04-25-2003, 04:22 AM
Don't troll! Jigging is the way to go. I use 5" plastic squid (the kind used for Salmon trolling in the Pacific). I use a 2oz jig head under the body. I tip the jig with a piece of sucker meat or a whole red-sided-shiner. Blue and silver seem the best all around color, I have green and white, hot pink and dark blue, all have caught fish. If the squid fails (which it rarely does) I'll go to a buzz bomb next. Straight silver or blue and silver, replace the treble hook with a single hook, size is up to you but, I go big. I then take a sucker fillet and cut it to look like pork bait for a pig and jig set up. If both those fail I use a small 1oz "Shad Dart" sytle jig in cream color head with white hair, tipped with meat. The really trick to this is in the jigging. You don't want to work the jig to fast. I try to imitate a chub or Koke just wandering around the bottom. I come up the distace of my rod (7ft) from the bottom using a slow upward movement with little bounces along the way. When I get to the top of my 7 ft arch, I drop the rod tip back to the water about three time faster then I brought it up. When the jig hits the bottom, let it sit there ten seconds or so. Most of the strikes come when its sitting on the bottom, or just as you start to lift it off. I've found the Macks like to pick the jig off the bottom gently, if while your jig is on the bottom and your line goes a little slack, stick em cause there is a fish on the other end.
As far as where to go: I can give out a couple of not so secert spots. Lucerne is a good place to start. Draw an imanginary line between the point of Lucerne and the opening to Rainbow Canyon. At a spot on the center of the bay along that line is where I would start. Watch your fish finder, there is some broken bottom in that area with some ridges that are about 10-12 ft high. The Macs will usually lay on the side of the ridge, about a foot off the bottom. Postion the boat so the wind drift takes you over the ridge, remember to start about a 300 yards up wind and drift over the spot until the lake levels out again. Depending on water level, you should be in 81' to the top of the ridge and about 93' to the bottom. Hideout Canyon is another good spot this time of year. As you come into the canyon keep along the north wall, at about 400 yards down the wall, the bottom will be 62' deep. There will be a ledge at 36' that sticks out from the wall about 4 or 6 feet. You should see a line of fish extending out from the ledge and balled up around it. Under the ball of fish you should see bigger fish, those would be the Macks. I jig these too since trolling so close to the wall gets expensive in a hurry. All the jigs I mentioned before will work, cast masters, daredevils little cleos all work too. Hope this helps, it should get you into the over 40# club. Good Luck.
IFG
As far as where to go: I can give out a couple of not so secert spots. Lucerne is a good place to start. Draw an imanginary line between the point of Lucerne and the opening to Rainbow Canyon. At a spot on the center of the bay along that line is where I would start. Watch your fish finder, there is some broken bottom in that area with some ridges that are about 10-12 ft high. The Macs will usually lay on the side of the ridge, about a foot off the bottom. Postion the boat so the wind drift takes you over the ridge, remember to start about a 300 yards up wind and drift over the spot until the lake levels out again. Depending on water level, you should be in 81' to the top of the ridge and about 93' to the bottom. Hideout Canyon is another good spot this time of year. As you come into the canyon keep along the north wall, at about 400 yards down the wall, the bottom will be 62' deep. There will be a ledge at 36' that sticks out from the wall about 4 or 6 feet. You should see a line of fish extending out from the ledge and balled up around it. Under the ball of fish you should see bigger fish, those would be the Macks. I jig these too since trolling so close to the wall gets expensive in a hurry. All the jigs I mentioned before will work, cast masters, daredevils little cleos all work too. Hope this helps, it should get you into the over 40# club. Good Luck.
IFG