Harriman reservoir lakers?

[SkunkLuvver]

Hey all, I'm headed up to Harriman Friday to try for lakers and LL's and looking for pointers. I've never tried for either of these through the ice nor have I ever fished Harriman so going into it pretty dumb.
My main question is what depth should we be fishing for the lakers? I know they come into shallower water in the early spring so planning on finding a hump or gradual drop off adjacent to deeper water and go from there. We'll be using tip ups but mostly going to be jigging to stay mobil and cover more water.
For LL's I was going to jig the top of the water column and if we mark a fish throw a tip up nearby and try to cover as much water as possible. Again, curious about the depth or types of structure we should be looking for.
Lakers I'm thinking jigging tubes and putting smelt (assuming we can catch a few) on the bottom.
The area I've been eyeing on google maps is a pretty good haul from where we're getting on the ice so not sure if we'll be able to make the trudge with all the snow they have. Hoping for many well worn snow mobile tracks to use.

 Again, I'm new to the lake and especially this style of fishing so completely winging it. Any and all advice is appreciated!

[BaitBucket]

Allan and I fished there a few weeks back for their free fishing day.

I managed 4 salmon with a couple drops as well. You wanna jig till you find smelt, the drop tip ups in that area. I was using small shiners with a 4ft 10lb leader about 10-15ft down in 20-40ft of water. I was using a Slender Spoon tipped with a small piece of shiner for jigging.

I tried jigging for lakers with no success

[lowaccord66]

Deepest flats you can find now for the lakers.  They should be schooled up relatively deep still.  Sure a few may be shallow and sometimes those are the larger ones.  Jig to the bottom and fish up the column half way then down again.  Should you get a mark the key is to make it chase....if it's being shy drop the jig down past it and see if it chases it down.  If it does just quiver the jig on the bottom (proper jig choice is key) and they will sometimes suck it up.  What you want though is chasers...once ones following just keep it moving until the laker smashes.  This is general advice...I could go on but the techniques I use are applied to NY lakers so it may not translate.  Pick jigs that have good action on the retrieve...avoid traditional jigging...Lakers prefer to chase and slam.  Good luck.

[SkunkLuvver]

Thanks guys, that's exactly the sort of info I was hoping for.
I always get excited when fishing new water especially with the possibility of a couple check marks on the bucket list.

Thanks again!

[Scott3984]

20 to 40 feet of water for lakers. Salmon you want your bait tight to the ice, same as rainbows 1 to 2 feet bow the ice with small baits.

And remember salmon cruise, so hole hoping won't do much good.

[dtefft]

I grew up in the area and others expertise trumps what I have to offer but I do know that the electric company drops the level of the lake and the ice collapses and causes area around the edge to be very sketchy, now adding the snow please be careful around the edges of the lake.

[SkunkLuvver]

^^^^^
Thank you for mentioning that.
We'll definitely be careful and have a backup plan if its not meant to be.

[SkunkLuvver]

Here's the belated trip report:   It was a short trip.
I couldn't beilieve the conditions out there. I knew there was going to be a fair amount of snow and the forecast called for 15mph winds which I knew would be higher on the lake but oh my god… Snow ranged from 16" to four or five feet in places. Dragging the sleds down the hill was easy but once it flattened out that was it. Even with snow shoes we were sinking DEEP in powder.
We'd planned on fishing the north side of a cove that would offer a bit of protection from the wind with access to deeper water but that was out the window once we were out there. Once I was sure I was on ice (it was actually hard to tell) I started drilling holes.
I set up four traps just to get lines in the water and trudged a path between them to make tending easier. By the time I got the fourth hole drilled my first trap was completely burried in drifting snow. I dug it out only to have it disappear again right before my eyes. By thet time (about 10 minutes into it) the entire trail I'd made was completely gone.
As I was re-doing the path my first flag went up so I mosey up to it and miss the fish on the hook set. I drill another hole nearby and start jigging. I wound up needing to hold my scoop in my left hand and jigging with my right and the hole was filling in faster than I could clear it. I see a quick mark on the flasher and next thing I know I'm pulling in a 16" rainbow. We're now about 20 minutes into actual fishing time.
I look over to my spread and can see part of one flag, three mounds where the other ones were and no sign of my lovely path.
My buddy had just drilled a 7 hole spread and by the time he got back to his sled for his traps they were completely gone… couldn't even tell where they were.
You could see the gusts coming across the ice in the form of ghostly white outs barreling across. One of these gusts knocked me off my footing sending me sideways into the snow which was so deep there was nothing to push off to get back up.

Now were about 35 minutes in and decide this just isn't gonna work and pack up. (He'd had to drill his holes twice at this point and I'm not sure ever got a trap in the water)

This whole time the drifting snow was accumulating where we'd walked in so now we're dragging loaded sleds over 2-5' of snow. I had to take my snow shoes off so I could walk backward in 6" steps, stomp some footing, give the sled a yank and repeat….. about 4 thousand times off the ice, up the hill and back to the truck.
I almost puked and got very very dizzy a couple times. Mind you, if I were to let go of the sled at any point in here it wouldn't've stopped till it was at the bottom.

By the time we got to the truck we were soaked in sweat and had to take 10 minutes before we could even load up our stuff. I don't remember ever drinking so much water.

So in summary, 1 flag with a miss, one rainbow on a spiked jig, couple marks on the flasher and an exercise regemine that would've made my football coach's head blow up.
No idea how much ice. between it and the snow the auger motor was basically resting on it by the time it went through..  30" plus snow?

We'd been planning this for a while and had a solid plan so it was pretty disappointing. Can't believe we caught a fish… I can't wait to go back but never again after snow.

[manitron]

Sounds like a typical day on Harriman. One of the windiest places that I have ever been. Last time that I was there the access road was literally a sheet of ice. Two years ago, I almost had a coronary pulling my sled up off that lake due to snow and the fact that they lowered the lake 40 feet. Almost all of the locals use snowmobiles and hardside shanties for a reason.

[67f100]

HOLLY CRAP!!!  That sounded like the Shackleton expedition  to the South Pole.  The things we do for fish!  Glad you made it out

[stripernut]

What a trip! We had fun getting up and down the hill last time, but did not have to deal with that much snow!

[lowaccord66]

I'd like to say glad you made it but I am not sure you want to hear that, so instead I am glad you made it back!

[SkunkLuvver]

Yeah, it pretty much sucked but getting into fish despite conditions makes me wonder what would've happened if we were able to spend 10 hours out there and actually move around.
I'm not writing it off for the season. If they get a good melt in the next couple weeks I'll be up there again (not what I was saying on the way home but whatever… I was cranky)

[BaitBucket]

Nice job getting the trout at least/

A flip over sounds like it would have been perfect in those conditions. Ditch the tilts and just jig for the day. Would be nice and light without the tilts, bait bucket etc. Drill a hole, flip over to protect you from wind and snow and jig. Move every 5 mins you dont mark anything.

[stripernut]

I was thinking the same thing about the Flip over...

[manitron]

Nice job getting the trout at least/

A flip over sounds like it would have been perfect in those conditions. Ditch the tilts and just jig for the day. Would be nice and light without the tilts, bait bucket etc. Drill a hole, flip over to protect you from wind and snow and jig. Move every 5 mins you dont mark anything.

Will, you are right on target.

[SkunkLuvver]

It's funny you say that. I'd been planning on getting a pop up on an end of season sale, but after that trip I'm definitely leaning toward a flip over.
Half the excitement of a new place is exploring it and can't do that if I'm camped in one spot.
Tip ups might still come but probably rely on bait I catch there. Hard to resist a couple extra lines out.
I'm gonna be stressing every extra ounce from now on.

[SkunkLuvver]

Will, you are right on target.

Lol... My name's Will

[dtefft]

Sounds typical have fond memories of Harriman as a youth. The weather always kicked you if we're not prepared. I learned real quick to respect that place. It is dangerous always be hyper vigilant sine they drop the water like crazy this time of year.

[lowaccord66]

It's funny you say that. I'd been planning on getting a pop up on an end of season sale, but after that trip I'm definitely leaning toward a flip over.
Half the excitement of a new place is exploring it and can't do that if I'm camped in one spot.
Tip ups might still come but probably rely on bait I catch there. Hard to resist a couple extra lines out.
I'm gonna be stressing every extra ounce from now on.

Avoid the otter extra wide one man...great flip over...extremely heavy...I've lost a few pounds pulling it around this season.  It's a snow plow.