Embarrass Mine Pit

[TroutAngler]

Anyone ever fish this mine pit near Giants Ridge? Wondering if its worth checking out and looking for any advice on how to fish it. I posted on the trout forum too. Thanks!

[finnbay]

Never fished it, but have watched it during golf meets and there are a TON of fish rising. Even thought about sneaking a fly rod into my golf bag!

[Steve Foss]

From what I've been told by a fellow HSO/FMer or two who have fished it (I have not), there are good numbers of trout but not a lot of size.

[shedhunter]

I fished the pit a week and a half ago. It's fun to fish because the visibility is so good. I could see my jig down about 33 feet! You can see these "shadows" down there near your jig. All the fish I saw (and yes, physically saw) were small and just swiped at the jig. I only landed one fish: a small laker. Had a few other bites and lost another fish halfway up.

[caseymcq]

There are a lot of small lakers. Some nice brookies and a few nice rainbows. Like has already been mentioned the water clarity is phenomenal which actually makes it fun to be able to watch the fish come in and hit your lure.

[Steve Foss]

Casey, even on the lakers are you talking really small presentations like waxies and pannie jigs?

[caseymcq]

I usually use smaller spoons(Lindy Rattl'r, Slender Spoons, Sidewinders, Little Cleo's, Kastmasters) with a pice of dead(it is a designated trout lake) shiner minnow. I have also used Jigging Rapala's. The lakers have always seemed to be pretty aggressive when I have been there. I had a big rainbow hit about five feet under the ice when I was reeling up. I had that fish to the bottom of the hole before he threw the hook

I haven't specifically targeted brookies but the people who I know that have down size their lures, pannie jigs like you mentioned.

[only ice]

The last time I fished it I did well. from the landing I was stright across. I was on a road that went left from the landing next to shore all the way around. There is a old road there that went down in the pit so the drop off was not so fast. I did well in about 12FT. for rainbows. It looks like a little bay over there. But that was last year.They had a thin ice sign right out in front the the landing. DO NOT DRIVE STRAIGHT ACROSS!!Good luck and let us know how you do!

[Bassboy1645]

hmm ur sure theyre lakers?? or are they splake?? I fished it once when I was younger. It was summer though and we fished bobbers and a tiny hook and really small line and a half a worm...fun time...

[Silver Scale]

Lake Trout, some adult, were stocked in the early 1980's. This is the only time they were stocked so all those smaller fish are native to the pit. DNR stocks brook trout one year then rainbows the next. There are also a few giant northerns in the lake plus some sunfish. There used to be a few walleyes too.

Splake were never stocked but I suppose you could get a natural splake with lakers and brook trout present. There is a creek that comes in at the north east end so it's possible a couple of brookies could spawn there. Years ago I kept a couple of those 12 inch lakers and had the DNR age them and they were around 5 years old so a very slow growth rate on them.

[JBMasterAngler]

Brook Trout are able to spawn in lakes as well. I was under the assumption splake were "man made"? I guess it's not unheard of that they could occur naturally.

[caseymcq]

 Originally Posted By: Silver Scale

Lake Trout, some adult, were stocked in the early 1980's. This is the only time they were stocked so all those smaller fish are native to the pit. DNR stocks brook trout one year then rainbows the next. There are also a few giant northerns in the lake plus some sunfish. There used to be a few walleyes too...

And some big ol' suckers too.