It was a beautiful Memorial Day Weekend on Big Bear Lake. This is a favorite time of year when the trout keep us workin’ to find the hungry ones and trolling allows us to cover lots of territory quickly. The trout are well fed from all the natural food supply and the 2lb+ size and beautiful pink meat is an indicator of time well spent in a quality lake. We did pick up some smaller stocked trout along the way this past week and almost all were released successfully. The good news is you can figure out and almost isolate where the nicer size hold overs are biting. The past week we would find the best trout in 38 feet deep in the lake. Now we are moving toward the center and almost 
ALL fish were caught between 41-42 feet deep so we are aware they are moving rapidly and into the deeper water. When we fished east of Metcalf Bay/Windy Point we hit almost all smaller fish. This week our depths completely changed along with our bait and lures and we were able to locate a few reliable spots that would give within a three hour trip most times of day. The largest rainbow trout were caught on the surface, 6-12 feet on down riggers and 2 1/2 to 3 colors on the leaded lines with occasional other hits down at 25-28 feet on down riggers and as deep as 4 or 5 colors on the leaded line! So flexibility has been key to getting our numbers up from the start of the season. This week we averaged 6-10 trout in three hours and had a couple of 2 fish trips and spent 24 hours on the lake. Best spot for us was along Trout Alley and out across to Gray’s Landing and back to Windy Point. We stayed in 41-42 deep water as much as possible until hitting shallower areas of the lake. Some fish were caught to the East too. Hottest lures were Little Warriors Barney/Silver or Gold, Heavens Door/Silver, Hot Banana Glow, various Brown Trout Rapalas, Purple Hot Head Wee Dick Nite, Sarge’s Ballistic Bait Co. Ballistic Baby inline spinner, Dark Purple Frog Scorpian Stinger and UV Hum Dingers in silver and pink. Night crawlers were working well from surface to 12 feet at times. Many others too hit and the notable colors were once again BRIGHT PINK or DARK PURPLE and PERCH and GOBIE. What might have been working for us in the past is not working this season yet so be flexible and change up every 15 minutes or so and you will catch. Winds have been a challenge at times but fishing is doable and otherwise the conditions and weather are PERFECT now. Go to Big Bear Sporting Goods for tips and all necessary fishing supplies for Big Bear Lake 909-866-3222, Pleasure Point Marina for pontoon/kayak/canoe and slip rentals 909-866-2455, Capt John’s Fawn Harbor for fishing boat/kayak/canoe rentals 909-866-6478 and Lucky Bear Fishing Charters 909-866-7303.
June 10, 2013 By