I am wondering about how to target white fish in thesummer months? all the fishing I have done on many lakes that hold white fish i have never got one or seen one caught? Pinehurst, wolf, and all through that area.
I usually go with a little white jig just suspended off the bottom, tipped with a maggot (if regs allow), tactic I use for both Lake and Rocky on both Lakes/ponds and during the early summer. I find they like to hang out closer to shore near those rocky outcrops and rocky reefs to feed.
First 30-60min of daylight, they can be found cruising shallow sand bars and rocks. Chronomid/balanced leach/nymph under an indicator if flyfishing, or wire worm/maggot/worm under a thin slip float if spin casting.
You have to spot them and cast well ahead, so as they don’t see the float, and the hook gets down to where they are before they get there.
Also, you will sometimes see them feeding on the surface on calm evenings when there’s a mayfly or caddis hatch. Same setup will work, or try to match the size and color of what’s hatching.
Middle of the day, usually pointless. They are deep around the thermocline and not usually feeding. Can try to troll a small spoon or flatfish with inline weights and a very light drag if you suspect you are seeing them on sonar, but I don’t waste time with it.
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“Nothing is more persistent than a liberal with a dumb idea” - Ebrand
3Blade is spot on with using flies or nymphs when the whites are in the shallows or on the surface.
Using hardware.... In summer on the Great Lakes people fish for whites in deep water with castmaster type lures. Using longer rods and give big 3 to 6 foot long jigging actions from the top to bottom of the water column. The whites pick up the fluttering lure when it's dropping.
I, myself, was trolling a 4 inch silver subsurface rapala in a canoe at Fickle Lake SW of Edson one late summer evening 30 years ago hoping to catch a big pike. I got a great hit that took a couple minutes to land and I netted an 8 lb. lake whitefish. I was amazed the big white hit the 4" rapala. A couple years later canoeing at Smoke Lake by Fox Creek I was trolling a 3" rapala and caught another big white towards evening. I'm not saying whites always bite rapalas but 2 big whites bite my rapalas. Coincidence? or maybe an overlooked lure?
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This country was started by voyagers whose young lives were swept away by the currents of the rivers for ten cents a day... just for the vanity of the European's beaver hats. ~ Red Bullets
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It is when you walk alone in nature that you discover your strengths and weaknesses. ~ Red Bullets
white fish
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