Set Sights on High Country Trout

Seeing is believing when it comes to ice fishing for trout in the Colorado Rockies

 

From inside a shelter, the ice appears lighted from beneath, and due to the extreme clarity of Colorado’s Antero Reservoir, you can peer down through an ice hole and see all the way to the bottom.  If you watch for long, you’ll probably see several fat rainbows and Snake River cutbows swim though your hole.

 

Dave Bryant of Lake Ice USA cherishes this highly visual form of ice fishing for a number of reasons. First, he can evaluate spots and place baits precisely. Antero has extensive vegetation, and Bryant likes to fish weedy edges. Similarly, he knows without question whether trout are using a spot if he can watch through a hole. He also sees how fish react to his Darter or other offering and can adjust lure selections and presentations based on those reactions.

 

Most importantly, though, it’s just plain fun looking down through a hole in the ice and watching a group of big rainbows beneath you. For Bryant and his guide parties, it’s like peering into a trout-filled aquarium that you’re actually allowed to fish!

 

Not far to the north at Lake Granby, another high-mountain lake, Bernie Keefe of Fishing with Bernie Guide Service uses an approach that’s completely different from Bryant’s but just as visual. Keefe, who primarily targets big lake trout, fishes in the open and drills a lot of holes to search for active fish. With no shelter to block overhead light, there’s no looking down through the holes. However, Keefe keeps a Vexilar flasher in every hole that’s being fished, and what he and his clients see on the flasher dictates everything they do.

 

Along with showing Keefe which holes have trout swimming beneath them, the Vexilar reveals where the fish are in the water column, and it allows Keefe to see how the fish react to presentations. Lake trout can be finicky critters, and often Keefe and his clients have to “work” the fish for several minutes before they will bite.

 

When a fish shows up on a client’s flasher, Keefe moves into coaching mode. “Slow it down, speed it up, keep it low, remember to make bottom contact…” He’s watched thousands of lake trout on his flashers, and he can tell by the fish’s movements what an angler needs to do with his Fuzz-E Grub to trigger a strike. “That fish might be 25 years old, so it has seen everything,” Keefe said.  “Do one thing wrong, and it’s gone.”

 

Trout Lures

Two of Dave Bryant’ favorite lures for Lake Antero rainbows are a small Darter and Techni-Glo Genz Worm, and he commonly uses the two baits as a 1-2 punch. The Darter calls in the fish with its erratic dancing and rattles. If they watch it and stay near but won’t quite commit, Bryant grabs a rod rigged with a subtle-moving Genz Worm, which he’ll normally tip with a waxworm, and that’s usually more than the trout can resist.

 

The horizontal posture of the Genz Worm is extremely important for Rockies trout, according to Bryant. They are much more apt to take a lure that hangs level, like a real baitfish or other living critter, than something that hangs vertically.

 

Bryant favors natural colors, such as Perch and Tulibee when he dances a Darter. He normally uses the smallest size Darter for rainbows or cutbows. He has down well with all of the Techni-Glo Genz Worm colors, so he will let the trout make that determination.

 

Late in the ice season, when already fussy lake trout turn downright demanding, Bernie Keefe’s jig of choice is a ¼- or 3/8-ounce Fuzz-E Grub in either White or Crawdad, with the latter being mostly brown but with orange and black marabou in the tail.

 

“It has such a subtle action,” Keefe said. “There’s just something about a Fuzz-E Grub that makes it ideal for lake trout.”

 

Keefe admits that his color selections are a matter of confidence, more so than being based on water color or natural forage. Those are simply colors that have produced big numbers of lake trout for him over the years, so he has confidence in either any time he drops a Fuzz-E Grub down through a hole.

 

Keefe also likes Slick Jigs for fussy lake trout because they are very well balanced and allow for natural presentations. He uses bright colors such as Green Glow and Red Glow to help the trout find the baits near the bottom under Granby’s snow-covered ice. Whether he opts for a Fuzz-E Grub or a slick jig, Keefe normally will tip his jig with a little bit of sucker or carp meat.

 

Presentations

Bryant’s presentations range from a steady and fairly sharp jigging action to holding the bait motionless in the water. Generally speaking, he’ll fish a darter fairly aggressively but will remain more reserved when he fishes a Genz Worm. Either way, he’ll watch to see what gets the fish’s attention and how they react when they come into view.

 

The most important thing about virtually any presentation at Antero Reservoir is that the lure stays barely off the bottom or just above the tops of the weeds if the vegetation covers the bottom. Bryant’s ideal is to find a weed edge and work his lure just off the bottom and right next to the vegetation. He’ll often drill several holes and do a lot of peering down into the water until he finds just the right spot.

 

Although Bryant loves to watch the trout come into his hole and he relies heavily on the visual aspect to perfect his presentations, once he knows what the fish are doing, he generally backs up and turns to fishing by feel and by watching his own Vexilar flasher.  Time has taught him that he hooks and lands more fish when he waits to feel the bite than when he reacts to seeing a fish turn on his lure. 

 

Keefe’s default presentation is a steady snap-jigging motion, using a semi-sharp snap but not lifting the bait very far and always allowing it to find bottom again before the next lift. If most fish are showing up higher in the water column, he will use a similar presentation but keep the lure at the level where he has been seeing fish, or he will deadstick his bait – simply hanging it motionless in the water column.

 

When fish do show up on the flasher, Keefe goes through a range of presentations to try to trigger a strike, and the variations he chooses vary according to what he sees. If a trout stays very high, he might lift he bait halfway to it in an attempt to draw it down. If a certain cadence draws the fish toward the bait he’ll most likely stay with it. If the fish just stays in place, he’ll make a change. No matter what, watching is the key.

 

Want to Go?

To learn more about fishing with Dave Bryant, visit www.lakeiceusa.com or e-mail him at dave@lakeiceusa.com.

           

To learn more about fishing with Bernie Keefe, visit www.fishingwithbernie.com or call (970) 531-2318.

Visit Dave and Bernie's Audio Fishing Reports updated 3 times a week.