pmmpete:
On April 20 I went kayak fishing on Flathead Lake from White Swan Bay. When I headed away from shore, I was surprised to discover that the bay was mostly covered by a crust of ice which had formed the night before. My Revolution broke through the ice, but it slowed me up a lot. When I got out of the bay, wave action had broken up the ice, but there were big rafts of broken ice, and I had to avoid them and fish in the open areas until the ice melted.
Amik:
Hope that’s the last of it for you, that stuff can be a pain in the neck where line is concerned. Care to mention the name of the jigging spoon that’s seen in the photo?
pmmpete:
--- Quote from: Amik on April 21, 2018, 03:10:07 PM ---Care to mention the name of the jigging spoon that’s seen in the photo? --- End quote --- It's a Zimmer "Rattle-D-Zaster," light green with glow panels. I forget its weight, but it's about 3 inches long. You need a jig that big to get down quickly to the 180-230 foot depths were you catch most lake trout by jigging in Flathead Lake. I add a second treble hook on the top of the lure, and put pieces of cut bait on the hooks. Most people, myself included, run Rattle-D-Zasters and other lead jigs with a small glow fly with a small piece of cut bait on it. The fly can either be on a separate but shorter leader, or in the middle of the leader for the Rattle-D-Zaster. People who are trying for small lake trout catch most of their fish on the fly, but plenty of big lake trout get caught on a fly. I caught a 24 inch lake trout on a fly yesterday.
Because of the effectiveness of the fly when fishing for lake trout, some of the competitors in Mack Days take the hook off a Rattle-D-Zaster and use it just as a weight, and probably as an attractant because of its glow. They run one fly below the Rattle-D-Zaster, and a second fly in the middle of the leader to the Rattle-D-Zaster. I haven't tried that.