Fishing for rainbows in the haliburtons??

[jeffw]

I'm off next week and I'm planning on hitting some lakes in the haliburton for rainbows and lakers and was wondering if anyone could help me with some tips or tricks. I have the minden area stocking list for the last two years so I already know where I'm going to try I just need help with depths and lures. I'm going to be using downriggers and small spoons. Any help would be greatly appreciated and If anyone is interested in joining me your more than welcome.

Cheers Jeff

Edited July 4, 2007 by jeffw

[singingdog]

Jeff,

Lakers are not as deep as some folks will lead you to believe. I troll for them from a kayak and still catch them in 30' of water. Get yourself a Williams Wobbler, krinkle finish, 1/2 silver 1/2 gold. Don't go small for the lakers: I have my best luck on the the larger sizes.

 

A trick lots of guys up here use is to tie 16" of mono to the split ring that holds the hook. Attach a decent size streamer or muddler minnow to the other end of the mono. Lots of your hits will come on the fly.

 

Rainbows are a different story: very line shy most of the time. If you can find moving water, that's where I have the best luck for rainbows right now.

[douG]

I gotta try that spoon fly combination, saw it in OOD recently.

[setomonkey]

douG,

 

That spoon/fly combination is great. I don't fish for trout that often, but have used a similar set-up for both 'bows and brookies (but with a smaller rather than larger spoon) with success.

 

Mike

[jeffw]

Thanks for the info. I usually fish for lakers with a gang troll or troll a spoon attached to 2 ft of flourocarbon and a egg sinker before the swivel. I didn't realise that lakers go that shallow I never troll for them in anything less than 50 ft of water. Where would you try for rainbows without any moving water??

Cheers Jeff

[singingdog]

Thanks for the info. I usually fish for lakers with a gang troll or troll a spoon attached to 2 ft of flourocarbon and a egg sinker before the swivel. I didn't realise that lakers go that shallow I never troll for them in anything less than 50 ft of water. Where would you try for rainbows without any moving water??

Cheers Jeff

 

I would just check the stocking sheets and go where they have been stocked. An easy place to fish for them in moving water is the Gull River between Horseshoe lake and Minden lake. I usually have the best luck right where the river empties into Minden lake. You can shore fish it - just watch out for us kayakers - or, if you have a boat, you can fish farther down. The left shore is a fairly steep drop off with good tree and rock cover. Eggs or egg imitations work really well in that section.

 

BTW: the fly/spoon combo works for all trout: just adjust the size. It can be killer on early season specks that are eating leeches: a small kastmaster for distance with a black wooly bugger trailing. It's also a good way to get bites from really finicky pickerel. In that case, a small spoon with a bucktail jig chaser works well.

 

If you have a temp probe, use it to find the thermocline and fish just below it for lakers. That's where the census guys set there nets.

[Tacklebuster]

I remember hearing about and trying the fly spoon combo method about 20 years ago, we tried it with a williams and some kind of streamer, for lakers on Simcoe. We never had any luck with lakers, but the whitefish liked it. Glad I was reminded of that one, I haven't tried that in a long time, going to give it another go.

[Crazyhook]

heading down to fish Drag Mid Aug.. can't wait