Montana Fish Report

Rainbow trout from 16-inch planters to three-pound holdovers are on the bite. The trout are clean and bright with those cold water blues and purple colors. Pond smelt is still the main food supplying these fish, however a few more days of sunshine could get a little hatch activity going again.

Very few boats bait fishing, most are trolling off lead core or downriggers.

Pond smelt patterns or lookalikes are your best bet if your trolling, Pin Minnows, Rapalas, Shiners, Needlefish. Best bite has been early at first light, and drops off about 9:00 am, and starts again about noon when that top water warms.

We have been fishing the top 20 feet early and most of the hits came off the 12 foot deep offerings. The deeper fish below 20 feet were there, but not hitting, or perhaps not seeing our stuff.  This is a good place to try a dodger crawler combo.

There have been lots of fish stacked along the west side of the Peninsula about 100 to 300 yards off shore, from Rec. 2 to Bunell Point. Incredible numbers.

The most fish I have seen on the screen in long time. They stocked this lake pretty good last season. Close to 300K fish (salmon, browns and rainbows) were planted into the existing population of established trophy fish.

Figure in the great smelt bait fish populations that we had last year and it all points to a very interesting outlook for this spring.

Always check the weather reports before making to run up here.

Small boats not advised on windy days.

Canyon Dam is still the only public ramp operating.

USFS ramp is closed, no dock and not plowed.

Peninsula ramps at Rec. 1 and 2 are plowed and open.

Doug Neal (530) 258-6732 http://www.almanorfishingadventures.com