Thanks for the report, the morning is the best time unless some bad weather comes in later. For some reason those storm fronts can get those macks pretty stirred up. Hopefully the action will heat up soon.
Blue Mesa Report 4/17/05
Fished Blue Mesa for my first ever open water Mack trip, having already landed hundreds through the ice the last few years. Fishing was very slow and I got two bites jigging all day for macks. The mack bite was slow and has been slow for everyone, but I saw another boat land an 18 pounder on a trolled flatfish near the Island at the mouth of the lake fork arm. People are landing big macks this year. Most of the people I talked to said they have caught a 15 plus pounder already this year. Didn't see a whole lot of fish on the finder but some.
When we couldn't get into the macks, which I think was partially due to the fact that we didn't get there for the morning mack bite, we went over in the lake fork arm past the bridge near the riprap rocks and fished for browns for about an hour. I ended up catching 4 browns, 3 rainbows, and one 3 lb. fat kokanee, all on a red and white daredevle. One brown was over 3 pounds and my friend got a brown, also on a daredevle, that was over 4 browns. I kept the kokanee but released the browns and rainbows, as I haven't caught nor eaten a kokanee in years.
Anyways the browns are ripping spoons right now at Blue, and the lakers are running big but the bite is quite slow. Seems the best trolling lure for macks and browns in this lake is a 4" flatfish.
The browns saved the day for me, but I was disappointed not to get any macks.
When we couldn't get into the macks, which I think was partially due to the fact that we didn't get there for the morning mack bite, we went over in the lake fork arm past the bridge near the riprap rocks and fished for browns for about an hour. I ended up catching 4 browns, 3 rainbows, and one 3 lb. fat kokanee, all on a red and white daredevle. One brown was over 3 pounds and my friend got a brown, also on a daredevle, that was over 4 browns. I kept the kokanee but released the browns and rainbows, as I haven't caught nor eaten a kokanee in years.
Anyways the browns are ripping spoons right now at Blue, and the lakers are running big but the bite is quite slow. Seems the best trolling lure for macks and browns in this lake is a 4" flatfish.
The browns saved the day for me, but I was disappointed not to get any macks.
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I agree 100%. If you say that near a guy from the north east or the editor of in fisherman doug stange, or any of his guys, you will get laughed at. They say the middle of a sunny day is bestOats said:Thanks for the report, the morning is the best time unless some bad weather comes in later. For some reason those storm fronts can get those macks pretty stirred up. Hopefully the action will heat up soon.
The good sign is that most everybody is catching big macks, the bite is just slow. If I would have gone with a more gung ho friend who would have gotten their at dawn, I think we could have landed a couple.
The man I saw catch the 18 pounder snapped a photo and released the fish after about a 7 minute fight. I told him thank you for releasing the fish. Big macks don't taste good and they are a precious treasure.
The man I saw catch the 18 pounder snapped a photo and released the fish after about a 7 minute fight. I told him thank you for releasing the fish. Big macks don't taste good and they are a precious treasure.
No one I talked to is catching any perch at all. In fact I do not think the situation is as grave as it seems. It's possible though perch could harm kokanee populations and thus the lake trout. All the fish, be they kokes, browns, macks, or rainbows, have very pink meat and often dark orange meat.
They feed heavily and freshwater shrimp and crawfish. The kokes don't eat many crawfish but the rainbows and browns sure do.
Anyway I was very happy to see that nice mack released. Hope people don't keep all of them this year.
They feed heavily and freshwater shrimp and crawfish. The kokes don't eat many crawfish but the rainbows and browns sure do.
Anyway I was very happy to see that nice mack released. Hope people don't keep all of them this year.
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