Hagg Lake March 12

[REELY HOOKED]

I have never fished Hagg Lake. I plan on taking the boat up there this coming weekend. Does anyone have recommendations of bait, style of fishing, etc. I know asking for locations is out of the question. Should I leave the boat home and bank fish somewhere? Please advise. Thank you

 

[bass]

Hagg was just stocked so it should be fishing pretty well right now. You can anchor up and fish powerbait, drift and cast spinners or troll. Personally I like trolling so that is what I usually do there. My normal setup is a 1/16oz roostertail (pink/silver or green/gold) with a couple of feet to a dropper where I normally start with 1/8oz but go heavier if I am not getting bit. I start by dropping back 60' and will increase it to 90' if I am not getting bit. (I increase this length before I try heavier dropper weights).

On the roostertails I tie a short (2-3") #6 stinger hook. I thread 1/2 nightcrawler over the stinger and up to the treble (line is inside the worm). A lot of folks use dodgers and flashers and things but I generally keep it simple at Hagg and don't have any extra bling on my lines.

I also like trolling tiny crankbaits (I sometimes have one rod with mini crankbait and one with a roostertail). Troll just about anywhere in the lake. The dam is a popular spot.

Speed of about 1.2mph but I vary from about 0.9mph up to 2.0mph and let the fish tell me what they want on a given day.

If you want to anchor and fish powerbait use the the standard Carolina rig style setup. I usually just try to spot some fish on the sonar and anchor up in that area.

 

[REELY HOOKED]

Thank you so much! Great information! I plan on putting in on the west side and fishing the shallower water.

 

[Casting Call]

boat, boat. Tony

 

[bass]

Thank you so much! Great information! I plan on putting in on the west side and fishing the shallower water.

If you launch from C then trolling back and forth across the lake near the no wake buoys is often productive. Personally, I usually am trolling out over deep water. Keep your eyes peeled for rising fish a day troll wherever you see that.

 

[REELY HOOKED]

If you launch from C then trolling back and forth across the lake near the no wake buoys is often productive. Personally, I usually am trolling out over deep water. Keep your eyes peeled for rising fish a day troll wherever you see that.

I was thinking that shallow would be best since the water is colder this time of year. Maybe I will rethink my plan.

 

[305to503fishermen]

I went yesterday and the water temp was 45. I got 1 bite after several hours, only saw 2 fish caught by the bankers. Not sure if it was weather, water temp, me. I also did not see any fish jump and the one i hooked was about 15 ft down. I was trolling the top.

The struggle was real for me and Hagg is usually nice to me.

 

[Casting Call]

305...thanks for the report, nice to know these stats. Tony

 

[jamisonace]

I went yesterday and the water temp was 45. I got 1 bite after several hours, only saw 2 fish caught by the bankers. Not sure if it was weather, water temp, me. I also did not see any fish jump and the one i hooked was about 15 ft down. I was trolling the top.

The struggle was real for me and Hagg is usually nice to me.

For what it's worth.....I don't know anything about Hagg and I rarely fish for trout anymore now that I don't have any little kids that fish with my anymore but we fished in the spring for years and I got tons of fish with my downriggers set at 7' and almost nothing if they were over 12'. Although I would mark fish much deeper, I almost never got bit when I fished that deep.

 

[Casting Call]

Thxs Report Well Received (TRWR)

 

[bass]

Thanks for the report @305to503fishermen . Sorry your day was not more productive.

 

[305to503fishermen]

I left my box of roster tails at home so I could not do the ole Bass special. The most surprising thing was not seeing them jumping in the evening. I also went well over an hour before i even marked my first fish. But once the sun started to set around 5:30 i starting marking fish at the mouth of Sain Creek. Just a weird day for me there.

 

[REELY HOOKED]

If there are any Ifishers at Hagg Lake on Saturday wave. I will be in the 15' Smoker Craft that says Reely Hooked across the back.

 

[Shaun Solomon]

Uhhh…

 

[bass]

I left my box of roster tails at home so I could not do the ole Bass special. The most surprising thing was not seeing them jumping in the evening. I also went well over an hour before i even marked my first fish. But once the sun started to set around 5:30 i starting marking fish at the mouth of Sain Creek. Just a weird day for me there.

Thanks for the additional info. Need those roostertails Another technique that has worked for me when there are a lot of fish splashing is to put a about a size #12 black ant, hare's ear, midge pupa or other scraggly, nymph-like fly under a bobber (usually a clear one) and cast it out and reel it in super slow with lots of pauses. I used that technique a ton when I shore fished. Some days it is just super deadly.

 

[REELY HOOKED]

Saturdays weather was great but no fish to report. I thought I knew how to catch trout. I should have left the boat home and fished from the bank, I will try again.

 

[Grant22]

Saturdays weather was great but no fish to report. I thought I knew how to catch trout. I should have left the boat home and fished from the bank, I will try again.

I was out there Saturday also. I was with 4 other buddy's and we caught 4 out of 7 bites in 3.5 hours. Not great but the guy next to us caught a 19". We were kinda by ramp C at that beach area.

 

[olshiftybiscuits]

Don’t beat yourself up. Hagg might be the most overrated trout lake in the state. Ugly, crowded and inconsistent. Check out the smaller lakes in the Northwest Zone that were stocked last week. You’ll catch a lot more fish in a far superior setting.

Saturdays weather was great but no fish to report. I thought I knew how to catch trout. I should have left the boat home and fished from the bank, I will try again.