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
Thanks for Reading!
DJ
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