July Blue Mesa Fishing Report: Some good changes!

The salmon trolling is still red hot!  Most anglers are seeing their best success in the first 3-4 hours after the sun rises, but these fish can be caught all day long.  We are also starting to see some schools big enough to jig.  This is 2-3 weeks earlier than normal!  Hopefully, this doesn’t mean that all the fish run into the river 2-3 weeks before normal, but only time will tell.  In the mean time, take adavantage of the incredible fishing, but don’t abuse it!  The salmon numbers are back, but it is our responsitiblity as anglers to respect the possession limits the Colorado Parks and Wildlife has set forth to ensure they get enough eggs to keep these numbers up!  If you’ve caught your limit and still want to fish, consider catch and release!  We like to pinch barbs or go to single hooks when doing this to limit the amount of stress we put on the fish.  Fish on!

 Trout- Rainbows are showing up from the surface down to 42′.  We are mostly catching these fish on kokanee tackle while fishing for salmon.  Some anglers have been doing well trolling z-rays, rooster tails, kastmasters, and tazmanian devils in 1-25′ of water for more rainbows.  You can usually see a lot of rainbows feeding on the surface in the morning when the water is calm.  Browns can be found most consistently in 5-70 feet of water along rip rap shorelines and off of the points. They are shallow early and late in the day and then they drop back down into deeper water.  Crankbaits, jerkbaits, and maribou jigs have been consistent producers as well as kastmasters, krocodiles, and blue fox spinners.

Lake Trout- Mackinaw fishing has slowed, but some decent fish are still being caught from 80-120′.   These fish are roaming several different types of structure such as points, humps, sunken islands, and flats as well as suspending out over deep water.  Trolling some type of rainbow or salmon imitation or jigging a tube jig with sucker meat or Berkley gulp! minnow has been most effective, although we have been catching some nice lake trout on unorthodox trolling gear as well.

 Kokanee Salmon-  We are seeing some interesting changes.  Trolling is still excellent from 20-80′ depending on the part of the lake you are on.  Change depths frequently until you find results.  These fish move up and down a lot depending on the conditions so don’t lock yourself in to a certain depth.  Knowing how to read your fish finder is a critical skill in consistently catching these fish.  All colors have been producing depending on the day, but chartruse, pink, orange, white, and green have been the most consistent.  Rocky Mountain Tackle squids and spinners and Radical Glow spinners and tubes accompanied by our Lazer hooks from Eagle Claw have been hot!  This stuff is the hottest kokanee gear on the market!  As usual, tip your offering with white shoe peg corn and run them behind a Rocky Mountain Tackle dodger.