The continued cold weather has kept the fish from following their normal spring patterns. The last few weeks have seen a slow but steady increase in the catch rates in our area. The average catch of four or five fish is about a third of a normal late spring or early summer take. Right now most of the fish are being taken in 35 – 45 FOW. Best depths have been from 20 to 30 feet down and the best baits have been standard size Stinger and Dreamweaver spoons in orange and gold combinations. Other popular patterns have been the Jaw Breaker, Mixed and Freakin’ Veggies and the Capt. Gary.
Looking ahead, the weather doesn’t appear to be ready to leap into summer anytime soon so these colors and depths will probably continue to be productive. Look for salmon to spend a good part of June in the central and southern areas of the lake taking advantage of warmer water temps and bait concentrations as northern waters remain cold much longer than normal. The big kings will eventually move into deeper waters but past years with similar cool patterns have given our part of the lake consistently good catches of kings when we would normally look for lakers and steelhead to provide most of the action.
Be sure to use sites like Coast Watch to monitor surface temperatures and aim for areas with plenty of breaks in small areas. Any image that looks like a finger print is a good place to start. Using this method during years with cool surface temperatures to pick a starting place can put you into concentrations of fish and tip the odds in your favor even on the slowest of days.
Good luck everyone and remember a slow day of fishing still beats working!
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