Stream Trout Lakes in Full Swing!!!

[Quickstrike]

Well I can honestly say that I caught more trout today then I ever have in one day in my life this morning. I fished a lake up the north shore and between myself and illtakewhaticanget we landed around 70 rainbows 1 splake and 1 lake trout. We started the day trolling small sticks to locate the fish. We found fish concentrated heavily in a small bay where the wind had been blowing into for a few days and boy were the fish thick in there. We casted the sticks we were trolling a few times and every cast we did not hook up we would have nearly a dozen fish follow all the way to the boat. After locating the fish we switched to our fly rods and had about 3 hours of some of the most fun I have ever had while catching rainbows 12-16 inches one after another! I also had a very large fish break my 3 lb tippet and then I called it a day and went to work. I know this report may seem hard to belive, I had a hard time believing it as it was happening. All I can say is that the streamers sure are going good up here and I hope all you guys scattred throughout FM land have been having the same luck we did today.

[WxGuy]

Great report QS!

I've never taken the fly rod to the lake...what flies and techniques were working for you?

[rushing]

Sure makes me wish I lived closer to the northshore. I sure do love float tubing the lakes with my flyrod up there.

[DEADhead]

As an FYI, many lakes throughout the state were stocked recently the past few weeks. my experience with recently stocked lakes is a fish catching bonanza...

Glad to hear you had a great outing QS! Once in awhile I get those days where no matter what you throw out you'll catch a fish; then there's the countless others where you couldn't catch a fish if your life depended on it...

Randy, traditionally chronomid patterns like bloodworms do quite well in lakes/reservoirs. Scuds, leech patterns, baitfish patterns, damselfly and dragonfly nymphs, waterboatmen patterns. Streamers like clousers, buggers, muddlers, etc. work really well as Kent stated. Obviously dries will work too. Stripping is KEY in lakes. Slow for leeches, chronomids, etc., fast for baitfish/streamer patterns. Your stripping speed and frequency should mimic the natural movements of your fly imitation. A good type 5 uniform sinking line will help get patterns down into the zone quicker. Some prefer sink tips, but the belly of the non-sinking line seems to interfere with the action of the fly in deeper water. Sink tips would be suitable in shallow depths. Trolling streamers from a canoe, kayak, or pontoon/float tube is also a good technique. The beauty of lake fishing is the abundance of forage available will help reduce a trout's chances of being selective to flies and hatches.

[Quickstrike]

Great follow up DEADhead, most times I will start out with a smaller size (12-14) wet-fly with soft hackle pattern I created that works great in lakes. I tie it in different colors and whatever hatch is going on depends what color or shade I will throw out. I will sometimes throw small nymphs or scuds if the fish are finicky but ussualy that isn't the case. My favorite way to fish lakes is with dry flies during a hatch. During the mayfly hex hatch that occurs around the beginning of July it can be some of the most furious dry fly fishing you could ever imagine. I try to match the hatch but a lot of times go right to a EHC because it twitches along the surface nicely. It sure is fun when a 20 in bow comes up and smacks a moving dry!

This last trip the fish were thick and very aggressive so we used woolly buggers, X-legs, and several other patterns I use for steelhead, it really didn't matter what we threw at them. On days like this I have also done well on mickey finns and clouser minnows. We had out best success casting tight to shore and stripping it back over about 10 ft of water. I would strip it back quickly and rapidly for 5 feet and let it sit and this is when they would almost always hit.

These lakes are a lot of fun and the MN DNR does a great job stocking and providing us with an opportunity to catch trout throughout the state. These lakes aren't limited to the north shore, almost anywhere you go you can find one within 30 miles of you, in fact i believe there may even be a couple in the twin cities. Great fly-rod fun for sure!

[DEADhead]

I'm hoping to get out on the local trout lakes with the flyrod sometime later this week. I hope they aren't too crowded by then. I'll post my results...

Otherwise I'll be chasing river brookies early this week.

[Hotspotter]

QS:

Have you been getting my emails? Contact me as soon as you get a chance, email at bottom.

Thanks!

Joel

[Quickstrike]

I've been quite busy and haven't checked my account in a while, you have mail. Sorry about the wait.

[tunrevir]

I was up the Gunflint this past weekend and had a great time fishing the stream trout lakes up there. I did some bushwacking and also did the drive up and cast gigs. All in all, a super weekend for trout! Caght and released alot of smaller fish and managed a couple for the fry pan. Caught my first Brookie and it was a dandy 18'er. First one! Pretty fish too! The lake we fished for walleyes was slow for fish but high in other fisherman. First time in 18 odd years going up to that lake and having that many boats/people around I am now looking into some larger area lakes for the eyes and will be branching out for the lakers as well. All in all, the bite was really good for the trout.

Tunrevir~

[Quickstrike]

I'll be up the Gunflint wed and thurs. I'll be chasing lakers most of the time, but I'm sure there will be time to chase some streamers as well. Has anyone seen any hex hatches going on in that region yet? I know it's still a little early but the way things have progressed so far this year, who knows?

I'll make sure to post a report when I return.