Adirondack rainbow trout

[robert.d12]

I’m planning a few day fishing trip to the Adirondacks should we ever get ice. I’ve never caught a rainbow trout and would like to try spending a day or two chasing them. DEC shows them in a bunch of lakes but it’s tough to determine which lakes have a decent population. I was wondering if anyone would share what lakes would give me the best chances and general depths and baits to try. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

[bgaffney]

Star Lake

[reddog11]

Lake Eaton would be my choice for Rainbow’s. It’s in Hamilton county next to Long Lake.

[Mightyfisher97]

Star lake doesn't have that big of a population of rainbows anymore. Lake colby in saranac lake isn't terrible for rainbows and browns.

[robert.d12]

Thanks guys I’ve got some options to try. Do the bows typically cruise the deeper edges with the lakers or stay up shallower?

[UofLCARDS]

Thanks guys I’ve got some options to try. Do the bows typically cruise the deeper edges with the lakers or stay up shallower?

I'm not familiar with those lakes but where I fish I catch them shallow .....I've never caught 1 deeper than 10 ft ....not saying it can't be done though....

[Mightyfisher97]

Im fairly new to trout through the ice I've only done it a couple years, but from my experience they can be anywhere in the water column, but shallow flats are a good place to find them cruising. If you have them jaw jackers work great with a small minnow or worm on a jig, just set up them up anywhere from the bottom to right below the ice and see what depth gets the most action then fine tune your setups to that depth.

[bbrown009]

Anywhere in the water column, but especially during low light conditions trout and salmon often cruise right under the ice. I set baits down around 2' under the ice in the morning. Because they are up close to the surface, cut your holes first and try to keep things quiet after that. You are literally walking on them, noise spooks them. Small hooks, light leaders, etc. all help with trout and salmon.

[robert.d12]

Thanks guys, I’ll give it a shot.

[UofLCARDS]

Anywhere in the water column, but especially during low light conditions trout and salmon often cruise right under the ice. I set baits down around 2' under the ice in the morning. Because they are up close to the surface, cut your holes first and try to keep things quiet after that. You are literally walking on them, noise spooks them. Small hooks, light leaders, etc. all help with trout and salmon.

Good advise - I agree with everything - the interesting thing where I fish is that the trout really don't bite UNTIL well after sunrise  .....I think there are basic rules like the ones you mention, then maybe every lake is different - maybe they look for different bait in the various lakes or something....

[Mightyfisher97]

I've noticed with trout/salmon there tends to be a lot of bite windows to, you'll wait and wait with no action, then all kinds of action for about a half hour, then back to waiting for awhile. I've also noticed some days worms seem to work better than minnows

[UofLCARDS]

I've noticed with trout/salmon there tends to be a lot of bite windows to, you'll wait and wait with no action, then all kinds of action for about a half hour, then back to waiting for awhile. I've also noticed some days worms seem to work better than minnows

Definitely - they must be swimming around and then hit the area we are in and the flags pop pop pop within a couple minutes .........- the same thing is true for me when I fish from shore for them in open water .....nothing for 3 hours then bam bam bam, then nothing for 3 more hours ....LOL

[Hardwaterhappy53]

To back up what some of the other posts are saying about trout: A few years ago, when we actually had ice on Lake George, I was tip-up fishing for pike. At sunset, my tip-up that was set for three feet under the ice, with a hole cover, went off. 40" Laker! Boy, was that a fun fight! Now, if we can only get some more good ice on that lake...

[T-Rok]

Edge of shallow to deeper drop of. Bait just under the ice no more than 3ft down. X2 on whoever said jawjackers.

[jiggysmalls]

I have the next couple days off work and was thinking about driving north to find some ice if anyone knows any safe lakes right now? not sure how far north I’m going to have to go

[krispcritter]

North Pole

[hardwaterhonkey]

To back up what some of the other posts are saying about trout: A few years ago, when we actually had ice on Lake George, I was tip-up fishing for pike. At sunset, my tip-up that was set for three feet under the ice, with a hole cover, went off. 40" Laker! Boy, was that a fun fight! Now, if we can only get some more good ice on that lake...

Incredible fish for that place one of largest I heard in recent years look into that pattern tho that’s a known big laker pattern anywhere they swim in winter

[robert.d12]

I was going to try Colby or Eaton this weekend but late season reports don’t look too promising. If anyone’s willing to post or PM a resent report of how they did that’d be greatly appreciated