Patterning winter brook trout

[Joeytier]

For all you speckle-heads out there...

 

When approaching a new body of water, how do you approach the issue of covering water?

 

Having done relatively little hardwater speck fishing, I have a hard time deciding how to go about covering water, since I really don't understand how mobile a brookie typically is under the ice. For example, when approaching a promising shoreline, would it be an exercise in futility to make swiss cheese of the shoreline and hole jump, or do they cruise so much that simply setting up holes perpendicular to shore would suffice? Also, do you find they tend to relate deeper, more sudden drops as the winter progresses, as fish like walleye tend to?

 

I'm going to be trying to tackle a relatively large lake with less-than stellar numbers, but good size, so any pointers would be appreciated.

 

I will have a flasher.

[Sinker]

I always look for shallow, muddy bays, close to deep, main basin drop offs.

 

They will cruise the lake in search of food. Under the ice, I think they just keep on doing laps, and never really stay in one general area. In my experience, setting up in a good looking location, and waiting always pays off. It gets boring if they aren't biting, but that's what the fire on shore and hot food is for

 

I've never had much luck on rocky bottoms, or rock faces in the winter, but in the summer, that's what I target. If you can find shallow fertile water near those types of structure, your golden. They will cuise right under the ice, in shallow, feeding on "critters" they can't usually get to during other times of year.

 

S.

[Rustic-Fisher]

Wood, especially if it involves a point or shoal or any deviance in bottom contour. Some of the best winter fishing I have had for them has been in 6'FOW or less. Being quite also helps, especially when shallow.

R

[Leecher]

Joey,

 

My experience with them beauties is they cruse the shoreline real tight... don't be afraid to drill holes 30' from shore... ideally you want to have from 8' to 10' of water max... I've even seen & done drilling as close as 10' where the shoreline was steep

 

They also like cover so if you see down trees sticking in the ice that would be my preferred place to start Be prepared to loose a few lures in the wood

 

Like Sinker said, setup in a spot and wait... trust me they do come around ever so often and when they do you'll know.

 

Good luck with your hunt

Tight lines

Leechman

 

Edited to say: Once you've setup avoid making any kind of noise

Edited February 18, 2012 by Leechman

[Joeytier]

Thanks for the replies, guys. JOP or Sinker you guys are more than welcome to join us. We won't be too far from you.

[limeyangler]

Good thread guys....useful info

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

my starting point would be similar to sinkers. muddy backbays or inlets/outlets. i like to be in about 6', but i feel confident in as shallow as 3 and as much as 20. lake narrows, obvious beaver lodges, and rocky outcroppings are other places i tend to look. i also find that deadsticking live bait will often outfish active presentations on slow days so if not much is happening step away, try and get off the ice, don't make noise, and leave your line be for 20 minutes.

 

hoping to get into some nice squaretails this weekend. good luck.

[NAW]

Great thread Joey!

 

I'm going on my first ever speck hunt this weekend. I've absorbed the comments above, and hopefully will be able to post up a report come Sunday

 

Funny thing is. I was going to post the same thing earlier today, but didn't think I would get enough feed back in the short time period before I left for the back lake.

[Sinker]

Thanks for the replies, guys. JOP or Sinker you guys are more than welcome to join us. We won't be too far from you.

 

If your going on tues or wed, let me know :thumbsup_anim:

 

S.

[danc]

Absolutely be quiet out on the ice for Specks. If you can, watch your lines from shore.

[Rustic-Fisher]

Thanks for the replies, guys. JOP or Sinker you guys are more than welcome to join us. We won't be too far from you.

I wish, had a few hours on the river this morning and now the chore list starts.

[Dabluz]

If this is a lake that you have never fished before, look it over for a few minutes before cutting any holes. If anything sticks out of the ordinary, start there. It could be a small rock face, a big boulder with a different colour, a small island, a point of land, a stream or river that either flows in or flows out, a small bay etc etc.

 

Yes, feeding brook trout are constantly cruising. I've often seen cruising brook trout in clear lakes while I was perched up on a cliff. They seem to revisit every 20 minutes. Anyway, the trout in this particular lake did.

 

Chopping holes does scare them away but they are also curious so when the noise calms down, they come to investigate. I often catch brook trout in freshly cut holes.

 

One big thing....never cast your shadow over the hole. Moving shadows mean danger for a brook trout.

 

In the early morning, you can fish in 2 feet of water and get great results. I have often started in less than 2 feet of water and ended up in 40 feet of water by midday. This was in a lake where there were a lot of fishermen and there are smelt in the lake. Normally, there is very little food for trout in more than 20 feet of water. The fertile part of the lake is in less than 20 feet of water.

 

Use very fine line. I like 2 to 4 lb test clear mono to which I tie a small extra high quality hook. For bait, I use just the head of a nightcrawler. I thread the hook 3 or 4 times through the skin of the worm starting at the cut and expose the point of the hook about 2/3 the length of the head in order to leave the head of the worm long enough so that it can move. I even push up the worm over the knot so that I will have no trouble penetrating the hook past the barb on the strike. I add no other hardware to the line and no sinker either.

 

I slowly lift and drop the bait to bottom and then back up about 2 to 12 inches off bottom.

 

If I want to jig, I use a good flutter spoon (without bait) or a jigging minnow or even a small jig tipped with nightcrawler.

 

For very remote lakes where I have to walk in, I often use a very long thin branch about 5 to 7 feet long. It has to be very flexible. I drop the line to the bottom and tie the other end to the branch that is jabbed into the mound of soft wet snow from making the hole. If there is a breeze, I take a square of cardboard, cut 2 slits on opposite sides and slip the line into the slits about 1/2 way between the tip of the very flexible branch and the ice. I often add a very small BB sized split shot about 24 inches above the baited hook and I let the breeze move the bait.

[wallacio]

Great advice has already been posted in this thread.

 

I was out on the weekend and had some decent success by employing a number of the same tactics described already. Most fish were taken in muddy bays (adjacent to deeper water) in four feet of water (under the ice) or less. The lake in question is teeming with aquatic insects so the fish were in shallow water in search of this prey. In fact, every single hole that produced a fish had these insects (which included Water Boatmen, Predaceous Diving Beetles and even case-making Caddis larvae) floating up into the hole after it was drilled.

 

Small rocky points that formed the headlands of the muddy bays also produced well...usually the biggest fish were caught here.

 

While quiet should always be exercised, I agree that Brookies are often curious about sounds of commotion as a number of fish were taken immediately after the bait was lowered into a freshly drilled hole. This day, only 1 fish was taken on a set line.

 

The best producing presentation was either a 1/2 piece of worm threaded head-first onto a jig or a chunk of worm on a small spoon. Subtle jigging took most fish, often on the drop.

 

I took this piggie on a jig head with a worm in less than 2' of water under the ice so don't be afraid to go shallow! We also punched a lot of holes and in some cases only 10' away from each other in order to cover as much real estate in the individual bays as possible...despite this mild winter, the ice is getting thick on small lakes so be sure to go with a good auger with sharp blades!

 

Edited February 21, 2012 by wallacio

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

beauty photo!

[Joeytier]

Thanks for the excellent replies guys. Still tons of ice season left for me. This is usually the time I start shifting more to trout fishing. I plan on putting these great tips to use starting next weekend.