Early season Hagg Lake trout

[FishTastic]

As some of you probably know already Henry Hagg Lake is open for fishing now. In the past I have not payed any attention to this lake until June at the earliest. Well this year I am jonesing pretty bad to do some fishing with the weather being so nice today and tomorrow. The water is still quite chilly. Just curious where the trout like to congregate during the cold times, near the surface? down deep? close in amongst the bottom? far out and deeper than my line will ever go?

I am thinking to use a bobber and worm as far out as I can cast. your thoughts are greatly appreciated.:think:

 

[Hawk]

Brother Fishtastic i've never been to Hagg but if the bobber setup doesn't work i would try- put on a 1/4oz sliding sinker, then a swivel, then about 2' of leader & hook. put a small marshmallow by the hook eye (sometimes yellow works good), then a chunk of nightcrawler or some powerbait & cast out thar......................................


Best of luck to you.....................


let us know & see what you catch.

 

[The Nothing]

dunno the answer to any of your questions, but i think i'm going to try and find out tomorrow!

 

[FishTastic]

Brother Hawk- If it is Bass you like, I highly recommend Hagg Lake in mid to late summer. The smallies are abundant and the state record smallie came out of there twice. There as some large mouth but I dont think they are quite as common as smallmouth. The fish in the picture by my name is one that I pulled out of there late last fall. I think it was around 7 pounds. not bad for a planter. I am going to go give it a try this afternoon after work. I drove past yesterday on my way to look at a jobsite and there was quite a few boats out trolling and a lot of bank fishing taking place so it must mean something is biting. Have a good one and Tight lines to all.

 

[FishSchooler]

Brother Hawk- If it is Bass you like, I highly recommend Hagg Lake in mid to late summer. The smallies are abundant and the state record smallie came out of there twice. There as some large mouth but I dont think they are quite as common as smallmouth. The fish in the picture by my name is one that I pulled out of there late last fall. I think it was around 7 pounds. not bad for a planter. I am going to go give it a try this afternoon after work. I drove past yesterday on my way to look at a jobsite and there was quite a few boats out trolling and a lot of bank fishing taking place so it must mean something is biting. Have a good one and Tight lines to all.

He lives far away from hagg, down south on a mountain west of wolf creek.
Simple bottom fishing with worms or powerbait works well, powereggs are even better. Like hawk's description is pretty good for hagg. Just rig your mainline to a barrel swivel, and a 2-3 foot leader. You can put a corky in the middle to make the bait float a bit off the bottom. Then a small hook with your worm, or powerbait. Float fishing doesn't work very well at hagg I think.

 

[Hawk]

Thankyou Brothers FishTastic & FishSchooler..................


I hav some favorite fishin' holes i love close by so i don't much drive very far anymore. I used to.........................


Happy fishin'.........................When in Doubt, Catch a trout or a lunker bass.......................:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:.....................

 

[FishSchooler]

Where is wolf creek?........................................................Yar vary weelcom thar hawk..........................:lol::lol:..............

 

[beaverfan]

I have fished Hagg a ton for early season trout. I have found that most of the little inlets and coves at Hagg should hold trout. Early in the year it seems that way more fish are taken from shore than from boat. The best bait I have found is chartreuse power eggs. Followed closely by the worm technique mentioned above. Fishing this early can be a challenge but if you find the right inlet you should be able to catch your limit pretty quick.

 

[Green_Tackle]

We got a couple recently on chartreuse Gulp! floating eggs (like power eggs but biodegradable) using the sliding sinker/swivel/2 foot leader mentioned above. We got 'em both at the inlet where sain creek enters the lake.

 

[andronicus83]

Good Info

Good Info

This, gentlemen (and ladies, I don't know...) is really good information. It is great to see a place where people gather and share good info. Powereggs, never tried them. Done lots of plain old powerbait though. And chartruese seems to be the color I hear a lot of people getting results with. Does any of the powerbait or powereggs float on their own?

The one time I fished Hagg for trout I applied a similar method. It was from one of those foam coolers they rent out as boats on the lake, the ones powered by an electric shaver...I sat in the middle of inlet and dropped my powerbait (think it was a red or orange color) to the bottom and then reeled it up about 2'. Caught two in a row:dance:. I was also pouring some kind of "powerbait" brand additive on the bait. It was an orange color goo, came in a squeeze bottle. Both guys hooked on it under five minutes on successive casts. They were tiny guys though. In fact I've never caught a trout big enough to feed a grown man. Always in the 10-15 inch range. Would love to get into some big guys though.

 

[FishSchooler]

Powereggs are just like powerbait. Except they have more of a salmon egg/shrimpish smell. And they are rubbery so they stay on the hook. They float on their own.

I've had a problem with floating baits while bottom fishing. If you use a sliding sinker with a floating bait, the bait will just rise until it is vertical. If it floats too much, it will pull the line through the sinker, making it inch towards you... I could never get the line tight when bottom fishing. How do I tighten it? Everytime i strip in slack, more slack forms.

 

[Oregonchris]

More weight?

 

[andronicus83]

Suspicion

Suspicion

I believe that was my lady's problem today. Or at least a similar one. It was very windy and the water was moving a lot. We had a sliding sinker on her line but it seemed that her line kept coming slack. I suspected that while the weight was taking the bait to the bottom it was being pushed toward shore by the water:shock:. The pressure down was not equal to or greater than the pressure sideways. In your case the weight pushing down was not equal to or greater than the pressure up:think:. So an increase in weight could help.

There are also pyramid shaped weights to help penetrate the soft/sandy bottoms and give you more sticking power. Won't help if you're going up though, only if you're going sideways.

So the powereggs they must dissolve if they put off a scent, how long do they last on average before you need to switch if you're not getting bites. And how well do they float on their own? THey need not only float but also be buoyant enough to keep the hook and the line leading from the swivel afloat.

 

[andronicus83]

Also Problems

Also Problems

Oh, but those weights that help push into the bottom are also more oddly shaped (pointy) and more likely to get you snagged up if you end up moving it along the bottom. Also I don't know if they make them in small enough sizes for practical lake fishing applications. I think they are more meant for river fishing and are therefore more in the 1-5 oz range.

 

[trollin4trout]

I've had a problem with floating baits while bottom fishing. If you use a sliding sinker with a floating bait, the bait will just rise until it is vertical. If it floats too much, it will pull the line through the sinker, making it inch towards you... I could never get the line tight when bottom fishing. How do I tighten it? Everytime i strip in slack, more slack forms.

Powerbait does not "float too much"- it's a vary subtle rise- it doesn't lift your weight and slide it towards you.

The pressure of the wind and waves tugs and pulls against your weight, bringing it back towards you. You'll notice on a very calm day- this doesn't happen. So you need more weight in windy and waves conditions.

But the more important point is that when powerbait fishing- you don't want a tight line. The idea is that you want the fish to grab the bait and swim off with it before it feels any tension on it. When you set your pole down- leave a bow in your line- don't tighten it. Now, you watch your line- not the tip of the pole. When it starts to straighten out- you have a fish.

Jim

 

[chris61182]

But the more important point is that when powerbait fishing- you don't want a tight line. The idea is that you want the fish to grab the bait and swim off with it before it feels any tension on it. When you set your pole down- leave a bow in your line- don't tighten it. Now, you watch your line- not the tip of the pole. When it starts to straighten out- you have a fish.
Jim

I'd also like to add the recommendation of circle hooks to that too, that way the fish helps hook itself.

 

[FishTastic]

another tight line tid bit

another tight line tid bit

slack line can also be avoided by trying this: When you cast out, try not to close your bail as soon as your gear hits the water, rather let it settle to the absolute bottom before reeling up the slack, this will take multiple tries to get all the slack out. my theory is that if you close the bail when the gear hits the water two things happen, you have actually decreased your fishing distance equal to the depth at the point your gear landed. This is because you are no longer allowing the gear to free fall, instead you have stopped it and it is coming back to you as the shore sloped away from you, this is more important when fishing very steep drop offs, which at this time speaking of hagg lake, is a majority of the lake shore. The next thing that happens is you have an extra amount of slack out there to deal with.

 

[FishTastic]

forgot to mention

forgot to mention

I have made 15 trips to Hagg since starting this thread, I cought one small trout very close in on a red salmon egg with two chartruese power eggs and a piece of fire corn. I cought another a few days later on corn powerbait. Seems like things are off to a very slow start for me this year. I have seen many monsters landed this year already, one to note was this last saturday I watched a 12 year old pull in a 32" 12 pounder.

I am ready for mineray:

 

[andronicus83]

Trout Fishing

Trout Fishing

That must be the story I was told. On Sunday we were at Hagg, in the pouring rain and wind, by boat ramp A and a guy told us that the day before right where we were standing a kid caught a 30" rainbow. He said the kid was about six, but its not always easy to tell with young people. Good info again with the bait and what you caught with. What is Fire Corn? Do you usually fish with multiple types of bait together, or is just powereggs, just powerbait, etc as productive?

 

[andronicus83]

Corn Powerbait

Corn Powerbait

What is corn powerbait?