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Big Watab Lake Trout?


JeremyCampbell

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After seeing a local fisherman's catch of some trout.I was planning on going to big watab lake and fish for trout this time at this lake.I baught a spinner and also wanted to set up something with Gulp trout nuggets.I havnt fished for trout since I was 9.I'd like to make use of my new trout stamp on my fishing licence.weather permitting would it be good to look for trout at this time?Or should I stick to the walleye for now?I was planning on taking the boat with a buddy of mine this weekend.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Troll with little Raps as deep as you can get them. I'm talking 20- 25' deep in 60' of water! Good luck! wink

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Keep an eye out for surface activity. I've been out there on days when it seemed the trout were performing circus shows and clearing 2 ft easy! If there is any activity you can troll for them just a few feet below the surface. I like to use small floating minnow raps, but small spoons will work just fine. Maybe some people have success with trout nuggets, but I would leave that stuff at home and just use the ol' reliable worms smile

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Don't overlook using a slip bobber. I've had good success using slip bobbers and crawlers.

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  • 1 month later...

Minnows aren't used often due to the fact that they're not allowed on most trout lakes. Big Watab does allow the use of live minnows however. I've used crappie minnows on lakes where allowed, and rainbows and browns will go after them. I would start just a few feet below the bobber, then adjust accordingly.

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I used minnows over there but I ended up leaving the trout nuggets on my dash board.The guy at the sporting store said to me,"Big Watab oh you want these trout nuggets for that lake"

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Troll with little Raps as deep as you can get them. I'm talking 20- 25' deep in 60' of water! Good luck! wink

This is what I would do this time of year wink If you have decent electronics you can fine tune a little better to where they are holding, but if you don't..... get that smallerish type "rap" down in that range and troll away....you'll get some fish.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

I used minnows over there but I ended up leaving the trout nuggets on my dash board.The guy at the sporting store said to me,"Big Watab oh you want these trout nuggets for that lake"

I will have to say that I have tried the Trout nuggets all over this state and have yet to catch a Trout on any brand. But they do work well in a mouse trap. I used them last fall and winter in the garage. Caught about 10 mice and about 8 shrew! They really need to repackage them as Mice trap bait! laugh

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Weight's, Dippys divers, what ever it takes. I have done well with cowbell lures in front of small raps which will weight it down as well. wink

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Jeremy,

It's been a couple years since I last fished Watab but there is a pretty constant Mayfly hatch there this time of year. I have always had really good luck hanging by one of the sunken islands fishing for gills during the afternoon, then just before dusk I move out into the main basin and just float around casting flies with a nymph dropper. During the nightly hatch it is easy to pick off surface feeding trout this way.

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Fly,too much info on gills ,It can get in the wrong hands to some one like me j/k .lol Yeah those are good spots by the islands or on top of them.My motor is acting up.I will have to hold my thumb out at the dock for now until I get my motor resolved.

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Went out there this afternoon.Went to our usual spots for panfish.Limits were taken away to the frying pan.Some bass and crappies made it in the fryer too.Mainly we sat on sixteen ft and the pans were from 5'-10'.Any lower were a few bass.Crawlers in the beginning and ended with plastic worms.No trout today.

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I'm new to the whole trout fishing thing but the first time I was out I got a few now I'm hooked. The first time me and a friend just jigged with crawlers but wondering if trolling a spinner and a crawler harness with half a crawler would pay off or trolling with a small mepps spinner with a bullet weight in front of it would work.

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Never tried it but would think it would work. Have also thought that trolling a castmaster would be worth a shot....they are like trout crack when casting. Jigging will work, so will slip bobbering, surface presentations also are effective during primetime, but you can simply cover more ground trolling after the water warms and the fish start spending more time in the deeper water. Nothing wrong though with pannie fishing during the day, and then trying to bang on some trout in the evening wink

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Crawlers off of a spinner and harness work great and so would a mepps. They are spooky, so let out alot of line. I had better luck fishing it 1st light then switching to cranks and lead core as the day progressed.

LOVED that Lake!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Has anyone ever tried downriggers out there this time of year, haven't been out on watab since this spring, I just rigged up a couple downriggers on my boat and was curious if anyone else has tried with downriggers right now.

Picked these up online for $10 a piece, welded the rod holders on and fabricated swivel mounts.

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If I'm not using the downriggers or I want to bolt my duck blind on I can just un-bolt the board

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Dooley,Hope that set up works for ya.Looks like you put some time in those down riggers.Let us know how it go's I'm gonna try Push buttons method with trolling over there with raps in the next couple weeks in the evening.During the day is really nice for gills so il have a good start of the afternoon.

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Caught my fair share of them this spring trolling the smallest size xrap they make a few hundred feet behind planer boards. Just curious if they are still active when they move deep. Hope to find out one of these nights.

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Made a couple downrigger weights last night so I could try them out this evening

Melted down scrap wheel weights and made a mold

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Had my best luck with the downrigger down 24' over 45-65' deep.

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Made it myself seeing as how a do-it mold runs over $100. Bought the two hemispheres from an ornamental iron supplier for $3 a piece, the rest was scrap steel. Haven't weighed them yet but according to my calculations they should be 10lbs plus or minus a few ounces

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Thanks Rick, I've kind of adopted the moto of if I can build it then why buy it right.

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  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Builders

Made it myself seeing as how a do-it mold runs over $100. Bought the two hemispheres from an ornamental iron supplier for $3 a piece, the rest was scrap steel. Haven't weighed them yet but according to my calculations they should be 10lbs plus or minus a few ounces

Those are Sweet! Love the good old American know how to get things done! I did make my own downriggers but not the balls! wink

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Thanks leech grin I was thinking of maybe rubber dipping them and selling them but wheel weights are hard to come by.

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I was thinking about going out there Friday or Saturday.Not sure what I want to catch yet.

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If you have or know someone with a smoker it's a no brainer what I would go for, just made a nice batch of smoked rainbows, some sweet some regular then made some trout spread some hot and some regular. It's very hard to beat.

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  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • SkunkedAgain
      It doesn't look like the lake level has gone up at all. I was up a week ago and struggled to get my boat in and out of the public landing on the west end of Head O Lakes. I used my paddle to push the boat further out to deeper water. I could hear the hull moving over the sandy/muddy bottom near the launch.
    • JerkinLips
      Pretty tough.  Was catching about 2 walleyes per hour and the biggest was only 13".  Back up Thursday so I hope I have better success.
    • smurfy
      the kid and I always check our stands prior.......i'll go back to check the conditions of said stands before he gets there to see what we need. while i'm at it if i can i shoot at grouse with shells that appear to not have bb,s in them!!!!🙄
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the South Shore...  With unseasonably warm weather, there are still some anglers hitting the water and most have been rewarded.  Limits of walleyes and saugers being caught, and the forecast looking ahead is favorable. The best bite on the south end of LOW has been in 22-28 feet of water. Water temperatures are dropping and as the temps cool further, the bite has been excellent.     Vertical jigging with frozen emerald shiners has been the program for most anglers.  Bring plenty of bait, as you’ll need to sort through some smaller fish and short biters.  Plenty of eater fish to be had, just have to do a bit of sorting.  Anglers are also reporting very good numbers of jumbo perch and occasional pike mixed in with the walleyes.     For those fishing structure, if you slide up on top of a rock pile, don't be surprised to catch a big smallmouth bass, there are plenty around.   This week’s hot colors have been gold, gold/glow white, gold/chartreuse, gold/orange, and gold/glow white/pink.     One tip, a stinger hook on your jig will catch you more fish if you start missing too many fish. On the Rainy River...  Bait dealers are reporting good numbers of shiners in the river this past week.  Interesting, each night is different.  Some areas have the small shiners called pinheads.  Other areas have the larger minnows.     The river is producing some nice walleyes in various spots from Four Mile Bay to Wheeler's Point, to Baudette all the way to Birchdale.  There are 42 miles of navigable Rainy River from the mouth to Birchdale with plenty of public boat ramps along the way.     Walleyes are being caught in various depths, but 15-25 feet of water has been good.   Jigging with live or frozen emerald shiners has been highly effective. Some anglers are also trolling crankbaits to cover more ground and find fish. Both methods are producing solid results. Sturgeon fishing has been strong.  The catch-and-release sturgeon fishing is open into the spring when it changes to the "keep season" on April 24th. Up at the NW Angle...  Fall fishing continues to be excellent. Points, neck-down areas with current, shoreline breaks, and transition zones from rock to mud are all productive locations for walleye right now.   It is traditionally a mixed bag up around the many islands in this part of the lake and this fall is no different.  In addition to walleyes, pike, jumbo perch, and crappies are in the mix.  A jig and minnow has been the most effective presentation. Good muskie fishing is the norm during the fall of the year and area reports have been good.  In addition to casting, trolling shorelines, points and neckdown areas has been effective.  Muskies are often targeting schooling tullibees this time of year. The weather forecast for the next couple of weeks is conducive for fall fishing.  If you don't deer hunt, or if you have harvested your deer, consider some bonus walleye action before the ice forms.  The bite continues to be excellent.    
    • leech~~
    • gimruis
      I'm not one to leave that to chance the day I need it.  I always check on my stands prior to the season.  Just like I always shoot my rifle before the season and I always run my outboard motor before fishing opener.  Too many things to go wrong without confirming it ahead of time.   I guess it could have been beavers but the house itself didn't appear nearly big enough along one ditch.  It was about the size of chair.  I've seen beavers houses many times before and they appear much bigger than that.
    • leech~~
      Good thing you made a check run.  That would have really suked walking into opening day.  Why do you think muskrats and not beavers?  
    • gimruis
      Well I checked on stands over the weekend.  Kind of a disaster.   All the ditches are plum full and twice as wide becauase muskrats have clogged an area.  I spent an hour unclogging it and the water is slowly moving again, but our bridges and planks were underwater.  The back portion of the land where the best stand is was inaccessible.  Hopefully that changes by Saturday.  I have a feeling the muskrats are just going to clog it back up again.   Tons of standing corn still too.  They've started on it, but being so wet now with more rain coming, whatever's there will remain there for the foreseeable future.   All the grassland is completely flattened like a pancake due to 3-4 inches of heavy wet snow.  That eliminates about 75% of the pheasant habitat in this spot.  Total buzz kill.  And this specific spot was one of my better producers last season because the grass was intact and lush through December last year.
    • BWpineisland
      Jerkin, how was the fishing?
    • JerkinLips
      45.6°F Saturday afternoon.  Lake Vermilion was quite empty.
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