You cannot find a more comfortable time to troll for rainbow trout on Big Bear Lake. The temperatures are perfect the skies are blue and sometimes full of fluffy white clouds. We’ve been blessed with incredible sunrises and sunsets too! The consistency in fishing for us has been the territory and depths we are covering. Other than that it’s hard to find the same lure or rig that stays ON at a particular time of day or for a long period of time. As soon as you want to say something is ON FIRE it will TURN OFF. The secret to us averaging 8-15 fish within three hours is to keep changing up our location, lures/rigs and speed. There have been times we are almost at a drift and other times we’ve been doing well by keeping the speed faster than normal. Using more rigs with rattle, thumps and sound and UV and GLOW is vital! Whether these lures are the ones hit or acting as attractors to bring the trout to the other lines we tend to keep a couple NOISY or BRIGHT lures/rigs running always. UV and GLOW and lures or rigs more common with Salmon, Walleye or Kokanee have been key all season and the past two seasons and they continue to catch the most fish. If the larger lure has too big of a hook we change it out or make a SHORT leader 3-14″ to trail a night crawler on. We trolled over 40 hours this past week and fished the entire west end of the lake. Most rainbow trout were caught from Metcalf Bay to the dam and many fish hit in the middle of the lake in the deeper water. The down riggers were at 3, 6, 12 and 15 feet and the leaded lines were running from 2 1/2 to 4 colors. Flexibility and willingness to change up lures and check night crawler rigs often as well as to keep moving to new locations are key now. Not near as many doubles and no triple hook ups this past week which was a bit different than earlier in the month. The past week clients did land over 1/2 dozen 2-3+ lb bows – all were exceptional hard fighters and beautiful fish. All the larger fish were caught on night crawlers trailing on custom made rigs of red or orange colors. The hottest lures of the week on the leaded lines were Watermelon and Pearl Bikini Needlefish, Wicked Witch and Green Gobie copper finish Little Warriors, Cat Dog and Purple Frog copper finish Scorpion Stingers and one particular PK Lure Prototype with a gold finish and orange dot pattern!!! Various sizes and types of Rapalas from HJ to ULM’s- we had em all out this past week! Purples including Sunfires and Purpledescents and Greens like Perch, Bass or Muddler as well as Gold and Chrome finishes at 2-3 colors on the leaded lines and on the surface. Not one particular Rapala turned on it’s been such a variety and fun to have a huge arsenal of sizes and types now. Best time of day could be ANY lately but three hour trips seem to be PERFECT for the trouts agenda as they do take their occasional breaks! There truly is no finer time to be out of the heat and on the lake trolling in fresh air with breath taking scenery while reelin’ in rainbow trout. Please call Pleasure Point Marina for pontoon rentals at 909-866-2455, Golden Bear Cottages for lodging 800-461-1023 GoldenBearCottages.com and Lucky Bear Fishing Charters 909-866-7303 for guided fishing trips.
August 27, 2014 By