Reluctant Lake Trout

[Don In Denver]

I fished Grand Lake yesterday for macks and had a bunch of fish come up off the bottom and just stare at my jigs. No matter what I did, I could not make 'em hit it. I tried letting it hang there dead stick, gently swimming it up a foot or two, reeling up fast 3 or 4 feet (and more), dropping it back down some.....everything I could think of. They almost always would follow it up, but not hit. Some would follow it down and hang there with it again. Eventually they would swim back the 3-6 feet to the bottom. I was fishing water 50' to 75' deep. I was using tube jigs of various colors (glow, pearl, chartreuse, hot pink, white, and olive) tipped with sucker meat. Even had 'em come look at a 6" long bunny jig with the same result. Any tips on what to do to make these fish hit???

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"The problem with common sense is that it isn't."

[Guest]

Don as you well know if you've spent much time with macs, they have a few different moods. For every active day there's going to be a slow day with the exception being Granby. There's no way of knowing whether its going to be an active day or a slow day, an I've documented moon phases and weather patterns and still haven't found a link to a hot bite. I have noticed that alot of traffic on the ice will put the fish off so I try to avoid weekends if possible. Try out some smaller jigs if your looking to catch a lot of them.

[ICEMASTER1940]

Foe what it's worth. I think mac's and fish in general become line/lure shy as the season progresses. I typically go to a smaller diameter line and smaller jig or lure and I always use some type of fluorocarbon line, especially in clear waters. <'))<

[Guest]

Boy, you are right on the mark. When we get into late ice conditions like right now, I have gone down to at least 2lb test Vanish, which is a flourocarbon. Also, I have reduced the bait size significantly. In fact the crappie fishing has been really good in areas where they say there are no fish because I have gone to a 1/64 or lighter jig and i pinch off a piece of tail instead of using the whole minnow. In fact those stupid trout at Boyd and Lon Hagler have been going nuts for that type of a rig. I sat right next to a guy who couldn't get a bite on the rig he had been using all season and pulled about a dozen fish up in less than an hour. I always go small this time of the year and when ice first goes off and then slowly go back up in size. Try that with the macs and you will probably be surprised at what they do.

[Don In Denver]

I was fishing between 50 and 75 feet deep with a 15' section of 12 lb. Vanish fluorocarbon for a leader. Do you guys think that's too heavy?

[Neal/CO]

I don't think thats heavy at all Don! Lakers aren't line shy? I have seen guys at Flaming Gorge tie their flatfish directly to their steel or wire line. I know when I fish with airplane jigs if I drop below 10lb test they won't fall properly. Instead of that nice floating semi circle drop, they drop straight down like a regular jig.

As deep as you were fishing maybe those fish were just inactive? Or maybe they have just seen to many Tube jigs this winter?

[This message has been edited by Neal/CO (edited 02-17-2004).]

[ShouldaBen]

I was at Granby this weekend and found the same thing. I was seeing 'em on the vexilar all morning. I caught a few in the 17 to 20 range. This was the first time I'd gone after lakers specifically. It was 17 below on Saturday morning and it takes a lot of action at that temp just to stay warm. Getting an auger to turn over was tough but fortunately it started as there was well over 2 feet of ice.

[Chewy]

I haven't encountered the same problem with reluctent big fish at Granby. I caught a 35 1/4" Mack the first Friday of the tournament and caught and released a 36 1/2 mack early Friday (Friday the 13th) morning near Dike 3. I was in 44' of water using 10 lb. clear stren and a white 6" tube jig. It was the first fish of the morning and he hit it on the first drop of the line. I had to down size to a green or white 1 1/2" tube jig and 6 lb. test to get the smaller macks to hit. Try going into 20' or shallower and down size your jigs. Use jigs to fish for rainbows and about every fifth fish is usually a Mack. I caught and released over 40 rainbows between 12" and 16" and 25 mack between 18" and 22". Try Columbine/Grand Bay close to shore.