Fished a lake stocked with rainbow, brown, and lake trout. Surface temps 50-52. Was surprised to see a LOT of fish hugging bottom in 30-40 fow as well as a bunch of fish suspended at that same general depth. Could see rainbows surfacing every now and then, but the vast majority of fish were way deeper than I would’ve thought.

Ideas? This lake also holds smb/lmb, pike, and suckers.

This time of year trout can be at any depth...a lot depends on forage they are keying on and time of day. If your lake has browns and rainbows they could be deep feeding on chironomids (midges)...in fact I’ve read in the past that they cruise at depths and eat them with their mouths open like whales eating krill...now I don’t think lakers react the same. I have used midge patterns fly fishing quite a lot for spring lake trout with little luck compared to casting bigger nymphs or trolling streamers. On the west coast fly fishers do really well using chironomids for rainbows but I think lakers prefer meat (baitfish)...I would say the bass would also be deep as they are throughout the winter, but smallies for sure would already have started moving towards any moving water...one thing for sure is that even though trout can be at any depth in spring and you can catch them deep, they certainly are more aggressive and tend to hit more when they are shallower or higher in the water column.

Moonman.

gg-
Typical. I suspect some of those fish are white suckers. I've seen MASSIVE schools swim by out there. I know a guy who used to do pretty good on the old cowbells from time to time, but it can be a real tough nut to crack.

I think the cold front a week ago really messed things up. Fishing was awesome leading up to it, around the TC metro, and then the cold front hit, water temps plummeted, and fish seem to have disappeared. I fished for bass from the bank last Thurs and Fri for about 6 hours total and didn't get a single bite. Threw the book at them. I know there are fish in the spots I fished, or usually are. I figured they pushed back out a bit deeper or were being super finicky. I saw some bass on beds and roaming around the TC metro on Fri and Sat but again I couldn't get bit.

I'm guessing that the cold front pushed many fish back 1-2 weeks in terms of their spring transitions and behavior and made a lot of them hunker down. Hoping that they get active again. I'd like to head up to fish for lakers & browns one more time before it gets hot! This upcoming weekend looks like it'll be pretty warm but also rainy, so I'm not sure if I wanna drive up north.

Good luck to you!!

Caught multiple lakers from shore on Friday. Less than 10 feet of water.

On the troll back to the launch, caught a laker in over 80 feet.

Most of our groups fish were caught in 30-35 feet.

They can be anywhere in early spring. As the water warms they move deeper to stay in the water temp they like.

Thanks everyone for the thoughts. Always learning :)