Thanks for Reading!
DJ
Fall in Colorado is the opening window for chasing trophy lake trout. When the leaves fall, the night temps drop, and the jackets come out you can bet it's time to pull out your lake trout gear. Lake trout, also known as mackinaw, are in the char family which spawn in the fall, so when water temps drop into the low 50's and high 40's lake trout are staging to spawn. This creates an opportunity for some active big fish in shallow water. Lake trout will move in shallow to investigate prime spawning locations which opens a window of opportunity for us fisherman looking for the true heavyweights in the mackinaw world. The shallower depths like teens and twenties can hold some large active lake trout, but you have to put your time into finding them. Fall lakers seem more temperamental, so patterning them is more difficult. This means don't get set in your ways with fishing depths and techniques. First thing in morning you may find these fish shallow like 20 ft and a couple hours later 20 ft looks like the Dead Sea on the graph because the fish moved out deeper. To stay on the bite you have to stay on the fish and change presentations until you have a consistent bite pattern. Inevitable it seems like as soon as you get some confidence in a depth, lure, and presentation the clever lakers just scatter. However if you stay persistent and keep changing colors, presentations, and techniques (vertical jigging, casting, and/or trolling) the fall can pay off with some of the biggest fish of the year. Thanks for Reading! DJ
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The fall feed has finally hit here in Colorado for trout, pike, musky, and walleye! October is notorious for gauging when the fall feed is going to occur in Colorado. If you thought the fast paced action of summer fishing has gone until ice season, you might be mistaken. Fall is one of the best times for good action fishing and adds the bonus of the Big Fish possibilities! Fall marks the time of the year when the air cools, water temps start to drop, and daylight hours noticeable decrease. The perfect ingredients to trigger fish to feed, especially Big Fish, and last chance for the fish to put on some weight to help them last through the winter when food can be sparse. This Fall Feed also means fish generally carry more weight on them, which is why fall fishing is notorious for producing some true Giants. Now just because fish are on the move to fill their bellies don't think they're always looking for an aggressive presentation. Often some of my best fishing and usually biggest fish, regardless of fish species, come on a slow presentation. Whether its casting jerkbaits for walleye and pike, pitching tube jigs for pike and trout, or stripping woolly-buggers and leaches on the fly rod, often when I slow the bait down is when that infamous Tick occurs followed by a swoop and a Hook-up! If you're wondering how to start off your presentation I usually start aggressive and fast to target the feeders and cover water to find fish. Slow down from there is the next step. Once I'm confident I've found good fish, if an aggressive presentation isn't doing the trick then I start slowing it down by increments. Often I find it's just a hair difference in speed of my presentation that makes all the difference between casting in the wind and fighting fish! Also stay on the move, if you see no signs of fish or fish food (small feeder fish like shad or bug life) then move! No reason to grind out a spot trying a bunch of different presentations and lures if the fish just aren't there. On the other hand if the fish signs are there meaning you are graphing fish or visually see them in the water, then time to grind it out! Sometimes you have to make a choice between chasing smaller more active fish or grinding out tactics on larger fish. We only have so much time on the water, Use It Wisely!! Thanks for Reading! DJ |
AuthorFishing is not a hobby, it's my lifestyle. If I'm not on the water, I'm thinking about being on the water. Obviously obsessed, the fishing journey has carried me across the Rocky Mountains eventually across the states, where I encountered the term "FishHead" for the first time. "FishHead" - a person who is completely consumed by the thoughts of fishing; an incurable sickness caused by fishing that consumes a person during all awake hours and usually persists throughout the sleep cycle. Archives
November 2018
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