Blue Mesa Fishing Report: Wild weather; wild fishing!

The spring has been full of crazy weather, peppered by a handful of beautiful sunny days!  The fishing has been pretty darn good most days, if the weather allows you enough time to take advantage of it!  The lake is about 26 feet low and is still slowly coming up.  Water temps are only creeping up as well, with all of the fronts that have been coming through.  There is some floating debris around the lake, but overall it’s not bad.

Trout- Fishing remains good for trout! They can be caught casting or trolling a variety of baits including Venator Wobblers, Rapalas, and maribou jigs near shorelines or out in the open basins.  We have been finding rainbows from the surface down to 25′ and browns from 10′ to 60′!

Kokanee Salmon- Targetting kokanee salmon through the ice was a challenge last winter and the salmon fishing and population remains a big question mark right now!? So far I have heard of salmon caught in every basin and the bite has been spotty for most. We’ve had some decent days and some slow days. Most fish are hanging out in the top 20′ of the water column where the warmest water is.  Per usual, cycling through a variety of Rocky Mountain Tackle, Raical Glow, Kokanee Killers, Venator Wobblers, and a few other baits has been producing the best results. Make sure you tip your baits with corn! With the salmon numbers down, it is more important now than ever to not take more than your possession limit!

Lake Trout- This spring has been one of the weirdest springs for lake trout! Some big lake trout have been caught, but finding them is a challenge in itself most days!  The lake not freezing completely may have had some affect on this, but a lot of folks are wondering just how many lake trout are left after five years of netting by CPW.  Nobody really knows the answer, but this spring is just a reminder of how important it is to take care of our fisheries/resources by releasing the bigger fish and only keeping a few of the smaller fish to eat!

Perch- There hasn’t been much perch action yet, but we have heard a few reports of people catching some. Most are coming from deeper water.