A few winter trout quetions.

[Water Wolf]

Hi all,
In this post I am asking questions about winter trout.
Here are a few questions for the trout anglers out there.

When ice fishing for trout do you concentrate on the deeper waters of the body of water your fishing or do prefer the shallows?

Do you set your lines near the bottom, just under the ice or half way in between?

Do they like a fast or slow jigging sequence or would a just a set line or rod be a better option?

I have found with the open water fishing that trout like to feed early in the morning or just a bit before sunset.
Do they still exhibit this feeding patter under the ice?

Do all the trout species, other than lakers, have a similar feeding pattern or location under the ice, or do they tend to be in different areas of the water column or water depths?

Are some of the trout species more aggressive than others through the ice?
I would guess that tiger trout might be more aggressive than the others, yes?

If you would like to add any other tips feel free.

Thanks for your time guys.

WW

[WalleyeTom]

Water Wolf,

Are you talking Lake Trout that we fish for in the large lakes up north like Cold Lake or others you have in Saskatchewan?

[AZbassernCO]

When ice fishing for trout do you concentrate on the deeper waters of the body of water your fishing or do prefer the shallows? depends on the lake for me in deep lakes i tend to shoot for middle depths as for shallower lakes i tend to find channel like areas

Do you set your lines near the bottom, just under the ice or half way in between?this one is tougher for me it depends really on what trout i am targeting
bows and cutbows i go all the way down then come up two or three cranks up for the cutthroats i go about three feet below the ice

Do they like a fast or slow jigging sequence or would a just a set line or rod be a better option? i dont jig much and havnt had luck that way

I have found with the open water fishing that trout like to feed early in the morning or just a bit before sunset.
Do they still exhibit this feeding patter under the ice? they run in cycles of about three hours i think due to the cold water

Do all the trout species, other than lakers, have a similar feeding pattern or location under the ice, or do they tend to be in different areas of the water column or water depths?so far with the exception of browns that is what i have found

Are some of the trout species more aggressive than others through the ice? yes cutthroats and cut bows are very agressive
I would guess that tiger trout might be more aggressive than the others, yes? never caught one so not sure

[muskyon46]

When ice fishing for trout do you concentrate on the deeper waters of the body of water your fishing or do prefer the shallows? usually no deeper than 20fow here for me unless im looking to hook a few perch then i will fish like 40-50fow and pick up some trout just under the ice with one rod and the other on the bottom pulling perch

Do you set your lines near the bottom, just under the ice or half way in between? depends on depth your fishing. 10fow i will have both my poles near the bottom and jig one. 20fow one pole near the bottom and one jiggin under the ice 5-8ft down. Now at any depth i fish if i start marking fish suspended then i put both baits in their face

Do they like a fast or slow jigging sequence or would a just a set line or rod be a better option?  depends on how the fish are acting that day, we are allowed 2 poles here with a permit. So i usually dead stick one and jig the other atleast till my arm gets tired, but as soon as its better its right back to jiggin usually. I have had days where they only hit when it was dead. Hits on my dead stick rod not my jigging one, so i will got to 2 deadstick rods. I like to let the fish tell me what they want and we all know how that goes somedays 

I have found with the open water fishing that trout like to feed early in the morning or just a bit before sunset. these are always prime times for more action, but during mid day i will move to find some active fish. I really dont like sittin in a dead hole to long
Do they still exhibit this feeding patter under the ice? yes

Do all the trout species, other than lakers, have a similar feeding pattern or location under the ice, or do they tend to be in different areas of the water column or water depths? when im fishing in water over 20ft i will always keep one pole just under the ice to jig maybe like 5-6ft and my other close to bottom so i can bounce it in the mud occasionally. I do like to fish 10fow at a couple of my favorite lakes cause thats where i have had the most luck at them

Are some of the trout species more aggressive than others through the ice? cuts, browns and of course tigers are the most aggressive around here
I would guess that tiger trout might be more aggressive than the others, yes? oh yah

hope this helps you out ww

[finlessbrown]

i fish for trout in a good trout lake here in vermont and catch them at pretty much any depth of water where there are no weeds. first ice usually just under the ice is best and as it gets colder they like to go deeper. 13 feet down is a good place to fish also, but this is for the lake i fish, yours may be different

[Utahman22]

Thanks muskyon46! Do you fish the berry very much? Scofield?

[wyo969]

Most of the places i fish in wyoming my best luck for trout is in the 4-10 fow range. Some times a few feet deeper but not much. I usually keep them coming a pretty steady rate through out the day.

[muskyon46]

Thanks muskyon46! Do you fish the berry very much? Scofield?

No prob utahman22. I try to get up to the berry atleast 2 times on the hard deck, used to be alot more before the gas prices went thru the roof. Did you see our post on the utah reports and conditions board from veterans day weekend? Thats a trip we never miss. Them cutts are so agressive that time of year, feeding heavily before ice up.  As for scofield i have never been but its definately on the bucket list of destination in our state

[Utahman22]

Yeah i Saw your pics on there, looks like you guys did awesome!! The berry is awesome for some good sized cutt, But when i want to catch some fish to take home I will head to scofield or starvation.

[Water Wolf]

Water Wolf,

Are you talking Lake Trout that we fish for in the large lakes up north like Cold Lake or others you have in Saskatchewan?

Hi WallyeTom,
I was talking about, all the other trout species other than lakers, {rainbows, browns, brookies ect.}.

Thanks for all the hints and tips guys, I have been trying some of them and they have been working for the rainbows I have been targeting.
I hope to try these tips on some of the other trout species sometime.

WW

[brownb56]

Some of the best luck I have had is in about 2-5 fow for rainbows and this is in a fairly large resevoir.

[winnisquam guy]

when i fish for rainbows, i look for a fresh oxygenated water source on the lake and target that area early am in 2-6 fow. as the sun rises, I'll move a little deeper say, 6-12 fow. i prefer anywhere on a lake where water flows or seeps into the lake.

[gsp]

All i fish for is trout and i usually hit between 15 or 20 different lakes each winter.  I fish only for rainbows or brookies as those are the only fish in my area.  The depth that i fish varies from lake to lake.  Some lakes i can catch them in water between 3 fow to 12 fow, and other lakes i can't catch anything in under 20 fow.  I usually fish with my bait about 1 to 5 feet off the bottom of the lake.