Big Bait, Big Fish? Not for trout on my lake.....

Water Temperature: 18 degrees on Saturday, 17 degrees on Sunday.
Weather: Mix of Sun and Cloud on Saturday, windy. Calm and clear on Sunday.

On Saturday morning I went trolling without my old faithful lures. I used a huge Williams Whitefish spoon. The theory was that the larger the lure, the larger the fish. The Whitefish spoon was around 5 inches long.

This is what I caught:



The fish was only slight more than twice the size of the spoon. Easily the smallest trout I've caught on the lake thus far on the biggest lure. The lure would not even have fit in the trout's mouth! Unfortunately, like the other fish I've caught on spoons with treble hooks on the end, it was hooked in the gills under its mouth and died instantly after I took the hook out. So we had trout for dinner: Dill, butter, and lime in the oven. Very, very good eating.

My theory is this: The mackinaw on my lake can grow to 25 lbs, and indeed I saw a 17 lb fish mounted that was caught in 1969. It had a small head, and small tail, but had a huge mid-section. The baitfish on my lake are small, and the growth of the lakers are 'stunted' due to the limited size of the lake. So the trout are used to 'stunning' prey that looks too big for them before swallowing them whole (see previous article). This small trout tried to stun the Williams Whitefish spoon with its head, and I hooked it as a result under the gill.

Almost every time I've used a spoon with a treble at the end I've severly injured fish:
1. The 3 lb'er hooked in the eye.

2. A small trout last week hooked in the gill and bleeding profusely (again, another small one that I don't catch on the old faithful)

3. The really small trout caught this week hooked in the gill.

As a result I've switched back to the old faithful lure..... It's small, but it catches larger fish and doesn't hurt them quite as badly quite so often.....

Here are the catches for Saturday and Sunday: