Trophy Lake Trout
You Against the Fish
Tips from Bill Furniss
 How
does it feel to catch a trophy lake trout?
Bill Furniss catches them regularly, and says
it's just as exciting as any big game hunt. His biggest fish went 46 pounds
- just a few pounds short the Utah record.
"It's just you against the fish," Bill says. "Nobody
else can catch one for you. It compares to bagging a trophy elk by yourself
on public land — not like a guided hunt on private property. It’s
a feeling that you can’t buy."
"You've got to pay attention to the little things,"
Bill said. It's the little things that add up to big fish. "You've got to control
every aspect. You've got to have the best of everything: knowledge, organization
and equipment. You've got to develop 'underwater eyes' to know what your lure
is doing at all times. You don't catch big lake trout by accident."
Bill is an Ogden-area businessman who has developed
quite a reputation as a die-hard fisherman who hits the water every chance he
gets - usually several times a week. He likes catching big fish: lake trout,
trophy browns, big Lake Powell stripers. And recently, he's been targeting tiger
muskie at Pineview and wipers at Willard Bay. He puts in the hours required,
and has learned to catch the big ones.
Bill enters tournaments occasional, but says he
gets bored with winning. Winning isn't the point, he says. Fishing is the point.
Being out with friends and catching fish - big fish. He has fished with many
of the best anglers from around our region.
Bill likes to take people fishing and he readily
shares his ideas and techniques. Listed below are tips he provided for lake
trout fishing at Flaming Gorge.
Where To Fish
Lake trout migrate up-lake during winter and come
back down in spring. By early June you should be able to find good numbers of
fish from Anvil Draw down to the Swim Beach area and adjacent to Lucerne Marina.
Good spots include:
- Anvil Draw (The Pot Hole)
- The Pipeline (Look for a point extending into
the lake from the right, just past the Pipeline as you are going up-lake.
Look for fish at the end of the point, on the drop-off that marks the old
river channel.)
- Antelope Flat (Extreme outside edges.)
- Swim Beach (Far points)
- Jarvie (Outside edges)
As the season progresses, fish will move into
Linwood Bay and farther south.
Active fish will be suspended 3-20 feet off the
bottom.
Time Of Day
Fish early and late. Concentrate efforts during
the first three hours of light in the morning and the last two hours of light
in the evening.
Use A Fish Finder
A good fish finder is essential when you are after
lake trout. You want to focus on the area just off the bottom. Generally you
will be fishing in water 80-120 feet deep, and you should adjust your fish finder
to show the area from 60 feet to the bottom. With most fish finders you should
set it to manual, and lock in on those depths.
You also want to turn the sensitivity up (generally
as high as it will go). It is ideal if the graph will show a jig when it is
down near the bottom.
How to Fish
Trolling is usually best. Jigging can be good
when you find a concentration of fish. You need to see 10 or more fish at once
to make it worth your time to stop and jig. Remember, the fish finder transducer
shoots down at an angle, so at 100 feet it shows a wide section of bottom. Fish
that appear together on the fish finder may actually be a considerable distance
apart.
To catch lake trout consistently you need to get
a lure down to the active fish. That is difficult because the fish stay so deep,
and because they are usually found on or just above rock piles, drop-offs, ridges
and other structure. You need to constantly vary the depth of your downrigger
ball, attempting to keep your lure about three feet off the bottom. That’s
not always possible — you will snag occasionally. If you aren’t snagging
you aren’t getting deep enough.
Pay attention to little things. You’ve got
to learn to control your lure depth with precision. Three feet may mean the
difference between catching a trophy and going home skunked.
Trolling Tips
Troll slowly (.8 to 1.8 mph). Use a heavy ball
(10 pound). Watch it to estimate its angle of descent, so you can guess how
far behind the boat it will be and how much cable you need to let out to reach
your target depth. Test it on a flat. Note the depth on your fish finder. Then
lower the ball until it just bumps bottom and note how much cable you've let
out. You might need to let out 105 feet of cable to reach a depth of 100 feet.
If your boat speed is consistent, the angle of descent should be uniform and
you can estimate the depth of the ball at any given time.
Develop "under-water eyes" so you can predict
what your lure is doing. With your boat at trolling speed, drag a lure in the
water alongside and watch what it does. Does it track straight? Does it dive
- or not dive - as expected? Some lures will stay at the same depth as the ball,
others will dive below it. You will need to take that action into account as
you vary ball depth to stay close to the bottom.
The easiest way to keep your ball near the bottom
is to use an electronic downrigger. It uses sonar to track the bottom, and automatically
raises or lowers the ball to maintain the proper depth. You can program it to
keep your ball three feet off the bottom. The technology works well, and really
helps anglers catch fish. However, such down- riggers are expensive, and don't
work perfectly. Trees, cliffs and other sudden changes on the bottom can fool
the electronics and cause problems.
Electric downriggers are the second best choice.
They are much cheaper than the electronic models, and it is easy to control
them by simply pushing a button. You watch your fish finder and raise or lower
the ball as soon as you see a change on the bottom.
Manual downriggers can also be used, but they
require considerable work. In many places you are raising and lowering the ball
almost continually, and it is very hard to do that while operating the boat
and controlling your rod.
It’s important to start with a good bend
in your rod when fishing with a downrigger. You want the tip of your rod just
inches above the water. If a fish hits and causes your downrigger to release,
the bow in the rod will pull your line tight and help set the hook.
If you start with your rod tip near the water’s
surface, you can raise the downrigger ball a considerable distance and still
have some bend in your rod. If your downrigger pops when there is little bend
in your rod then immediately speed up the boat to take the slack out of your
line. As the line comes tight then give the rod a good pop to set the hook.
Most people instinctively put the boat into neutral as soon as the downrigger
pops and that can lead to lost fish because of slack line.
Keep your drag set so it will release line with
light pressure. If you lower the ball, the drag will play out line but still
keep your rod bent. When you hook a fish, tighten down the drag but keep it
where the fish can take line if needed.
Most people don’t set the hook hard enough.
When you are fishing at 100-foot depths, there is considerable stretch in your
line and you need to jerk it hard to get a solid hook set.
In general, trail lures 40-50 yards behind your
downrigger ball.
Vary your trolling speed. Run it up to three mph
for a minute, then slow back down.
Don’t troll in a straight line. Follow the
contours you see on the bottom. Try to stay on the edge of the river channel,
on the side of a ridge, or along some other feature.
Another way to get lures down to the fish is to
use steel line with heavy tackle. Such a rig is tough enough to drag the bottom.
What To Use
Lures should resemble a small kokanee - the primary
forage for lake trout at the Gorge.
The single best lure is a J-13 broken back Rapala.
Colors vary somewhat. Silver and black are usually best. In the fall, when kokanee
are spawning, orange Rapalas with gold bellies can be effective. Chartreuse
can be good when other colors aren't working.
Big flatfish and spoons may also be effective.
A deep-diving crankbait can be effective at times.
If the fish are nervous, a downrigger ball may spook them. With a deep diver,
the lure may be going through the fish while the ball is 20 feet higher.
People with manual downriggers may want to use
a diving lure so they don't have to continuously raise and lower the ball. Measure
how deep your lure dives at trolling speed, then position the ball so the lure
will bump the bottom. Diving lures usually bounce off the bottom without snagging.
Keep hooks sharp. Sharpen them every time you
snag.
Smelly jelly smeared on top of the lure can help
produce more hits. Anchovy (salt/glitter) and crayfish flavors are good.
Lighter line is better. If you know how to play
a fish, use 10-12 pound line. If you don't, use 14-20 pound.
Use the Rapala knot to tie on a Rapala. The knot
leaves a loop in the line that allows the lure to move freely. (Tying instructions
are included in the box with each Rapala sold.) Don't use swivels or rings with
a Rapala.
Jigging
Jigging is the best way to fish for lake trout
through the ice, and can be effective year-round when you can hold over a concentration
of fish.
It is important to stay right over the fish -
you want to jig vertically and keep slack out of the line or you won't be able
to feel a bite.
Use low-stretch line. The new synthetic lines
work well.
Use small jigging movements. Just pop your wrist,
even when the fish are active. Lake trout are lazy; they don't want to chase
a lure.
Big gitzits (3-4 inch) on heavy jig heads (1/4
to 1/2 ounce) are effective. Motor-oil is usually the best color. Glow-in-the-dark
can also be effective. Sometimes burnt orange and brown work well. Load Smelly
Jelly on the jig head and shaft before inserting it inside the gitzit.
Make sure the tentacles on the gitzit don't stick
together - they need to move freely. If action is slow then try tipping the
jig with a piece of sucker meat.
The fish will be looking up, so jig just above
them. Watch them on your fish finder. If you see one come up to the level of
your lure then try setting the hook, even if you don't feel anything. A strike
may not feel like much - perhaps just resistance on the end of your line. If
you feel anything different then try to set the hook.
Lake trout fishing is work. You've got to pay
your dues before you can expect to catch a fish consistently. But it's worth
it.
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