Blue Mesa Fishing Report: Smokin’ kokanee in the wind!

The last five days have been very windy, and the patterns have changed slightly, but the fishing has remained excellent!  Lots of salmon are still being caught with a decent mix of rainbows and browns.  The wind makes fishing difficult, but a lot of times the wind ignites a feeding frenzy and can be excellent fishing!  The east end of Blue Mesa Reservoir is still fishing more consistently for trout and salmon, but plenty of limits are being caught all around the lake.

The wind blew some smoke over Blue Mesa on saturday morning that made for an awesome sunrise!

Trout– Rainbows are showing up from the surface down to 27′.  We are mostly catching these fish on kokanee tackle while fishing for salmon.  Some anglers have been doing well trolling z-rays and tazmanian devils in 1-15′ of water for more rainbows.  Browns can be found most consistently in 5-35 feet of water along rip rap shorelines and off of the points.  Crankbaits, jerkbaits, and maribou jigs have been consistent producers as well as kastmasters, krocodiles, and blue fox spinners.  Casting, trolling, and jigging have all been producing but trolling has been the most productive.

Lake Trout– Mackinaw are running 30-80 deep right now.  These fish are roaming several different types of structure such as points, humps, sunken islands, and flats.  Trolling some type of rainbow or salmon imitation or jigging a tube jig or Berkley gulp! minnow has been most effective.

Kokanee Salmon– Every day has been a little bit different, but these fish are hanging out in 1-45′ of water with lots of action from 15-30′.  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.  All colors have been producing depending on the day, but pink, orange, white, and green have been the most consistent.  Rocky Mountain Tackle squids and spinners and our Lazerhooks from Eagle Claw have been hot!  Tip these with white shoe peg corn and run them behind a Rocky Mountain Tackledodger.