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Don,
A friend of mine, Mike Kennedy from Colorado Fishing & Hunting News, has talked to DOW Biologist Bill Atkinson and Richard Crager from Budget Tackle in Granby. They both agree that the low water last year made it too easy for the kokanee to fatten up on mysis shrimp. Kokanee are the primary forage for Mackinaw, so the smaller macks just can't find any kokanee small enough for them to handle. That explains why so many of the smaller fish are so skinny and being caught so easily. The big macks are still in there, it is just hard to get them to bite because the smaller macks are so hungry that they beat the big ones to the bait. I went to Granby on Wednesday and caught 18 macks, all under 21". I have included a few pictures with this post. I caught them off of Inspiration Point in 25-55 feet of water. The action was pretty much nonstop, it was great fun even though the fish were pretty small. Mike and I are taking a trip to Granby this Wednesday, I'll let you know how we do! Hopefully we can find some monsters! I also post reports every time I go fishing in the Readers Reports section of my site. Check it out when you get a chance!
Donald Broeren, [url "http://www.coloradofisherman.com"]http://www.coloradofisherman.com[/url]
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those are some nice looking fish, thanks for the pic's
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what kind of jig are you useing to catch them macks that third picture sure has some pretty markings
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A 4" white tube tipped with sucker meat is what I caught most of them on. I switched to a 6" tube later in the day, in hopes of catching bigger fish. I lost a lot of smaller fish when I switched to the larger bait and never did get any big ones.
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[crazy]
In a couple of the pictures it looked like you might have dyed the tenacles red or pink. Did you? Do you think it makes a difference. I know people were doing that a lot last year for Granby.
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I tried several color variations during the day, it didn't really seem to make a difference. I caught fish on every color I tried. The sucker meat is the key!
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] So where are the healthy fish? All I have heard of from Granby this winter are lots of macks from 16"-20" or so. Even those seem to be mostly on the skinny side. Is there not enough forage? Should the limit on the smaller fish be raised to promote harvest so that the remainder could have enough to eat? I haven't heard of anyone addressing the issue. I would like to hear your thoughts. If you know of anything written about the problem, please let us all know. Thanks. Don