Bigger trout!!
 

I went to dickson on saturday and we caught like 16 trout but no keepers....Just wondering if i should be using bigger hooks and bait?? Should i be further out in the lake?? any help would be appreciated

84 views and not 1 reply :( someone must have some trout knowledge

Never fished the lake but i'd say try jigging a 1'' spoon. Thats usually good for some bigger fish. Not sure how big they get in that particular lake. Maybe worth a try?

Never fished the lake in question - however...

when I'm searching for big 'uns, I just try to differ presentations and depths to see where they are & what the're feeding on. Sometimes they are cruising the really shallow water (4-8ft) looking for meals, other times they are really slow and sluggish in 30+ ft of water. Unfortunately, no hard and fast rules.

However, as a general rule, if you make the free meal larger, the larger guys are more willing to burn energy in attempt to catch and consume. Try moving up to the next size hook (not sure if you're using jigz ?!?) and up the size of the bait. See what happens. Keep track of your catches. Move up again and see what happens from there. Basically just T/E but track your results and you'll learn the lake.

dickson trout
 

I have never been there , but my fishing partner has lots and he never , almost never catches any keepers there 13 to 18" . I dont think size of hook has much to do with it, if there are a lot of small fish , they feed first get to the hook first , .mother natures way ...

Re: dickson trout
 

What size of trout are you catching there and what size do you consider "Bigger trout"?

I also wonder what kind of trout population is in the waterbody and what kind of overwintering of fish happens there.

Many trout stocked "lakes and ponds" are "put and take". That is, if you catch a trout, you may as well take it home and eat it as it will not likely survive the winter so will not grow up to be a bigger fish. And so there may not be any bigger fish in the lake.

I am not a big fan of catch and release ice fishing. Catch and release is always a little stressful on the fish and there is normally some mortality. I have no evidence but I would think the stress of being pulled from an ice-water hole into the cold winter air and perhaps allowed to lay in ice and snow while being unhooked, would be extra hard on a fishes health.

Robin in Rocky