Post By: MathGeek Posted: 8/5/2012 11:51:43 AM Points: 351
If you haven't figured it out yet, MathGeek is a one trick pony at the Mile. We had the lures in the water by 7:00 and trolled up a limit of trout and were back at the dock by 9:00 AM. The cutbows that were stocked in late winter are running 14-16". A lot of time and effort was spent removing weeds from lures and diving planers. A bonus pike came home with us also. We were back in Monument and I was retying leaders by 11:00 AM.
Water temp was 65 deg F. There were an amazing amount of fish on the sonar on the west side.
Right on MathGeek - if it ain't broke don't fix it and you're having a good time with your kids :)
I am pretty excited to see how the winter stocking thing works out in the long run. 11 mile might be the fishery it was when I started fishing it in about 91' where #3lb plus fatties were the norm!!!
Last August and September, the fish that were planted the year before started to show back up on the troll. These fish were 20-22" long and between 4 and 5 lbs. Nice!
Also, by October last year, many of the stockers of the year were 2 to 2.5 lbs. By January, the stockers are pushing 3 lbs. (I guess after the new year, they aren't really stockers any more, but they are nice trout.
When cleaning today's catch, I noticed that the trout only have a few smaller crayfish in their stomachs. Last year, the trolling slowed down a bit when the stockers got big enough to eat bigger crawfish and started showing up with 3-4 big crawfish in their stomachs. However, there are still a lot of baitfish in the bait band from 10-15 feet deep, so the trout might be able to keep earning a living in the trolling zone without needing to feast too heavily on the crawfish. We'll see how it plays out.
The guys who are really skilled at it can put some nice trout in the boat finessing tube jigs among the rocks on the bottom. But the crew I usually fish with (my wife and children) don't really have those skills, as they take a long time to develop and are really only needed in August at the Mile when the trout are hammering the crawfish. Crawfish crankbaits aren't really needed if you can put a spoon or tube jig in front of feeding fish, they will hit it.
Reviewing our records from 2010 and 2011, we've only really had two slow days in August out of eight trips. Slow days are so rare for us that they stand out in my mind. We've had four pretty good days (limits or one off of a limit) and two medium days. I think we'll stick with trolling this year. Since we've improved some details, we are doing much better than previous years, and even if we hit a slow day or two, I think we're better sticking to the technique that we do really well. We haven't tried tube jigs or crawfish crankbaits, but every time we've tried something other than trolling at the Mile, we've come up short.
The trick I like in August is to put the lures deep and troll in a spot whre they won't snag on bottom rocks. Then I slow the boat from 2.0 mph to 1.4 mph and all the diving planers drop in the water column and take the spoons down to the bottom. When I accelerate back to 2.0 mph, odds of a hook up are pretty good. Especially in front of that little island by Lazy Boy.
The other thing I think we can count on in August is that the stocker cutthroats won't be big enough to hit the crawfish really hard and will be more accessible on the troll than the cutbows which are chasing the crawfish. The cutthroats are more finicky once the sun gets high, but we've learned to put the spoons down to 20 ft and change colors until we find what looks good to them.
Reply by: Little D Posted: 8/6/2012 10:56:55 PM Points: 738
@MathGeek- Yeah I was just curious because this year I got into bass fishing and they feed a lot on crawdads ( at least the smallies do ) and I also love fishing for lakers witch also eat crawdads. The one bait I seem to catch a verity of fish on consistently is a tube jig and even though the presentation differs time to time its always a fish catcher. I bet if you can learn how to drag a tube at the mile you could land some PIG trout! I'm gonna have to make my way up to the mile soon and try for myself!
MathGeek - I am heading to the mile next Thursday (16th) with my family, coming from Denver. We are renting a pontoon from the marina Friday morning for a couple of hours. I'm also renting a couple of trolling rigs from them, but have never trolled before. I'm going to have my kids (7 & 3) on the boat with us as well. Been reading your tips on trolling at the mile. Any other suggestions you can make for increasing our chances of catching fish would be greatly appreciated. May do some shore fishing at night, our campsite is very close to the marina. You can also contact me at shoaffeur@gmail[dot]com if you don't want to give too much away in a public forum. Thanks
Sorry for not replying sooner, I missed your post until now. But I'm not really holding anything back. Ill be there launching from North Shore Marina. The fishing report says get it done early, and that advice is usually good. I know with children, it's easier to hit the water at 900 or 1000, but 0630 is where it's at.
