The lake opened October 1st and while it has started with a bang in terms of some big fish caught, it has been an interesting start to the season in terms of conditions. The lake has seen much colder surface temps than a normal October, causing the north end of the lake to flip already. Due to this there is very low visibility on this end of the lake, making anglers focus specifically on the southern end of the lake. Typically, after the lake flips the baitballs of tui chub will also begin to break up and the trout will no longer be found quite as easily. While we are still seeing some of these baitballs on the southern end of the lake, it’s probably only a matter of a few weeks when they will no longer be present, causing the trout to spread out. Once this happens, the bite gets a bit tough for a while until temps further drop and the fish remain in shallow and tight to the shore all day.

The good news with the colder conditions this year is that we expect the shore fishing to get good earlier this season, maybe even as soon as November. As of now, anglers fishing off the shore are still finding some fish, mostly in the afternoons. With that said, the size of the fish caught in the first week has been impressive, with numerous fish already seen over 20 pounds and one fish reported to be 31 pounds 6 ounces, if this is accurate it would be the biggest this lake has seen in close to 100 years! We are really looking forward to seeing what this lake kicks out this year as the fish seem to just be getting bigger and bigger!