I remember the college pocket book, and guides might be in your future, but not too soon. I will be paying for my education for many more years.
Getting the aforementioned map, looking for places 60-100 ft down NEAR STRUCTURE. That map has some good GPS starting points. Pearl, white and rainbow colored tube jibs (as large as you can get), barely moving or dead sticked. I have used sucker meat on the jigs and caught them with it and without it.
Think deep structure next to flats, get the jigs and your on your way. You may not get some your first day out, but you will get into them with enough effort.
I will say just this. It takes time and money to learn to pick up Mac regularly. Its the how too and where you need but most of us Mac Packers have spend countless hours, days, weeks, years, (not to mention the money involved), putting in our dues the hard way to learn what’s needed and where to find them and how to go about getting bit regularly. And while it might seem rude, most Mac Packers don’t see a need to simply give away that kind of info.
But I will also say your going to spend far more money and time trying to learn it by hit and miss as you will hooking up with a guide like Ash or Jim or hook up with a Mac Packer to at least learn the basics..
Beg, borrow or steal a small boat, come on up here to bear lake this month and fish off of Cisco beach or first point in 45-65’ of water with a white 1 ounce tube jig a foot off the bottom tipped with a piece of legal fish meat and you’ll probably catch a few. They may only be up to 15-17 pounds, but hey, better than getting skunked on the gorge! They aren’t really hard once you study up on laker habits and preferred habitat. They are like any fish, if they are hungry they’ll eat and you just gotta put the groceries in front of them. Some like to make it sound tough and mystical, but they are just a bigger version of the other trout and have never been too hard to catch in any body of water I’ve fished for them in. That being said, like all other fish species, certain methods work best, but jigs always seem to work to one degree or another. I hope that whatever you do, you find success and catch a few nice ones, but don’t get discouraged by others putting them on a lofty pedestal, they are just a stupid fish and not too hard to dupe at that!
P.S. 10-15 pounders are quite delicious marinaded in teryaki and grilled over hot coals!
Haha I probably would be addicted. I can imagine myself having one on and losing it at the hole haha. I will definitely release it after a couple pictures and measuring it safely and quickly. I’m already addicted to strawberry with their nice fish around 20 inches. I’ve released all my fish in the past two weeks, even the bows . I’m hoping to eventually catch a 8+ pounder at the berry. I think eventually it will happen … Hopefully. I’ll probably get a guide in the fall for the gorge. I wanna try for burbot soon too when I get a day off school it sounds way fun . Thank you all for your info and help!
It’s a conspiracy that it takes years to catch big lakers!!
But it takes years to catch a 20+ lb laker, unless you charter a boat , or go out with me for the first time in your life, for some reason I have bad mojo with that( take a guy out that has never been and you get him hooked up to a hog) and you smile that ( I’m sooo happy for you smile)
That being said, I fish bear lake a lot , 15-17 lbs are not that common , your 8-12 lb ers are more common, some people ( and I’m not referring to you) think those 12 lb ers are 20+ lbs!! Especially if you never fish for them much, 10 lbs easily translates to 20lbs in minutes
The mystical lake trout is one of the most finicky fish I’ve ever delt with, the big lugs lightly tap and bump more than a perch, the Big Mac attack will only happen once, if you can’t connect on the first real hit, it’s over.
On the other hand most other fish will continue to attempt to go after your lure.
Of course I don’t commercial fish for them either( trolling) so i may be missing out on the big uns.
I guess I should have not made it sound like the 15-17 pounder grow on trees up here, 10-12 is actually more like it, but I’ve caught quite a few this year pushing the actual 20 pound mark (weighed them) and that is not too common up here. I don’t know what happened, but they are definitely bigger this year than in years past!
Sorry if I sounded cocky, but on this lake (bear lake) it really isn’t that hard to boat a Mack and its not uncommon to get one in the 15-17 range. I caught several this year that size and my technique was as simple as jigging where the fish are with a tipped jig. Not too hard really. I’m not into the trolling for them too often (the spawn being an exception) because jigging the right spots is pretty easy. When I fish the gorge I jig also and have great luck and have caught them to over 30 pounds there. The trick, again, was just jigging where the fish are. On flats next to drop offs or deep points. A quick google search should find a few topography maps to help in the search. Simplistic I know, but its a place to start.
BTW, I’ve never fished up in the northern portion of the gorge, so I can’t recommend any spots, but I’ve done really well from the pipeline south to the dam, especially in the Lucerne area.
Be carefull, if you get a big one you will be ruined! You will spend lots of money and vacation and it will take over your life. I guess its better than being hooked on drugs but, it is very addicting. You will think about it all the time and it will consume you.
Man, ain’t that the truth!
I caught my first big one a couple of weeks ago and I will never be the same. I have done a bunch of research on lakers since then, it takes a long time to grow a big laker and those big ones can get fished out of a lake in a hurry. We have some fragile lake trout fisheries here in Utah so I can understand why people around here are so secretive about their laker fishing.Sheesh Matt I hope we haven’t lost you. Hopefully you still realize the brook trout as the “superior” char! You do understand a 5lb. brook is rarer and carries more braggin’ rights than a 30lb. mack here in Utah, right?
I see both sides of this issue equally. I mean with all due respect the kid asked for some general “pointers” with the exception on where to go. I know that macs are a sought after species and it takes years and years to learn, but throw the kid a bone. I respect people who are on here to help other people. I despise ego toting hot heads that have a few years under their belt that are not willing to help the younger generation. It doesn’t sound like the kid is lazy and wants it all handed to him on a silver plater, sounds like he is willing to work for it. I feel like some guys on here really know how to shoot peoples aspirations down. Like I said I understand that he has to put in the time and hours but he didn’t need the verbal assault that he seems to have gotten from the “Mac fishing Gods” on here. I feel for the kid but if it weren’t for somebody that helped us all out we wouldn’t be where we are now. I think that we should all be more level headed and more open to helping one another out. I am new to BFT, but I have watched and read posts on here for years. Fishin_Wasatch you can pm me whenever you want. I am a local here in Salt Lake and I fish every week. I am not a professional in any sense of the word but I usually catch what I’m after. PM me if you want to go, I’ll split gas with ya. Good luck at the Gorge.
