Northwest Fishing Reports

I have been catching alot of fish but all very small from 8-13in. in clear lake

You may want to do some homework and discover which lakes are planted with bigger trout. You can find out this info on WDFW's web site.

I'm not familiar with the Clear Lake you've mentioned. It could be a typical "put and take" lake where the fish never get a chance to become large. It could also have something to do with that lake's food source. Some lake are "rich" with food and others aren't. If other folks are catching larger fish in this lake then it could be your style of fishing. I've learned that getting deep, and away from the planters and fry, gives me the best chance at large fish.

Try another lake or go deeper when trolling to get away from the dinks...Also, powerbait seems to take a lot more smaller fish, cause they've been used to eating hatchery food for a while, so thats what they key in to. A bigger trout has seen its fair share of powerbait blobs on the bottom of the lake, and has gotten bigger by ignoring them. Try a worm or something to make your presentation look more natural. If trolling, get rid of spoons and spinners and start tying on stuff like smaller Rapalas, Flatfish/Hotshots, and other bigger baits then the average sized lures...

Hi Henry -
I tracked down your posts fro Clear Lake (Pierce County) to see how you were fishing, Bobber Top one day at noon, Trolling in Morning w/ Green Spinner another day.

You've come to the right spot for tips, etc. though.

I would tend to agree with reffensg64 - in your case deeper may be better.
Try Wedding Rings also.
Troll Speed, Depth & Color are all factors also - experiment see what works.

Tight Lines

Plugs tend to catch bigger trout. I've been playing with rapalas and downriggers on some lakes. It hasn't really panned out yet but does add a new dimension to trout fishing.

absolutly rapalas are the way to go. more aggressive fish eat other fish thats why we fish for the fight not the size right!

Sam Kafelafish wrote:Try another lake or go deeper when trolling to get away from the dinks...Also, powerbait seems to take a lot more smaller fish, cause they've been used to eating hatchery food for a while, so thats what they key in to. A bigger trout has seen its fair share of powerbait blobs on the bottom of the lake, and has gotten bigger by ignoring them. Try a worm or something to make your presentation look more natural. If trolling, get rid of spoons and spinners and start tying on stuff like smaller Rapalas, Flatfish/Hotshots, and other bigger baits then the average sized lures...

You know what you're talking about. Big fish eat small fish. Use these lures in medium sizes or large. Try Apexes and large double hooked flies at fast speeds and the flatfish at slow speeds. I'd add one thing and that's bigger lakes. Bigger lakes have more habitat and more bait for bigger fish as well as any lake that is connected to the ocean. For example: Washington, Sammamish, Columbia River, Wenatchee, Cle Elum, Yakima River, Rufus Woods, Roosevelt, and Chelan.

Sometimes it also helps to go with natural colors. Frog, rainbow trout, perch, sculpin, that sorta stuff. Ditch some of the brighter colors cause those big fish are tougher to fool cause they got big by not being fooled...Sometimes throwing a more natural presentation will coax a bigger fish into hitting the lure cause it'll seem more real to them...

Fish with worms and try finding the deeper holes in the lake where they might hold in.

You could try the california fishermans solution, faster boat with a bigger motor? But seriously, great advice here so far....find the deepest part of the lake, and learn when trout feed, topo' maps like the ones here (features-topo' maps) are handy tools.

I have had pretty good success using Maggots instead of worms this season. Like everyone else has been saying, bigger baits catch bigger fish. As for going deep, deep holes sometimes provide the best fishing, but I have caught the majority of my big ones in 30-80 feet of water with my gear down at 20-30 ft.

Tight lines,

Matt

The first step is finding out if the lake has big trout. Heres 3 lakes that are proven for big trout but this is only a small fraction of the list, Potholes resevior, Mineral lake, and Rufus Woods. If I am trying to catch big trout I stay away from "trout" gear. I use big wedding ring like lures used for walleye and a full crawler, or a big plug, not huge but bigger than a trout plug I use a 4-5" plug is some type of trout or perch patern. Go down deep and troll slow. I troll just fast enough for the blade to spin or so just so the plug barely wobbles. I also use a scent the bigger the fish the smarter they are, so scent is key.I like to use leaded line to get down deep, if you use too much weight it will hamper the action of your lure. Also A LOT of patience, The last time I was going for a big trout I caught 1, it wasnt huge but it was 17", I was with my 2 buddys and they caught 15 stockers between the 2 of them in 4 hours and I only caught the one. Its a lot easier to have everyone go for big trout because you tend to give up watching trout after trout being caught and you havnt caught a thing. But the pay out is alot beter instead of a limit of 10" trout you get 1 HUGE fish

The big fish normally stay bellow the small fish so they can feed on them. In late spring, troll from 30 - 70' down. In the late fall when the lake turns, start fishing the surface with plainer boards or 200' out from the boat and steer the boat in an s pattern. Fish the surface until early spring unless your depth finder shows alot of fish below the surface. I use the 50 degree surface water as a gauge as to what depth to fish at. If the water is colder then 50 then you may want to fish the surface and if the water is warmer then 65 (50 for Lake Trout) then the fish have gone down below 30'. In small to medium lakes that are only 30 - 40' deep, I like to troll wedding rings 20' or lower until I figure out something better. Use the biggest wedding ring you've got. Otherwise stick to plugs, rapalas, and flatfish at around 1 mph or Apex and large flies at around 2 mph.

A Fishing Guide told me that when the water temperature is above 65, the big trout have trouble breathing and can die in the smaller lakes. I once saw a 36" bow floating around at Pine Lake. It was right after some really hot days or someone threw an M-80 off their dock.

if youre talking about clear lake in pierce cty, ill have to say that there arent that many LARGE fish there. obviously, its a small lake and everyone i know that goes there keeps their fish. the lake's maximum depth is 85 feet which is a small pocket closer to the south eastern side of the lake. i think there is a topo map on this website somewhere. my friend has caught literally hundreds of trout here dating back awhile and i have prob caught about 80-100 myself (just started last year) and only 2 of mine have been over 12". Both have been this year and the 13" was on a flatfish trolling and the larger 15" one was on maggot and poweregg. We catch mostly kokanee here and they are about 9-11".