Lake Whitefish open water

[Macdrizzle]

The goal this year is to figure out the jumbo lake whites during open water season. It has definitely been a learning curve.

Spent the day fishing Wabamun last weekend from 8AM – 5PM and had a hard time locating the whitefish schools. Saw lots of fish surfacing picking off bugs all around me but was only landed 2 jumbo whites (4.5lbs and 5.8lbs). Man do they fight hard on light gear. There seems to be a lot of hungry walleye in this lake as I caught 8 small/mid sized ones as by-catches on my small flies for whitefish set up. Pretty much every new spot we tried caught walleye (both deep and shallow areas). Marked lots of fish on the sonar but I'm guessing they were walleye and not whites.

Thinking about trying the east side of the lake or Lac Ste. Anne for whites next week. Anyone else have any luck?

[SNAPFisher]

Nice! Congrats on the great catches. For sure not an easy fish to target open water. Those sound like jumbos alright

I have not tried this year but my go-to in the spring is Talbot lake in Jasper. Not exactly a "local" lake I realize but I would recommend trying it at least once just to see schools of whites in shallow water - mainly 3-5 FOW. It is a very visual lake. Only thing is that lake heats up big time by July so catch and release can be pretty obviously harmful. So I target them in May and early June.

Never tried Lac St. Anne but agree on maybe starting near Castle island or even off Yellowstone before it drop off to deeper water. Good luck!!

[Stinky Buffalo]

Nice whites! You have not chosen the easy path, but it does appear to have its rewards! Well done.

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

maybe starting near Castle island or even off Yellowstone before it drop off to deeper water. Good luck!!

That's where I would start as well...

[wind drift]

What set up do folks use? Would a small leach or large chironomid pattern under a strike indicator work?

[pikergolf]

Originally Posted by wind drift

What set up do folks use? Would a small leach or large chironomid pattern under a strike indicator work?

I would try and match the hatch, especially if chironomids are coming off. I have caught whites on chironomids, damsels nymphs, sedge pupa and even trolling 52 buicks in my belly boat.

[Macdrizzle]

I've been using wireworms which works well in the southern AB lakes where whites are plentiful. Up north it seems like there are fewer whites but much bigger. They seem to be well fed year round.

[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by SNAPFisher

Nice! Congrats on the great catches. For sure not an easy fish to target open water. Those sound like jumbos alright

I have not tried this year but my go-to in the spring is Talbot lake in Jasper. Not exactly a "local" lake I realize but I would recommend trying it at least once just to see schools of whites in shallow water - mainly 3-5 FOW. It is a very visual lake. Only thing is that lake heats up big time by July so catch and release can be pretty obviously harmful. So I target them in May and early June.

Never tried Lac St. Anne but agree on maybe starting near Castle island or even off Yellowstone before it drop off to deeper water. Good luck!!

Just googled talbot and it's definitely not local lol. Will keep this in the back of my mind if the local lakes prove too difficult. What is the average weight of whites you get at Talbot? How do they compare against Wab whites?

[chucklesthe3rd]

Been hitting the southern reservoirs for whites. Finding them over big mudflats right now the bite has been dying off since the opener but still catching tons of them. These southern reservoir whites aren't small too lots of fun on a fly rod or a light action set up.

Chuck

[stob]

52 Buick is the only fly I ever use

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by Macdrizzle

Just googled talbot and it's definitely not local lol. Will keep this in the back of my mind if the local lakes prove too difficult. What is the average weight of whites you get at Talbot? How do they compare against Wab whites?

I would estimate 4.5 to 5 lb average. There are quite a few 5-6 lbers as well. I haven't seen any bigger than that. I really do not see any small ones and you literally watch them all from the boat on those flat calm days. Whereas most lakes they will head to deeper after early season, they do not have that option on Talbot.

I would say the difference is that they seem more on the move and active likely due to the lack of depth. And if you catch one in a school that sometimes the whole school spooks and you get a pretty awesome fight

[AK47]

Had a good day fishing whites on Monday. 18 bites, 11 hooked, 4 came off near the boat so 7 total in smoker next day. They were jumping and biting in about 8-12ft shallows from 6:30am until 11am or so.... then action died off. I was using red wireworm tipped with small earthworm 6ft under the bobber.

[Macdrizzle]

@SNAPfisher sight fishing whites is super entertaining. I know of a couple of spawning grounds down south and would drill a hole and spend hours watching them swim around.

@AK47 beauty! Looks like southern AB!

[Seli]

What set ups do you run when you tie on 2 ww or 2 flies?

I have always tied them in-line but have spent too much time on YouTube and now I am thinking of mixing it up.

Does anyone tie dropper loops? Do you get better landing ratios vs in-line tying?

I also saw another video where someone tied on a beaded heavy fly then tied a second small fly off the shank of the beaded hook. They were using a water bobber and spinning reel set up to cast the flies out.

[stob]

Originally Posted by Seli

What set ups do you run when you tie on 2 ww or 2 flies?

I have always tied them in-line but have spent too much time on YouTube and now I am thinking of mixing it up.

Does anyone tie dropper loops? Do you get better landing ratios vs in-line tying?

I also saw another video where someone tied on a beaded heavy fly then tied a second small fly off the shank of the beaded hook. They were using a water bobber and spinning reel set up to cast the flies out.

dropper and sometimes off the shank

[mtnhunter]

In my experience, the whites are picky and only bite when the wireworms are horizontal. Other flies might work with a dropper loop though but not the wireworms.


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[Frank_NK28]

I've never specifically targeted them but have caught several in open water while fishing lakers and walleye in 30+ depths. You might find this worth a watch...

https://youtu.be/GUePHs5Lal4

[Macdrizzle]

June 2

Had a hell of a hard time locating the whitefish schools. Seen a couple of stragglers here and there. The walleye density was super thick. I shouldn't be catching walleye with my whitefish set up which really tells you how hungry they were. Beautiful day out. Saw 2 huge pelicans and the water was like glass.

Ended the day released 15 walleye (1-2 lbs), 1 big sucker and kept a 6.3lbs whitefish for the smoker.

[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by Seli

What set ups do you run when you tie on 2 ww or 2 flies?

I have always tied them in-line but have spent too much time on YouTube and now I am thinking of mixing it up.

Does anyone tie dropper loops? Do you get better landing ratios vs in-line tying?

I also saw another video where someone tied on a beaded heavy fly then tied a second small fly off the shank of the beaded hook. They were using a water bobber and spinning reel set up to cast the flies out.

I do dropper loops ice fishing for them but not open water. I find if I put 2 hooks on a line it almost always tangles when I cast it out (spinning reel). You might be able to get away with it with a fly rod.

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by Macdrizzle

June 2

Had a hell of a hard time locating the whitefish schools. Seen a couple of stragglers here and there. The walleye density was super thick. I shouldn't be catching walleye with my whitefish set up which really tells you how hungry they were. Beautiful day out. Saw 2 huge pelicans and the water was like glass.

Ended the day released 15 walleye (1-2 lbs), 1 big sucker and kept a 6.3lbs whitefish for the smoker.

Just plain awesome!! Love the report. That sounds like an amazing day. Smoked whites look great! Thanks for posting this.

[stein]

6ec5ae0a-8ea7-4b15-800e-491e49cda594.jpg

Got onto a school of whites, they are a riot open water, highly recommend!


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[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by stein

Attachment 185572

Got onto a school of whites, they are a riot open water, highly recommend!


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Nice tub!!! Those are beauties, nice work 👌

[Stinky Buffalo]

Originally Posted by pikeman06

Nice tub!!! Those are beauties, nice work 👌

X2! Nicely done!

[Bigfeet]

Originally Posted by stein

Attachment 185572

Got onto a school of whites, they are a riot open water, highly recommend!


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What depth did you find them at?

[SNAPFisher]

Yep! Smokin, pardon the pun, great catch! This thread is one of the good ones.

[stein]

Originally Posted by Bigfeet

What depth did you find them at?

25-30ft, just find a nice drop/structure along the main basin

IMG_0417.jpg


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[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by stein

Attachment 185572

Got onto a school of whites, they are a riot open water, highly recommend!


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absolute pigs.
Love it

[Macdrizzle]

June 24 report

Beautiful sunny day out with a light breeze. Decided a change of pace and try a different lake up north. Started off at 8AM in a small but deep bay right beside the boat launch and found myself in 24 FOW. First drop of the rig I landed a tiny perch. Dropped the camera down and noticed sandy bottom, no weeds. Every 2-3 minutes a small school of 5-6 perch would swim by and up to my camera before swimming away. No whites but I did notice a lot of them surfacing slightly shallower than where I was. Decided to pull the anchor and move to where they were surfacing, changed the color of my WW and within 10 minutes landed the first white (13 FOW). Throughout the next 2-3 hours there were tonnes surfacing all around me but the fishing was slow, landed 4 whites total with the 4th one being a baby that was released (pic attached). The wind then picked up and the surface activities stopped. Decided to try the sunken island near the bay and caught nothing but small perch. Ended up catching and releasing 20x 6-8in perch before shifting the attention back to whites.

In the afternoon while having the cam down, I saw a whitefish swim right by the camera sucking the sand off the bottom but no strikes on my rig. They were definitely feeding something off the bottom but completely ignoring my presentation. I also noticed the whites in this lake were plentiful but small. Definitely not the pigeon/wab jumbo strains.

Attached a pic of the stomach content for science. Lots of chironomids and small mullusks and clams they've been feeding on. Chironomids were still alive and squirming full energy after being cut out. Anyone know of a good clam fly

[Drewski Canuck]

I see Blood Worms or midge larvae in one picture. A red wireworm or a blood worm fly might work!

I tried with a mayfly emerger nymph at Calling under a slip bobber from 8 fow to 20 fow with no luck last weekend.

Perhaps I will change things up with a bloodworm presentation for the next experiment.

Drewski

[Speckle55]

i use Blood Worm type hooks when i am fishing open water lake Whitefish

here are some pic's notice how i cut the leading part of the SJW

i like to have the hook about a foot off bottom(Fly Rod)indicator set

glad to see more open water Lake Whitefish anglers

as always this is

Food for Thought

David

[Bushleague]

Lol, I wouldnt call it a pattern... but I caught this guy in a river, on a 1/2 oz Len Thompson a couple weeks back. In terms of weird catches I think that would be in the top 3 for me.

RIMG0031 by , on Flickr