after it. They will come up a bit though for an easy meal.
I start trolling my fly shallow, and work deeper. I use a sinking line that I cast out and start counting seconds before I start to either retrieve it or troll with it. Once I start it moving, it won't drop too much lower. Next cast I count more seconds so that I am covering a deeper area, and so on.
You can cover a lot of water trolling around in a float tube, but you need to vary your depth and speed to find where the fish are and what they want. I wouldn't worry half as much about the lure, use something that you know catches fish. Then when you get one take a guess on about how deep it was and try and get back to that depth zone. If it was an edge zone, try working along parallel to it.
Hope that this is somewhat helpful. Good luck and have fun!!
[signature]
In my tube I will usually troll for a while to see if I can find where the fish are hanging. I usually start shallow and do a little casting to obvious structure. Then I will do some slow almost S sweeps parallel with the bank at different depths as I work my way out. It can really help to have some knowledge of the bottom structure of the lake you are fishing. I use a fish finder for the temperature, bottom structure, weed beds, and if I am lucky to actually spot some fish.
If you don't have a fish finder there are other ways to get some of the information that will help you. If it is a reservoir use Google Earth to look at it for years past when it was low. Even if it isn't a reservoir, looking at the sat pictures of any lake can help to show you where the deep areas, weed flats, and dropoffs are. Another way is to look at the surrounding landscape. Whatever is on the shore will generally continue into the water. Steep hillside = deeper water. Point on the land = point in the water.
Trout will generally cruise the shallows or weed flats in the morning and late in the evening. During the mid day they may leave the flats as the water heats up, and they are feeling exposed to predators. They may hang just on the edge of the flats close to deep water or they may move further into the depths to a comfortable temperature zone. If you can find those edge zones, you might pick up some good fish. They also like to hang off the sides of points.
Good food, and a close area of safety are important, but so is temperature. As the lake heats up, the trout need to move deeper to find oxygen and comfort. They may hang and cruise around at a very specific depth. If your lure is below them they won't see it, and usually won't go down after it. They will come up a bit though for an easy meal.
I start trolling my fly shallow, and work deeper. I use a sinking line that I cast out and start counting seconds before I start to either retrieve it or troll with it. Once I start it moving, it won't drop too much lower. Next cast I count more seconds so that I am covering a deeper area, and so on.
You can cover a lot of water trolling around in a float tube, but you need to vary your depth and speed to find where the fish are and what they want. I wouldn't worry half as much about the lure, use something that you know catches fish. Then when you get one take a guess on about how deep it was and try and get back to that depth zone. If it was an edge zone, try working along parallel to it.
Hope that this is somewhat helpful. Good luck and have fun!!
[signature]