Lake John report

[Sawtooth]

Spent about 8 hours on John Saturday, 3/15.  Muddy roads, but still about 22 inches of ice.  A front was blowing through, and it was near white-out conditions on the lake at times.  I tried the far north end, fishing in only 6' of water.  After awhile, I started sight fishing, and it was a blast.  I had never tried it before, and to watch how the fish react to various jigs was interesting and informative.  The lighter jigs showed up well all the way to the bottom.  I videotaped some of the catches, but am struggling with the editing.  After catching about 50 small Bows between 8-10", I finally nailed a big one.  About 4:30 a 17" Bow practically inhaled a 3" tan curlytail and I was able to land him.  Of all the lures I used that day, that large tan curlytail excited the fish the most.

Looks like there is plenty of ice up there to give us at least several more weeks of fishing.  Plenty of people were still driving on the lake.

 

[IceOsprey]

Nice fish!!! It's nice to get updates about lakes, lures, and how people are doing out on the ice. Keep up the good work and tight lines.

[kamala]

I fished John quite often earlier in the year and half of my catch was the 17" fishes.  Sounds like from your catch either the larger ones have gotten smarter or they all went home with somebody.  I hope it's not the latter.  I was really looking forward to this lake coming back to what it was before the slump that prompted the state to rotenone it.  I know it got hammered by fisherman from the Denver area who usually go to Antero but since it was slow this year they came up north. Oh well.  Thanks for the report!

[Sawtooth]

I fished John quite often earlier in the year and half of my catch was the 17" fishes.  Sounds like from your catch either the larger ones have gotten smarter or they all went home with somebody.  I hope it's not the latter.  I was really looking forward to this lake coming back to what it was before the slump that prompted the state to rotenone it.  I know it got hammered by fisherman from the Denver area who usually go to Antero but since it was slow this year they came up north. Oh well.  Thanks for the report!

It has changed somewhat, due to the flood in the fall.  Last year almost everything was at least 15", and the same this summer.  Bill, at the Lake John Resort, told me that when the big flood was roaring down the Poudre last fall, the hatchery in La Porte was being flooded out, and rather than let the little stockers wind up in some farmer's field downstream, they loaded up what they could and brought them up.  Not sure where else they took them, but at least 10 trucks full of trout dumped their loads in John.  I do believe the big ones are still there, but the little ones are so thick that they are beating the bigger ones to the bait.  Time will change that.  Bill say these trout grow at least an inch a month until they reach about 15", so by next winter they could be 17"+.  Still fun to fish there, and get the occaisonal big one.