Cold water fishin'

[natenez]

Usually in winter I mostly fish Lk Sammamish if going for trout, which works out OK, since it takes so long for it to cool down, the water remains in the 40s and the fish are still somewhat active.

This last week I went with a friend to Beaver, and the water was COLD - 35deg, and some places on the lake even had a think sheet of ice. We had some action, but it was slow going.

I've read conflicting things about fishing in really cold water - go fast vs go slow, big lures vs small lures, fish the surface vs fish the bottom, etc...

Anyone have any tips of what they think works better when the water is cold?

Thanks

[fear_no_fish]

half a night crawler under a bobber, 3-6 feet. size 6 hook.

[fishtremble]

I don't know. I've tried Powerbait eggs off of the bottom and worms with a bobber on top, in
January. Looking over my fishing log, I've have not had much luck in January. I don't they are very active. I would think bait on the bottom might be best.

[fear_no_fish]

My buddies and me always catch out biggest trout out of lakes during this time of year. Last year at this time we were catching 2-6 pounders every trip.

[natenez]

Thanks for the tips.

I'm looking to C&R, so I was hoping for some non-bait approaches.

Maybe now that the weather has warmed up we'll see the lake water temp warm up, and hopefully my usual tactics will be effective again. If not I'll probably stick with larger lakes, like Lk WA, that don't cool down as much.

Thx