Depth at lake Minnewanka in may for lake trout
 

I am finally ready to go out to Lake Minnewanka with my boat in may. but im not sure at what depth the trout would be. would they be in the first 10 feet of water this early or are they deeper at this time?

every year is different depending on water temps.
But most years we find them in 25 or so feet of water on rock shelfs
We jig for them like walleyes...bisheads and teaser type tails

We flyfish for them with sink-tip lines in under 25ft of water - but still right on the bottom. Usually for about 2 weeks after the season opens, then they start to head deeper.

we were getting them with cd-5 RNTR form shore right now last year so about 10-15FOW ?

Right now....like march 29??

well i think i want to do some trolling. i have 20lb test green spiderwire and t swivels i just need to know what ounce banana weight (and yes i know about nothing under 2 oz that is lead) i need to use with my spoons. btw what colour of spoons work best in minnewanka.

i havent pulled many spoons in there shallow....i do later when they are deeper with a flasher off the downrigger. Silver Blue north port nailers in the summer.
early in the season if we get tired of casting i troll a black white or a blue yellow narrow hockey stick. Because its shallow and rocky i dont use the downriggers, I put the mooching rods into the holders so the rods are stuck into the water with a 100 foot setback

For lakers in Minnewanka I usually just fish 10 to 25ft for them. Some days, they are so shallow that I can actually see them sitting on the bottom of the lake. I like to drag a white tube jig along the bottom or troll a castamaster along the bottom of the lake. I usually look for sand bottom and rock ledges. I have caught a fair amount of lakers this way.

I remember one time I had this laker on that was screaming line off of the reel for a solid 20secs until it got off.

I also remeber when it was the first year I fished Minnewanka in May and I didn't have anything figured out about that lake yet. I wouldn't catch a laker and almost everyone else that came in, said that they landed at least one laker. I asked all of them how deep the lakers were and many of them said " try 60 fow". I try 60 Fow and not even a bite for the 5 days I fished the lake. When I was fishing in 10 Fow I saw these fish that looked like lakers sitting on the bottom of the lake and saw other people fishing that shallow spot as well I come back in late June next year and catch the lakers on 11 to 40 Fow.:sHa_shakeshout: Turns out I was being lied to. :mad0177:
Well, that's it for my rant.

The first year I fished the lake though, my fishing partner and I caught some nice sized rocky mountin whitefish that were around 3 to 4lbs.:)

so if i use a #4 hockeystick and let out about 100 feet of line what depth should it hit?

must have been may...mabe i just thinking about fishn now lol. if you want brookies though go to johnson lake.

Minne is an evil temptress that will rip your heart out and feed it to the hungry lakers that won't bite anything you throw at them.

Trolling in Minne can be done, but early on in the year it is pretty much a waste of time. DBH, listen to the tips from some of the pro's who have left their advice on this thread and you will get into some fish. Or you can troll your spoons and come home empty handed!

White tube jigs, bismuth heads, very subtle jigging motion. Wait for the slightest tap, like a walleye. Hold on, and don't muscle em' or you will surely snap off on the big ones. They're in there, if you don't believe me... Watch at the dock when the guides throw the guts from their fish caught into the water. You'll never want to swim in that lake ever after seeing that giant feeding frenzy.

Those are big bulls that are hanging around the dock!

3/4 oz bis. snap wgt. has us ticking bottom in 20 fow with 7 ft of rod in water.
14lb fireline

Thanks for the tips guys. It has really helped me out

If anyone is wondering how my fishing partner and I caught the rocky mountain whites this is what technique we used. We used a bismuth or tungsten perch pattern perch jig or lead free weighted green fly and just twitched it on the bottom of the lake. We were fishing 7fow and would see them come in. As soon we saw them come in, we would pause the hook at let it sit on the bottom of the lake. As soon as they paused where the hook was, we would set the hook and bring them in. As for the line we used, we were using 8lb vanish.

lake trout
 

We have lake trout up at our cabin but very few ever get caught. They seem to sit in deep water. I was wondering if trolling can be done. Or are we better to jig and with what size of jigs.

a little off topic but something to consider
Most lakers arent ball shy, in fact i think they are attracted to the ball and line hum. I in fact at times run a attractor off a painted ball.
That being said send your camera down connected to the downrigger line with a short set back to your hook.....its hillarious watching lakers try to catch your lure. Some times i speed up just to watch them get madder and madder...lol

alot of times lakers relate to deep soft basin bottoms...in those cases we run lead core(where allowed) or steel line with a heavy slip sinker(similar to a sliding mooching wieght again where allowed) to a kelp cutter flasher with a 36 inch leader to a pea type lure. The kelp cutter puffs up bottom sediment and the lure appears to be in the bottom dust. Maybe it appears to be a feeding something in the disturbed bottom.
It our last resort though as its not overly sporting....

If you're trolling Minnewanka, be sure to zig-zag quite a bit to pause the lure and vary the speed. Those lakers are notorious for following a lure without striking, if it's just pulled in a straight line and doesn't change speed.

Never fished it quite this early but Ive had luck in 20ft or less in early May in years past. On the other hand the lakers are finiky in Minnewanka.

yeah the rockys in there arnt too hard to catch and easy to find we find are by using a bell and and fly trailer when the fish arnt there bang the bell and when you see one lift it up and let the fly work its magic but sometimes im seeing others that are going by my hook that arnt whitefish and arnt brookies...any ideas? they kinda slashed at it and left

what about using buzz bombs? would they work any good?

Buzz bombs are made out of lead would be illegal to use in the national parks unless you go with a buzz bomb that is 2+ ounces.

As for how good they work, many people catch salmon on buzzbombs and many people at spray lakes catch lakers on buzzboms. IMO I don't think it would hurt to see how good they work at that lake. There are some true lunkers in that lake that would probably swallow a 2 ounce lure no problem IMO.

Has anyone had any luck from shore or in a canoe?

I have seen those trout as well schooling near the whitefish. I have tried a tube jig and they wouldn't go near it. I suspect they're bull trout. I would use a lead free perch jig and not even see them go near it. I haven't used a mepps spinner, though I think a 3'' mepps spinner may be a good lure to try for them.

im pretty sure your not allowed to use a canoe. only motor boats can go in that lake.

would a normal jig head work instead of a tube jig head? because its actually not easy to find bismuth tube jigs

The tube style jig heads work best because they give the tubes a unique action when jigging. Kind of a see-saw motion.

As for size, the deeper you fish, the heavier the jig you use will assist you in feeling the slightest hits - even with braided line.

ok. would you know a store that has them? cuz i went to bass pro and wholesale sports and all they had were normal round jiggs in bismuth