Cenaiko vs Court House

[fish_4_fun]

its no secret, this weekend for those of us who dont know how to fly fish we are going to be rewarded by the DNR with the trout winter trout opener. These two ponds are basically place and take ponds. But here is the questions, which one do you prefer and why, and what tatics do you use?

Your oppinion would be greatly appreciated because it helps out a lot of our brother members who dont know how to fly fish.

[muskyplease]

I prefer Cenaiko being that it is close to my home. Parking is nice and close to the lake as well which is nice. I've heard great things about Courthouse.

According to the DNR surveys of each lake, Courthouse does get more fish stocked each year (looks to be almost 2 times as many) BUT, it looks like Cenaiko makes up for that with some larger stocked fish.

Tactics, sight fish in 5-8ft of water, make the house dark to help. If it's slow, I'll move deeper. wax worms on a small jig. use a slip bobber to hold the bait steady until the fish eats. If you can't sight fish (to dark outside or cloudy water), I still use the bobber, but you have to pay attention to any movement. Any flinch in the bobber or line, set the hook. Don't wait for the bobber to go under. When they bite, they will typically take the entire jig. So when it moves, they probably have it and are ready for the hook set. It's not you bait moving that bobber! If you do not act quick enough you could miss it. Those fish will grab the bait and spit it back out just as fast. Other methods work i'm sure, but this has always worked for me.

Good luck this weekend.

[fish_4_fun]

thank you... I know that in these pond condition its not like a stream. do the trout relate to any structures, are they more near shorelines or are they out deep. And if they are in deeper water, (towards the Middle) do they suspend below the ice or hug the bottoms?

[monstermoose78]

Use a buckshot rattle spoon a bright one with wax worms. Fish 2 feet below the ice and use 6 pound test, because they do put some big ones in there sometimes. Make sure to wait until legal time or you may get a ticket. Glow your buckshot. I fished Cenaiko and I caught some big fish 21 inch brown, 15-17 inch brookies, and rainbows up to 20 inches over the years. I fish the first drop off 8-12 feet.

[JBMasterAngler]

Not that these 2 ponds aren't busy on opener every year anyway, but with how nice it's supposed to be on saturday, it's going to be shoulder to shoulder X2! All you guys that are heading out there are much more tolerant (and less claustrophobic) than me.

FYI. The winter stream season in the SE isn't fly fishing only. Spinning tackle is allowed also. It's artificials and single hooks only.

[monstermoose78]

come JB we should join them all and catch some tasty trout. I will be out chasing big blue gills this weekend far away from any trout water.

[JBMasterAngler]

I'll be after lakers way up the gunflint trail on the opener

I have fished cenaiko once before, the 1st monday after the opener several years back. I'd go there again if I could ever get time off during that 1st week. I just can't be around crowds of people like that when I'm fishing. From what I understand though, it gets fished out extremely quick.

[fish_4_fun]

so I finally went out to court house for the first time ever on saturday evening. A majority of the crowd has already left. the bite was really slow. I marked schools of fish, but they were just not interested. I fished from 2:00 to 4:25 and did not get a single bite. My daughter actually caught two in between that time. It was not until the last five minute of my day that I caught three small rainbow.

when I got home I gutted them to find out what the trout where eating and it was very interesting. three trout were filled with wax worms to the max. one trout had a whole bunch of plastics inside. and the last trout was filled with corn. they where all very well fed so that could be the reason why they were not biting in the afternoon.

I talked with a lot of people, it seems like more people got skunked than the others. There are also people who caught giants, one guy nexted to me caught a possible 3 to 4 pound trout in the morning.

all in all it was a hit or miss I think for a lot of people, no specific strategy, just a lot of waiting for the fish to bite, and jigging your lure scared off the fish. a lot of fish were caught with dead sticks.

[RiverDewey]

I got down to Courthouse this afternoon (Wednesday). I was kind of sad to see that since October, the water had gotten very murky. Best visibility was probably about 3-4 feet down on the north end of the lake. It did not look much better on the south end in the little bay. There were approximately 10-12 people on the whole lake fishing! Others said they occasionally saw fish on their vexilars. I did not see any visually nor did I have any hits. I was there for less than 2 hours though. I talked to several people. One guy said they had caught a "small trout".

[jmg]

Wonder what the cause is, regarding the murky water? We noted that, too last Sat. Far different from the crystal clear water at the end of October. Doubt it is from augers churning or trout finning, especially since it was so widespread. Is there an aerator going under the ice? Didn't see any warnings about that. Strange condition.