I was up to Georgetown Lake there for the first time today. There was a solid 4-5" at the pumphouse. On top of the 4-5" was another 3 " of simi-solid ice/slush/snow. Others up there said they have been fishing the bays there for the last couple weeks.
I got up there early, about 6:15, at the pumphouse. Had lines in the water well before sun up. I thought this would be the perfect set up for a great day fishing. However, by 8:30 I only had a couple nibbles and no fish
. Then I finally caught a small rainbow and was relieved I wouldn't be skunked. Then this guy, Bruce, from Anaconda pulls up at about 9 and sets his house up right next to me. He was telling me about his Aqua View underwater camera. I've been wondering how and how well they work. He invited me in and I was fascinated with what I was seeing. There were rainbows all over the place down there, they were just very finicky. The camera was placed on the bait with about 1-2 feet in all directions around the hook that showed up on the screen. It was rare if there was not a rainbow in the screen, most of the time there was about 3 of them eyeing/smelling and tapping the bait. Acually seeing what was happening was amazing after just speculating about it for so long. Between the two of us we probably caught another 10 fish from 9-11. (and were actually pulling the bait away from the smaller fish) I'm certain I would have only caught 0-1 fish without the camera as georgetown has always been difficult to catch rainbows after about 9:30. The camera didn't seem to bother the fish. It was most useful for knowing exactly when to set the hook. Also we tried several different bait and Velveta Cheeze or worms seemed to get the most actual bites though the fish would come over and check out anything you put down there.
I have never used a flasher or a camera, but can see the advantages of both. On this day it seemed like the camera was the ideal tool. It is a moutain lake so the water is clear, there was no problem finding the fish (they were mostly on the bottom to 2 foot up). After one day, I am seriously thinking of purcasing a underwater camera as Georgetown will likely be were I fish the most.
Anybody in Montana have any experience with underwater cameras? Or Flashers?
I'm looking forward to seeing all of the Montana posts as solid hardwater is upon us!!!
