Fall trout fishing in lakes?

[slow_73]

I was wondering if it is worth trying to hit up some of the spring stocker lakes now that summer is over and the water temps are cooling off? Will take my float tube and try out some homemade in-line spinners. Do the stocked trout turn on again come fall?

[DavidA]

Slow: From my experience they most definitely do turn back on! I don't know if waters have cooled off significantly yet but if the lake is open year round, I've found you can fish for them right through the winter. The ones that are in there seem to be much more inclined to go after anything moving, though slow it down a bit as the waters get colder. They seem to not want to spend too much energy going after something they may not catch. Their locations in lakes seems to change too, so if they're not hitting, explore.

Two other points:
WDFW also has a fall plant in some lakes, so you'll have that going for you, and I think the ones that have been in there for a while taste better than either the newly planted ones (spring) or summer trout.

[jonb]

I catch limits of stockers year round in the worst conditions, 90 deg windy clear skies, 2 ft chop, and still catch trout, what matters most is your presentation, right depth, right speed, right color or scent, etc, most importantly knowing when to switch presentation, when your not getting hits

[Bodofish]

I was wondering if it is worth trying to hit up some of the spring stocker lakes now that summer is over and the water temps are cooling off? Will take my float tube and try out some homemade in-line spinners. Do the stocked trout turn on again come fall?

I don't know if I'd bother with Padden or and of the other mud puddles, probably still pretty warm. If you're C&R fishing go for gusto and watch out for swimmers itch!

[ridgeratt]

In the fall they all put the feed bag on before winter. As the water cools the larger trout that have been salted away in the deep parts of a lake start to show up shallower.

[slow_73]

Thanks all for the advice. Yeah I was hoping to hookup with some last years hold overs or some triploids that have been stuffing themselves silly all summer in the deep parts of lakes. I'd take a couple of the runts too if they wanted to volunteer for my frying pan. Maybe I'll pull out the old float tube the first week of October and see if they are shallow enough to hit my poorly made spinners.