frostbite shore fishing for lakers updated 10/31/2017

[EagleCrag]

Z.G: Looks like there was a terrorist fishing with you in a few of those pics with the hood & glasses. Nice fish. Congrats. I am trying to figure out if that is an articulated fly in the fish's mouth or a jig. Looks like a long curly tail attached to ? a fly or a jig head. What is it?

[Z.G]

Thanks Eagle. They're all flies that I came up with just playing around. The most effective has been this one I've been tying -


It's basically an intruder hook with a curly tail(http://rusuperfly.com/index.php?main_pa ... cts_id=183) tied on the back, wrap the front of the shank with marabou. Then add a 20/35mm shank to that, add the large red eyes, wrap marabou at halfway up the shank up to about 3mm behind the eyes, then do 2 wraps of red zonker. Just moves sooo well in the water, as well as up and down with the lead eyes.

[Reelax]

That palm tree seems to be a hot spot... Gonna keep my eye out for that baby while trolling up and down the lake...

[fishy1]

Is it normal to find the lakers with empty stomachs this time of year fishy? i would think they would be eating with the cold weather. (I know i am LOL)

not normal compared to last year. the few i kept last year had smelt and alewifes in them . mostly smelt about 4 to 5 inches. i dont keep many so the only ones i know are the ones i gave to waynes son. up until this past week most lakers caught were also males. dont remember catching many males last year in fact dont think i caught many small lakers like this fall. most have their left fins clipped.

Another thing to consider is you are catching post spawn fish and perhaps fish that are still in spawn mode. Post spawn fish may be slow to get back on feed for several weeks to over a month. Considering you're catching them from shore makes me believe they are in spawning areas primarily and haven't moved onto foraging areas yet.

thanks for the post fishfarmer and you are right. last year though there were smelt in the area and i even caught 2 on lures. this year havent seen any in the area. dont know if it was because of the warmer water. wondering why the lakers are busting water for this year though? last year they were chasing smelt and you would see hit smelt come to the surface. the dept of the water is alot shallower than last fall also.

[fishy1]

12/7/2016 headed up for some laker fishing this morning with a light snow falling and a 5 mph south wind. arrived at 7 am and salmon-crazy soon followed . put on fishy1 honeybee again i havent used it since last week. the wind was picking up speed so i decided to cast down with the wind. eric was to my left out of sight. 2nd cast freight train hit 20 feet from shore and fish on i land a nice fat female laker. eric took a couple of pics for me before he left for work. so now i was solo and the wind was gusty . wasnt long after eric got out of sight another hit fish on i land a 27 inch skinny male salmon with a lamprey attached. kept the laker for wayne and took care of the lamprey. took a break up to the car and warmed my hands and got back to fishing. 5 minutes into it another hit and fish on i land a nice laker approx. 24 inches had a hard time releasing it in the water with the 3 foot waves splashing on shore but did getting a little wet. back to the car to warm my hands again. after about 10 minutes or so went back down and after casting about fifteen minutes a freight train hit and fish on i land a nice 28 to 30 inch laker . had a difficult landing it on shore where i could get to it and release it in the water. it didnt want no part of me or the shore. after a few mintues i got it into a small hole in the rocks reached down grabbed the tail and held on and set my pliers into the hook to get it out and away it went. but as i was pulling my hand up and watching the laker swim away blood was falling on the water from a sliced finger that somehow got cut on a rock or something. went back to the car and held paper towels on it. went back down casting and another hit and fish on only to bust loose close to shore. started casting again and another hit and fish on i land a nice chunky laker that even busted water twice. grabbed it by the tail and released it in the water. i texted streamer (mike) what was going on and he said what a day you landed 5 lakers and it not even 9:30 am. still bleeding went back to the car for some more paper towels and warm my hands got back fishing around 10 am holding the paper towels around the cut and casting . about 10:15 am another hit and fish on and it shook loose soon after. the very next cast a good hit but a miss. back to the car to warm my hand and try and stop the bleeding. no band aids. went back down casting at 10:40 am and within 10 minutes a strong hit and fish on i land a nice laker . it was a battle for these lakers with the 3 foot waves splashing in on me . the drag was just zzzzzzzzzzzzzing on all of them when the saw the shoreline.
blood was still seeping out so my wife said i better come home. i kept it compressed all the way home . washed my hands and bandaged it now its fine and im ready to go again. i had a great day i was 6 for 9 and the bite was steady. good cover today and the right lure makes a difference.
here is a pic of the ist laker.
uploading pictures
2nd laker with the lamprey hole.


print screen windows
the fishy1 honeybee casting lure


20mb image hosting

[Sawyer]

"Wow" what a day. The fishing was Hot and the weather was cold. With the fish hitting that good i could only imagine what it would be like trolling in close to shore.

[Z.G]

"Wow" what a day. The fishing was Hot and the weather was cold. With the fish hitting that good i could only imagine what it would be like trolling in close to shore.

Perhaps... but I've had a ton of people troll in front of me not catching anything, hard to say.

[fishy1]

"Wow" what a day. The fishing was Hot and the weather was cold. With the fish hitting that good i could only imagine what it would be like trolling in close to shore.

you would have been bouncing up and down and would have got sea sick in the 3 foot whitecaps.

[Windknot]

Wow nicely done Matt! I hope tomorrow Ill have as much success as you did! I got a few new spoons I want to try out on those lakers tomorrow, hopefully they'll produce.

[Bearcat]

Nothing hit in the early afternoon or just before sunset. Not a bite. I was still using the Rainbow Trout Krocadile, single hook. There were some fish coming to the surface but no takers. The lake was extremely calm, flat and clear as a bell! Maybe tomorrow morning will bring some strikes!!

That rainbow trout Krocodile was a killer for me this whole trolling season, a mess of lakers, some salmon and even picked up a few nice walleyes on it before all those teeth made a total mess of it.

[tamiron]

Fishy1:

Great job! Thanks for sharing.

The casting spoon pattern, Fishy1, has certainly deserved it's proper name over these past two seasons. It will also become available in other MP6 configurations during 2017.

[fishy1]

Nothing hit in the early afternoon or just before sunset. Not a bite. I was still using the Rainbow Trout Krocadile, single hook. There were some fish coming to the surface but no takers. The lake was extremely calm, flat and clear as a bell! Maybe tomorrow morning will bring some strikes!!

That rainbow trout Krocodile was a killer for me this whole trolling season, a mess of lakers, some salmon and even picked up a few nice walleyes on it before all those teeth made a total mess of it.

there are 3 or 4 rainbow krocodile patterns out there now i had the best luck with the plain pattern with the whiteish on the bottom. how about you? the one that salmon-crazy is using is a bright one that seems to work best on sunny days.

[fishy1]

12/8/2016 got a late start this morning since i had to meet up with eric of the lci to give hm some perch for the mercury study. got up to meet wayne and jeremy some time after 8 am after almost hitting a cow that got loose in the road. yikes. went on another road to tell the farmer about his cow. when i got to the lake the waves were at least 3 feet and increasing according to wayne. kept the fishy1 honeybee on anyhow and had a hit soon after. the wind was blowing my line in big bends and moving the lure sideways but i kept casting it anyhow. wayne also had a fishy1 on but soon went to a half ounce krocodile. i stuck with it but took many breaks in the car to rest my aching back. around 9:15 am had a freight train hit and fish on with lots of head shaking and it shook loose. the waves now were close to 4 foot and pounding the shore line. had to back off some and our cast became shorter. wayne and jeremy decided to leave at 10 am or so to fish a river. i decided to stick it out for awhile and hope to land 1 before leaving . at about 11 am the wind just died suddenly as i was sitting in the car eating lunch. i couldnt beleive it went back down to the same spot and 5 th cast a good solid hit and fish on i landed a nice 24 or 25 inch male laker. set the hooks loose and released it to bite again. wayne just called and said he hooked up with a nice chunky brown in the river. good job wayne. tommorrow its going to be frostbite time with temperatures in the 20,s and a 10 to 15 mph north west wind but wayne and i will be out there somewhere.

[troutcrazy]

Another great report, Fishy1!

I'll be out tomorrow too. I finally have a day off, but it looks to be too windy to get in the canoe. I just got a bunch of krocodiles in the mail.

To answer your question about males/females: I don't know. When they were spawning and full of milt and roe- which is when they were really biting in my spot- it was about half and half. But I don't really know how to tell males from females other than that, so I can't say!

[BottomDollar]

This thread is awesome, glad you guys are having fun and landing some nice fish. You're all showing off an underappreciated resource that's accessible to anyone with a rod and lure.

Great C&R handling, too!