where are you?

[archbishop]

at this time of year, late feb into early march are the trout out suspended, in the shallows, in deep water, or by feeder creeks

[ice fishNH]

probably in front of their computers reading iceshanty trying to keep one step ahead of us! 

[PGKris]

Actually where I am, I find that feeder creeks are always a good bet no matter what time of year it is (watch the ice!!) But as the year goes along I find rainbows move closer in to shore and brookies suspended off points where earlier in the season you would find the brookies in bays and the rainbows in deeper water. Lately I've been finding all the brookies up around 3 or 4 feet off the bottom. They usually hang low right about a foot off bottom or less.
KRIS

[Pasquatch]

They're starting to move in I supppose.

[TroutFishingBear]

Feeder creeks are always a good bet for fish, lakers, rainbows, or anything provided the water and habitat is good enough for the fish. I oftentimes find rainbows suspended at about 8-12 feet over even 60 ft. of water. Rainbows prefer about 10-20 ft. deep, with the 8-12 ft. suspended zone being the main fish holding areas. Lakers always bottomhug, period. Browns suspend sometimes, and feeder creeks is good for them too.FEEDER CREEKS ARE GOOD FOR FISHING!!!

[kingfshr16]

 TFB dont say lakers always bottomhug because they dont, atleast all the lakes around here i've fished they suspend of bottom sometimes.

[bigredonice]

T F B - what do your lakers eat in the winter?? what is their main forage??

[Pasquatch]

TFB's lakers are weird! LOL! His bottom hug, unlike ours, they probably eat sculpin mainly, although are do too, along with smelt.

[camo_fish]

bottom huggers  yea right.  I do get a few up off bottom but, most of my lakers have been suspended

[PGKris]

Suspended indeed......For those in the know to make 'em show......GLOW GLOW GLOW  You all seem to be differing on this one......probably depends mainly on the food source.....if they're eating perch....wherever the perch are. If they're eating sculpins....hugging the bottom. If they're eating plastic worms.....near the weedbeds???

[toguebuster]

in some maine lakes on bottom any where from 2-150 ft of water ,others youll find them chasing smelt at all different depths, not always on botttom. the fish dont stick to manmade rules ,they follow thier stomach and the food! if the food is on top they will be too!,most of the big lakersin maine can be caught in 15 ft or less scouring the shoer for food ,aswell as pushing smelt between the ice and shore!

[TroutFishingBear]

I still think you guys are out of your minds saying lakers suspend. I see maybe 1-2 per trip on my sonar that suspend. I'm just trying to help you guys catch lakers the way we all do here in CO, we of course invented using the tube jig for fishing for lakers ya know. I believe you, but its kind of like saying to somebody there is plenty of oxygen to breathe underwater.

 Ours eat mysis shrimp mostly, we don't have baitfish in any of our lakes. ( a few of our rivers have sculpins )In blue mesa perch have gotten in their in the past year or so, but that is the only lake. Those lakers are the most unaggressive in blue as well. In some of our lakes, they used to eat dying kokanee before they stopped stocking kokanee. We used to have huge lakers every where in all our lakes, but since DOW hates them they removed all slots and raised the limit and suggested keeping all big lakers anybody caught. That coupled with most of our reservoirs being 100 feet down or more in the last few years, which concentrated our big fish, our big ones are mostly gone, but still there are 30 lbers caught at blue every week.

 All I know is everybody here in CO laughs when I tell them how the crazy northeasterners fish for lakers, jigging aggressively and looking for primarily suspending fish. I also tell them the northeasterners think lakers hit hard and most people laugh out of their minds. I really would like to see infisherman guys catch more than 1-2 lakers in a day fishing in our lakes the way they do, I really would.  because I've heard you lake george fisherman have had trouble in the last month getting them to strike, you'd get a lot more if you fished the way I, and other CO anglers have suggested. Not to say you guys aren't good fisherman (bigred is particularly a much better fisherman than I am) I just think you guys are having problems when your fish aren't aggressive. Try fishing our way and compare your results this time of year, I don't think there will be any going back. But of course, fishing is different in every area, so who knows All I know is it irritates me when you guys tell me I'm a moron because I say lakers bottom hug pretty much exclusively here, IT'S BECAUSE THEY DO. Just try it, I've tried your easterners ways this year jigging for lakers in a day when I was getting plenty my way, and I didn't get a strike. But at least I tried it.

[bigredonice]

when the lakers arent aggressive, we still catch at least 3 or 4 each...if i am not getting suspended fish, i downsize and/or head towards bottom - whatever it takes to get a hook up!  

We also have not had a very consistant barometer, as soon as we string together 3 or 4 days of high pressure, the fish will become easier to outsmart again.

[Pasquatch]

We also have not had a very consistant barometer, as soon as we string together 3 or 4 days of high pressure, the fish will become easier to outsmart again.

I think thats going change about Thursday. Unfortunately I'll be in NYC (marching in St. Patty's Parade) for a few days and probably won't get up to Geroge this weekend.

[TGF]

I still think you guys are out of your minds saying lakers suspend. I see maybe 1-2 per trip on my sonar that suspend. I'm just trying to help you guys catch lakers the way we all do here in CO, we of course invented using the tube jig for fishing for lakers ya know. I believe you, but its kind of like saying to somebody there is plenty of oxygen to breathe underwater.

 Ours eat mysis shrimp mostly, we don't have baitfish in any of our lakes. ( a few of our rivers have sculpins )In blue mesa perch have gotten in their in the past year or so, but that is the only lake. Those lakers are the most unaggressive in blue as well. In some of our lakes, they used to eat dying kokanee before they stopped stocking kokanee. We used to have huge lakers every where in all our lakes, but since DOW hates them they removed all slots and raised the limit and suggested keeping all big lakers anybody caught. That coupled with most of our reservoirs being 100 feet down or more in the last few years, which concentrated our big fish, our big ones are mostly gone, but still there are 30 lbers caught at blue every week.

 All I know is everybody here in CO laughs when I tell them how the crazy northeasterners fish for lakers, jigging aggressively and looking for primarily suspending fish. I also tell them the northeasterners think lakers hit hard and most people laugh out of their minds. I really would like to see infisherman guys catch more than 1-2 lakers in a day fishing in our lakes the way they do, I really would.  because I've heard you lake george fisherman have had trouble in the last month getting them to strike, you'd get a lot more if you fished the way I, and other CO anglers have suggested. Not to say you guys aren't good fisherman (bigred is particularly a much better fisherman than I am) I just think you guys are having problems when your fish aren't aggressive. Try fishing our way and compare your results this time of year, I don't think there will be any going back. But of course, fishing is different in every area, so who knows All I know is it irritates me when you guys tell me I'm a moron because I say lakers bottom hug pretty much exclusively here, IT'S BECAUSE THEY DO. Just try it, I've tried your easterners ways this year jigging for lakers in a day when I was getting plenty my way, and I didn't get a strike. But at least I tried it.

Well I'm a northwesterner TFB and I can tell you in my neck of the woods it can be 50/50 for suspended lakers.  Some lakes the majority will be caught suspended, others near bottom. When I am not getting hits I go to the bottom but when I see a fish move thru suspended on the Vex, I have to move up to him. I like to fish in occasionally 320 ft of water, I have never caught any lakers in that deep of water, but there was a ton of baitfish from 40-65 ft down. I jigged just below the baitfish and hammered a bunch of lunkers.
Every lake and area is different. It is not correct to say lakers are always on the bottom in the west IMO. Maybe in your area but not in everyones.
However at this time we have kokanee spawning (yes under the ice). They are within 10 ft of the bottom so we are nailing Lakers close to the bottom.
If I travel south to fish with you, I will fish near the bottom. However if you come travel north and fish with me, you had better be prepared to fish anywhere in the water column. Or get skunked.

[troutrifle]

Piseco lake is one lake that you can pick lakers up everywhere. As a mater of fact, out of 5 tip-ups, i'll only put 1 on the bottom, and the rest 15-30 feet down, and i'll be chasing flags all day. Finding many keepers is another story.
Troutrifle

[TroutFishingBear]

when the lakers arent aggressive, we still catch at least 3 or 4 each...if i am not getting suspended fish, i downsize and/or head towards bottom - whatever it takes to get a hook up!  

We also have not had a very consistant barometer, as soon as we string together 3 or 4 days of high pressure, the fish will become easier to outsmart again.

I find that with a barometer changing is the best laker fishing, especially a dropping barometer. I agree that whatever it takes to get a hook up is the most important thing. I probably would fish for suspenders if I fished in your area, it just seems like it is a whole different ballgame for sure.

[PGKris]

I find that with a barometer changing is the best laker fishing, especially a dropping barometer. I agree that whatever it takes to get a hook up is the most important thing. I probably would fish for suspenders if I fished in your area, it just seems like it is a whole different ballgame for sure.

Really!? I find that when the barometer drops the bite turns off. Period. I can't catch a darn thing when the barometer starts to go down. For me it's as bad as a snowmobile ripping around.....I just pack up and go to another lake.
I was fishing shallow this weekend, and I mean shallow, as low as 6 FOW and hooking good rainbows.....you figure it out! I'm stumped! We drilled there by accident (depth map upside down ) and started banging rainbows while we were drilling farther out! There was 30" of ice and the water was no deeper than 6 feet. It was crazy. I've never caught rainbows in that shallow before!
KRIS

[bigredonice]

for the lakers i fish for, a steady barometer during a high pressure system is best, with dropping pressure meaning they wont hit my spoons as well

[TroutFishingBear]

With a dropping barometer this year my mean average was 16 lakers, with a steady my mean average was 7. That includes steady barometer during a long several day storm too. The lakers really go on a feeding binge when a storm is rolling in, especially in that afternoon or the next day.

[Pasquatch]

Steady weather = Hungry Lakers on the King!

[AirManCam]

Steady weather = Hungry Lakers on the King!

Exactly, hopfully it will stay in the mid 30's all week, then this weekend we should hit the lakers pretty goooood

[Pasquatch]

Yeah the barometers working in your guys' favor, I wanna see pics!

[iceintheveins]

I fish in CO too and TFB hits it right in the nose for this area. Lakers are glued to the bottom, suspenders are uncommon. Lakers hit about as light as perch or crappie here, even lighter sometimes. Sunny weather and high pressure is slow fishing, and cloudy weather and low barometer, especially when it's falling, is laker paradise usually.
However I believe you in your area. You guys are fishing the right way there, and we are fishing the right way here. You guys have pelagic baitfish, we don't. But we both have good laker fishing. Ours is nothing like it was 10 years ago though because of poor management.
I do know that lakers can be at just about any depth during winter. In my experiences, they like flats that are adjacent to deep water and structure such as creek channels, bluff banks, sunken islands, points, and mouths of bays. The most consistant depth is 30 - 50 feet, sometimes deeper, sometimes shallower. All depends on the day.

Tyler

[bigredonice]

Sunny weather and high pressure is slow fishing, and cloudy weather and low barometer, especially when it's falling, is laker paradise usually.

exactly the opposite of our fish, but thats ok, that is why they are fish!! i wonder if there are other opposites with other species of fish?

[TGF]

I think the lakers in Colorado are a rare breed indeed.
Kind of like humans heh Bigred. I'm usually in a biting mood in the morning but the wife likes to bite in the late evening.

[bigredonice]

Kind of like humans heh Bigred. I'm usually in a biting mood in the morning but the wife likes to bite in the late evening.

LOL ain't it the truth!!

[TroutFishingBear]

i wonder if there are other opposites with other species of fish?

Yeah, there is. Northern pike is a big one. In colorado, it is said in most lakes that pike go deep and dormant in the winter. Taylor reservoir (it also has our finicky lakers), is a classic example. To the guy at the baitshops knowledge, and everyone I've talked to out on the ice, they've never iced a northern at taylor reservoir. It is said they go deep and dormant. But in the summer, the pike fishing is fantastic. There are other lakes where icing a pike is rare as well, such as harvey gap and rio blanco, both which have good pike fishing in the summer. (although not as good anymore because of no limit for pike on all of our waters thanks to our management.) We used to catch maybe one pike in two trips to those lakes, which is a pretty good colorado icefishing average for pike. I have struck gold and found a lake where I average 2-3 per day, and will probably average 4-5 per day next season. I always think its funny when I here pike called flagrantly aggressive by doug stange when they clearly are TOUGH. Of course stange is a complete fool when it comes to fishing in most cases. here in colorado.

[bigredonice]

Of course stange is a complete fool when it comes to fishing in most cases.

maybe for your colorado fish, but otherwise he is dead on every single time - I consider him THE man...

[TroutFishingBear]

I'm sure he's a great fisherman...but his techniques have failed over here for lakers and pike anyway. I consider you guys just as good of fisherman as he is...you guys have actually helped me before. I really doubt his techniques for lakers can work over here, in any of the lakes I fish. He is too closed minded, he's always talking about how his techniques work everywhere, all the time. Yeah right. He's always saying how wire doesn't effect how many flags you get for pike fishing. Yeah right, 1 flag in my history with wire for two years and dozens of flags this year with florocarbon. My challenge is ALWAYS up for him to come over here and use his techniques to try to catch my lakers. I know he would fail unless he changed to our local techniques. He is too closed minded so he probably wouldn't. Me, if I was fishing in new york, I'd jig the whole water column aggressively because that's what works there. The same techniques don't work everywhere, that is a foolish statement.