I have been doing fairly well in the months of December and January, but I have noticed a pattern fishing in the morning is real slow and the afternoon seems to be better. So yesterday I decided I would not fish until 3 PM. I was fishing off my dock again and not the boat because it was so cold.
Line in the water at 3 and nothing until about 3:45 then a big bite and landed him after letting him fight a little bit. Put more scent on my power eggs and threw it right back in the same spot and BAM fish on almost the instant that it hit the bottom. 2 fish landed within 4 minutes of each other.
The water was cold, the air was colder and the fisherman was happy.
All fish were caught using power eggs, 6ft leader, 1/2 ounce egg sinker, and Mike's UV garlic scent. The depth of water was right around 40 ft deep so with my leader I was fishing about 34 ft down.
I have been trying all sorts of different hooks with color and size and shape and different amounts of power eggs. So far a size 6 black with 2 power eggs is working best ( I would normally never use a hook this large!) For normal trout fishing I use a size 16 but what I am doing seems to be working and you know what they say, if it aint broke dont fix it.
Hope some people read this and get out on American because I have not seen a boat on the water in quite a few days. Good luck to all.
Oh yeah and both fish were 15 inches is the only reason I quit. American lake only allows 2 Rainbows of 14'' a day.

Toni

1/15/2013 9:35:00 AM

Nice report.

gfakkema

1/15/2013 10:10:00 AM

Nice report Mike. I have been wanting to get on American, but the lure of steelies keeps me busy elsewhere. You will probably see me out there once the steel slows a bit. Just out of curiousity, do you know when the koke's start to turn on? Was hoping to start on kokes around feb or early march, but wasn't sure if it was worth it.

jd39

1/15/2013 10:36:00 AM

Hope American is a better koke lake this year, was slow in 2012. Didn't catch a single one there but when people did they were big apparently. Saw pics of 15-16"+ kokes coming out of there, keep trying for one but no luck, will be trying again soon!

Mike@Bills

1/15/2013 1:17:00 PM

Now that were are talking about Kokes I am excited! That is usually all I fish for and LOVE fishing for them so much. You can start fishing for them in March but I usually dont get consistant hits until April. The fish were huge last year, had limits of 16 inch Kokes which is awesome for American. On a side not it was probably the slowest year I can remember for them. Thats the fun thing about Kokanee if you have just one thing wrong wether it be speed, color, depth, etc you probably wont catch them. I try and fish for them 5 days a week so I get a little more practice than the average person. Thanks for the comments guys I love talking about fishing send me a message anytime.

Mike@Bills

1/15/2013 1:19:00 PM

Toni, what days are you going to be at the Sportsman show?

Toni

1/15/2013 2:51:00 PM

Mike@Bill's I am planning, lord willing, Wed-Fri. Not sure of exact times...

jd39

1/15/2013 3:45:00 PM

Hi Mike@Bills, they're also my favorite to fish for. Love those silver bullets and they are so far my favorite smoked fish too, like them even better than salmon. The thin fillets and oils make them quite tasty smoked. I'll send you a message about American, could use some tips, as I mentioned above have yet to catch a koke at American, will hopefully get the skunk off of me this year there!

Hi Toni, hope I get to meet you there! You are a koke slayer extordinaire! As I mentioned before, the kokes I did catch last year were because you're generous with your knowledge on this site! A few others have helped a lot too but your posts are what got me started on the right path.

I can't wait until the season starts, have a lot of water and techniques/presentations I want to try out! Tight lines all.

Mike@Bills

1/15/2013 4:21:00 PM

I will probably see you there Toni, I am going to go Wednesday or Thursday. As for jd39 I can give you lots of pointers. I probably fish American more than most ever dream too. Best thing would to be watch for my post when Koke season comes around because I post a lot more about Kokes then I do Trout. jd39 you have a boat with downriggers?

KRH

1/15/2013 6:31:00 PM

Great to hear somebody is catching fish on this lake. I've been there several times and have yet to catch, our even get a bite, from a fish! I was wondering if you know any good spots to hit from the shore because I do not have a boat. Also what types of colors and rigs work best on this lake. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks!

jd39

1/15/2013 8:31:00 PM

Thanks Mike! Will definitely keep an eye out for your posts. Yeah I have lake downriggers on my boat, they work alright but not as good as full sized downriggers.

Mike@Bills

1/16/2013 8:14:00 AM

KRH there is really only 3 places you can fish American if your not Military. Harry Todd park, Public boat launch, or Bills Boathouse. I guess a 4th would be some ones private dock. Now if your military there is quit a few different places you can fish. As for colors GREEN definitly works the best for trout. I have been using yellow and other guys have been using green and yellow. Scent is a huge part too, you will want to use either garlic or shrimp. I think i own every mikes lunker lotion and for trout the Mikes UV garlic is what is killin it right now. I had shrimp on the day I caught these last 2 fish and nothing, then I changed back to Mikes garlic and with 10 minutes form puting the garlic on I had the 2 fish. Just because you asked what works for trout, the thing I caught the most trout on this year was the pink and clear Kokanee special APEX! this thing was amazing I could not keep the trout off(did not get a single koke with it. but was trying for trout) I shortened the leader that it comes with to 18 inches and still used a dodger even thought it has its own action.
Good luck everyone
Mike <(((><

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