Biggest bull trout lures

[lds]

Wondering if anyone has used big swimbaits for bull trout or big lures of any kind. Was looking at the savage gear line through trout. They are a lot bigger than I’ve over used as they come 6-12”. I’ve seen bull trout eat other fish that bigger and bigger and was thinking it would be fun to try. Maybe for big pike as well. Anyone ever played around with big lures for big fish before? We

[Smoky buck]

Yes bull trout will it big lures and flies. I have caught them on big crankbaits, swimbaits, spoons, and salmon plugs up to 9-10inch. I tied a 12inch jointed fly as a joke and caught bulls. The can eat big stuff

Realistically I find lures and flies in the 4-6inch size are a better option and I ran that big stuff for fun to see what they would eat more than anything

[jednastka]

Years ago, a good friend who had only ever flyfished, told of his family's annual trip to the Skookumchuk in SE BC. They were after cutthroat I believe, but would regularly lose fish up to 12" long to big bull trout rising from the bottom. He said they never seemed to have the right gear to catch the bulls. I lent him a spinning rod and reel, and a floating, unjointed diving 8" rebel minnow in a gloss rainbow trout pattern (no longer made). He came back to work after their annual trip, and right off the bat apologized for losing the lure, but then described catching many, many bull trout from 4-20 pounds on the rig before losing it. He had never had anything that big on the line before, and finally had to agree that good, fun fishing did not start and end with flyfishing.


Vic

[lds]

Last year was my first year targeting big fish and I broke many of my pb’s but still nothing to brag about. I’ve seen many bigger fish than I’ve caught but my average fish has gotten a lot bigger since using bigger stuff. I’ve toed a lot of big articulated streamers for fly fishing and I had a cabelas add come up and saw the savage gear trout which I’ve seen before but got me thinking maybe if I try going rediculously big I might catch some rediculously big fish. May not catch many fish but wouldn’t mind getting some better pb’s worth bragging over. So far my biggest bull is 23” and have many other trout at the 19” mark but haven’t been able to break the 20” mark and would love to get up towards 30”. Obviously that can take a lifetime to get but I figure if I use some big gear maybe it will up my chances

[Smoky buck]

I have caught lots of big bulls mostly in BC. The real trick to catching big bulls is really finding them more than anything. I did not find that I caught anymore big bulls using really big lures/flies and actually had lots of 20inch bulls on that big gear. I found a good size lure like 4-6inch even 8inch made a difference over small gear but going beyond that not really

Getting down deep in the big holes in a river did make a difference. So does getting into areas others don’t. More than anything it’s a matter of fishing lakes or rivers that hold good numbers of big bulls.

[lds]

I don’t think I’ve used anything over 3 or 4” so id like to try bigger but maybe I won’t go to crazy and get the 12” stuff and just stick to the 6-10”. All this time on my hands hanging out at home has just got me thinking about new things to try as I’m sure everyone is

[FlyTheory]

I know people that have caught more bulls than I, and they all seem to gravitate toward 3-6” flies. And I mean actually 3-6”. Slap your 12” fly against a ruler and you’ll find that it’s very difficult to achieve the 12” mark without having long saddle hackle as the tail.
Having said that, I personally like fishing 5-9” flies, where I rarely exceed 9”. I recently tied a few “beast fleye” variants with silicone heads and the largest was 8.5”.

One of my best friends swears by a 3” bull trout style fly I tie, and cleans up. Why? Because those 3” flies drop into the log structure faster than anything.

Even for pike I tie my flashabou and tbones no larger than 10”.

Sometimes I’m sure size matters (in the context we’re talking about), but realistically most of the time it doesn’t.

[Smoky buck]

A 12inch fly is not all that hard to tie but casting that 12 inch fly was another story

And yes there was a ruler put on it and not the same kind people measure their junk with

[Jigsalot]

[QUOTE=Smoky buck;4136852]A 12inch fly is not all that hard to tie but casting that 12 inch fly was another story

Great bull trout video I watch once in a while. Love that area of B.C. https://youtu.be/jOBFxv4BbNE

[Smoky buck]

[QUOTE=Jigsalot;4136855]

Originally Posted by Smoky buck

A 12inch fly is not all that hard to tie but casting that 12 inch fly was another story

Great bull trout video I watch once in a while. Love that area Of B.C. https://youtu.be/jOBFxv4BbNE

That is actually one of the areas I want to try to see if it lives up to the hype or is it just popular because a lot of people talk about it. I bet at the worst it’s good fishing still.

A lot of my bull trout fishing has been in the busy south coast of BC, Caribou, and remote no where land spots in Northern BC. Northern BC can be amazing and there is little to no pressure. Alberta sill has some good bull trout waters and maybe I just need to explore some more areas but so far for bulls BC wins

[bessiedog]

The late summer-fall bull run in BCs Wigwam is a great bulltrout fishery.

Many of the holes are freaky deep and you’d be better using a sink tip with heavy weighted line just to get in their zone... some real beauties there.

I tied some major jigs for a buddy that specifically fishes for them. They are huge 2oz laker jigs tied with 6-8 inch long goat hair ..... he does real real well with them.

I’ve found that a 4 inch weighted streamer with 8 inch strips of flashabou or some other reflective long steaming stuff induces strikes from bullies real real well.

Alberta has lots o excellent bulltrout spots in the southwest..... but I ain’t tellin where...

[Smoky buck]

Originally Posted by bessiedog

The late summer-fall bull run in BCs Wigwam is a great bulltrout fishery.

Many of the holes are freaky deep and you’d be better using a sink tip with heavy weighted line just to get in their zone... some real beauties there.

I tied some major jigs for a buddy that specifically fishes for them. They are huge 2oz laker jigs tied with 6-8 inch long goat hair ..... he does real real well with them.

I’ve found that a 4 inch weighted streamer with 8 inch strips of flashabou or some other reflective long steaming stuff induces strikes from bullies real real well.

Alberta has lots o excellent bulltrout spots in the southwest..... but I ain’t tellin where...

Not surprised at all with the 2oz jigs I have done well with 1-2oz white/with some flash bucktail jigs tipped with a paddle tail swimbait. Great in deep holes

Farthest south in Alberta I have fished bulls is the Oldman every thing else has been north of Calgary. Do to where I live I will be working the rivers Caroline north for the most part

Your spots are safe from me for now

[EZM]

Like some have said, you gotta find the spots that hold bigger fish, like the bottom of structure, underwater saddles and then get a lure down there that matches something that they would be eating.

Sometimes that's small 3-5" lures and others it's something much larger in the 9"-10" size but it's more about "matching the hatch"(or forage) as opposed to the size of the bait by itself.

I've dragged some pretty big lures through the water up to and over 12" but the returns (effectiveness) after about 7"-8" are indescribable and makes little difference in my opinion.

[simpatico]

Has anyone tried Fishing for Bulls in April on the Athabasca in Jasper?

Looking to hit it before the run off start and get the river too fast to fish. Any tips would be greatly appreciated

Thanks
Tony