Trout

[PEARCHEYES]

Hitting big cedar in tri-lakes tonight haven't been in years .Brother is in from Florida hopefully we hook a couple ,I know there's some nice ones in there .Ill leave a report tomorrow for you trout fisherman.

[taxid]

Look forward to it. Forgot Cedar was still planted with trout.

[PEARCHEYES]

Well we got the big skunk ,we marked a ton of fish .My brother had two hits and I had one . We couldn't stay out too late and we're off the lake by midnight.

[taxid]

I've never been able to explain it but it seems that post cold front seems to shut them off at night -- even as deep as they are -- worse than any other fishing I've done.

One night I limited out on Olin years ago when the limit was 10 and released another 20.  Told a couple of guys about and got them all pumped up. Cold front came through and the next night we couldn't buy a bite. To this day I think they think I made it all up.

I may head over to Cedar and do some trolling with the wee craws on down riggers that Fishhogger turned me on to.  Could get some dandy bluegills on them as there are some large bluegill in that chain.

I'm not that far from Cedar.  Kind of lucky to be about half way between Oliver and Cedar.

[taxid]

What kind of boat traffic does Cedar get during the day?

I'm thinking of heading over there on labor day but I'm not fond of rude boaters and jet skies.

If it will be churned up tomorrow I might head over there later in the week after Labor Day Weekend is over.

[taxid]

Well we got the big skunk ,we marked a ton of fish .My brother had two hits and I had one . We couldn't stay out too late and we're off the lake by midnight.

How deep were you fishing?

Could be D.O. levels may be waning this late in the summer. If so you may be marking lethargic fish.

[PEARCHEYES]

We fished in 34ft of water we marked them between 16 ad 24ft and everything in between we were using wiggles and corn and bee moth also .I might try minnows  the ones that are naturally in the lake just need a seine to get some  they were thick around lantern light

[taxid]

We fished in 34ft of water we marked them between 16 ad 24ft and everything in between we were using wiggles and corn and bee moth also .I might try minnows  the ones that are naturally in the lake just need a seine to get some  they were thick around lantern light

Baby crawlers have always worked best for me. Never had much luck on the minnows. Seemed harder to hook them on minnows too.

[staubsaugen]

Fished Oliver chain yesterday morning. Trolled Oliver, Olin, and Martin. Managed two trout a 16" and a 13", one from Oliver and one from Martin. I did bobber fish for a time, but only had one bite that I missed. It was on Martin and bit on a spawn bag 22 ft down.

[taxid]

Fished Oliver chain yesterday morning. Trolled Oliver, Olin, and Martin. Managed two trout a 16" and a 13", one from Oliver and one from Martin. I did bobber fish for a time, but only had one bite that I missed. It was on Martin and bit on a spawn bag 22 ft down.

Last time I was up there Olin was hot! Oliver was slow. No hits in Martin.

Were the trout skinny? All the trout I have caught and released are rather gaunt although the browns may be a little better than the rainbows.

[taxid]

Decided to stay home today and inventory some of the trout in my trout pond to see what lengths and weights they are up to, so I can also estimate the total weight of fish in the pond. I have to stay below 500 lbs. or I can have problems. Will be moving a bunch of them to a bigger pond on the property when temps fall in October as that pond is not fed by a well.

I'm sure the jet skies and water skiers are out in full force today so they can have at it. Having boats zoom by within 10 feet of my boat of people that may be intoxicated is not my idea of fun.

I probably will head out later in the week though.

I also need to get a couple of recirculating systems going in the basement for the winter. Will be bringing in a few hundred bluegill and tilapia for the winter soon. I can really get the bluegills a big head start in the basement over the winter vs. leaving them in the ponds. (Any tilapia not brought in will die when temps drop below 50 F.) A four or 5 inch bluegill will be a good 8 inches by spring by doing this. And by hand feeding they look like they are on steroids!
 

[staubsaugen]

They were certainly skinnier than winter and spring after gorging on bait fish, but pretty normal for what i've seen the last 4-5 years since i started fishing the chain. would certainly love to see a coldwater forage species (smelt) in the chain as we have discussed here before! It will be interesting what the past 2 years of increased stockings look like this winter/spring. Seems possible they may not "fatten" the same with more competition for the same bait fish...

[taxid]

They were certainly skinnier than winter and spring after gorging on bait fish, but pretty normal for what i've seen the last 4-5 years since i started fishing the chain. would certainly love to see a coldwater forage species (smelt) in the chain as we have discussed here before! It will be interesting what the past 2 years of increased stockings look like this winter/spring. Seems possible they may not "fatten" the same with more competition for the same bait fish...

Are you marking any baitfish balls from slightly above the thermocline down through it and sometimes even deeper? I  did more than once on both Oliver and Olin. I wonder what those are?

Interesting thing about three potential forage fish: gizzard shad, alewives, and smelt. They all have a substance known as thiaminase, which can cause a thiamine deficiency in fish. (AKA vitamin B).

Maybe enhancing a native species that may be available to the trout in the upper thermocline could be an option if smelt continue to be nixed?

I wonder if there are any emerald or spot tail shiners in Oliver? Not sure how accurate it is but I found a link that claims 54 F. is the favored temp of Spot tail shiners and 61 F. for emerald shiners.  A friend on Oliver clams he has caught spot tails in his minnow trap on the east end.

[taxid]

BTW if you want some good reading on the Oliver Lake Chain here is a some really in depth stuff.

http://www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/files/fw_Oliver_Olin_Martin_Lakes_Diag_Study_LaGrange_County_Oct_2009.pdf

[staubsaugen]

Are you marking any baitfish balls from slightly above the thermocline down through it and sometimes even deeper? I  did more than once on both Oliver and Olin. I wonder what those are?

Definitely mark those as well, and often catch gills and bass at this time. Also catch trout then too, but they don't ever have bsitfish in their bellies in summer