[laker taker]

Report from a friend:

Fishing is redhot. Lake Trout are redhot. 15 pounder and several 5lbs around the island near lake fork (which is underwater right now). He was trolling with flatfish in 30-40 fow. He also caught several nice browns in Lake fork.

 

[TroutFishingBear]

It's fishing at its best right now. Those big fish are still few and far between compared to the good ole days...I'm most likely fishing there this weekend. Probably gonna go after browns.

 

[laker taker]

Those big fish are still few and far between compared to the good ole days

Not if you know where/how to fish them. Blue is still the premier trophy Mack lake.

 

[TroutFishingBear]

Those big fish are still few and far between compared to the good ole days

Not if you know where/how to fish them. Blue is still the premier trophy Mack lake.

do you have to have a downrigger to troll 30-40 feet down w/ a flatfish? Downriggers and trolling are pretty foreign to me. Yeah, there are big fish there, but the expert anglers all say they are far fewer in number than they used to be, but this time of year it isn't too tall of an order to get a fish over 10# every few trips. Did they fish for browns any?

 

[laker taker]

Numbers (average size) are certainly down since they changed the limit on Macks several years ago, but size has increased and number of big ones has increased also.

The Browns he caught were up in the Lake Fork Canyon.

 

[NeWcS]

trolling with flatfish in 30-40 fow.

Is a flat fish anything like a kwikfish???

[me=Jay_In_Parker] [/me]

 

[Zman]

Jay

Kind of banana type baits...

http://www.yakimabait.com/catalog/html/Original-FlatFish-XUMT-sizes-p-16144.html

I always liked Lazy Ikes better...

No dual hooks to tangle if you were casting...

http://www.lurenet.com/catalog.aspx?catID=LazyIkeLures

Caught lots of bass and northerns on those...

 

[laker taker]

Is a flat fish anything like a kwikfish???

Same thing. I like chrome colors and creme/pearl colors.

 

[NeWcS]

Ok good. I stocked up of Kwikfish this winter for laker fishing this summer. I figured if they catch big salmon in Can and Ak id try them or lakers, glad I stocked up. I even got a couple jointed ones.


[me=Jay_In_Parker] [/me]

 

[laker taker]

I'm a big fan of the jointed styles. If your going to Blue soon Jay, PM me.

 

[bobco]

Numbers (average size) are certainly down since they changed the limit on Macks several years ago, but size has increased and number of big ones has increased also.

The Browns he caught were up in the Lake Fork Canyon.

Excuse me, I think you are confused.  I fish Blue Mesa about once a week and fish with allot of guys who have been fishing if for 15-20 years, since 2003 the lake trout fishing has sucked, to many big fish have been killed, those fish were 25-28 years old and will not be replaced in a long time....if you go back and look at the Master angler awards for Blue Mesa it confirms what I am telling you, I think there is "1" entry in the last 2 years......there are still a few big guys left but it is just a matter of time before they get gut hooked by the sucker soakers that kill everything that they catch.  here is a pciture of the sucker soaking fish hogs, why would anybody kill that many big fish?

 

[laker taker]

I too fish it with guys who have been fishing it for 25 years. In fact I have been fishing it since I was a youngster with my Grandfather (25 years). I know several people who live there in the summers and fish it everyday. My take is different than yours. I do agree with you on the fact of people taking the big fish killing the fishery. I've watched guys (in the binoculars) who are in the know pull in hog after hog for several hours, they always release them and they don't care about master angler awards.

I have to add that I only fish Blue about 10 to 15 days a year, so my opinion is based on what I'm told by my retired friends. Not first hand knowledge.

 

[work2fish]

How deep is Blue Mesa?

I caught a 36"er at Granby last summer which I brought up from 65' and, while I tried my best to release him, he did not survive. At the time I had not heard of the "spear method" (forcefully send fish head first into the water) and that did seemed to work for other lakers I caught later in the summer.

Just curious about how successful C&R is for those guys at Blue Mesa and what methods seem to work best...

 

[setthehook]

I'm not a laker hunter so I dont know if this will work with them but with other species, I use heavier line (30 lb/8 diameter PowerPro) and get the fish into the boat quick.  Longer battles will kill the fish...sure its not as fun but I'd rather have a quick battle, quick pic and get the fish back in the water faster.

 

[fowl_hooked]

I have heard and read that with large lakers it can take upto double the time of the fight to revive the fish. So if you fight a laker for 5 minutes it may take 10 to revive it. So don't give up on those fish after a minute or 2.

 

[laker taker]

Don't net the fish, leave him in the water as long as possible while your getting your bait out of the mouth and spend alot of time reviving the fish. A lot of times if you slap a large fish, and I mean really slap him, no love taps, it will wake him up.

 

[fisherbob]

Hey I have questions about the Quick fish and flat fish. I bought a couple last year and tried them all they did was tangled up my lines.. Iwas useing lead core trolling two flat fish one out each side and one pole out the back with a rapala and they all got tangled up. We were trolling about 1.5 mph with about 5-6 colors on the flat fish and 3-4 on the rapala, have never tried them since just got my pole untagled yesterday and well frankly im scared to try them again that bit the the big one any pointers.

 

[laker taker]

I trust you weren't tying the lead line directly to the lure first off. Second, flat fish are designed to be trolled very slow. If you troll them too fast they tend to spin upside down and plane through the water instead of dodging back and forth, although 1.5 mph shouldn't be too fast. Other than that I don't know ?? ?? ?? People have been trolling banana style baits since Christ was in high school.

I think tangled lines are a by-product of trolling. You can learn some tricks and methods to minimize tangles but I've never eliminated them when trolling mulitple lines and making turns.

 

[tal0362]

A fish caught from deep water will often bloat on surface and will be stunned and unable to swim back down (its gotta hurt). Try attaching the fish through the lip skin with a small hook on a pole rigged with heavy weight (10 oz or more). Send the fish back down. You will be surprised on the way back down he will wake up and you will feel him moving/fight. A sharp jerk of the rod will pull the hook out of his skin and send him on his way. Kirbydog calls this a "sinder". I originally learned it on lake superior. It works.