Lake Whitefish open water

[fishtank]

Standard wire worm gold seem to work well on sylvan , Put a small lead clip just above the hook to keep the line tight , use a pencil bobber as the bite is light and once the bobber sink you have to set the hook . keep the tension and the fish just in the water but not out of the water, steer it into the net .

[Seli]

Got into some Whites on Canada Day. Whites only came on my radar after I joined this forum.
I am now obsessed with this species. Even if you limit out there are still so many that come in and reject your hook, leaving you wondering what you did wrong and how to improve your presentation.

I have had very little success with posting pics so only sending one in case I screw it up.

[45-70GOV]

Originally Posted by fishtank

Standard wire worm gold seem to work well on sylvan , Put a small lead clip just above the hook to keep the line tight , use a pencil bobber as the bite is light and once the bobber sink you have to set the hook . keep the tension and the fish just in the water but not out of the water, steer it into the net .

Are you using any bait on the hook or just bare? Came across some a couple weeks ago and tried a few methods with what i had for trout/walleye tackle with no success.

[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by Bushleague

Lol, I wouldnt call it a pattern... but I caught this guy in a river, on a 1/2 oz Len Thompson a couple weeks back. In terms of weird catches I think that would be in the top 3 for me.

RIMG0031 by , on Flickr

That's awesome. 6 years ago I was fishing the bow for trout and mountain whitefish. I had a spot right in the city next to a storm drain where I would always catch rainbows with a black chironomid. One day I hooked into something big and I saw a flash of white so I thought it was a big mountain whitefish at first. But when I got it close to shore it turned out to be a big lake whitefish, about the same size as yours. It flipped and flopped and ended up popping off right at shore. The first and only time I ever caught one from the river.

[Fenix_84]

Curious to what people are using as their open water setup for whitefish?

Never really thought about it much myself and thinking about putting something together, would love to hear what your setup is.

[MDR]

I am fortunate to target them in 4-12ft of water all summer. My go to is a size 1 or 0 Mepps Black Fury. Couple small pieces of split shot a cm above the spinner to give it some weight to cast. Lightweight rod and 4lb test. Good times!

[Fenix_84]

Originally Posted by MDR

I am fortunate to target them in 4-12ft of water all summer. My go to is a size 1 or 0 Mepps Black Fury. Couple small pieces of split shot a cm above the spinner to give it some weight to cast. Lightweight rod and 4lb test. Good times!

Thanks, judging by the lack of responses, it seems to be quite secretive. I don't have a dedicated setup, I'll use an UL, light or medium light depending on what rod I feel like fishing. Rods are from 6 to 6'6". Try and keep my setup as light as possible in terms of weight to improve sensitivity. As for lures, it's basically just my trout chironomid connection, hook size 6 through 14 mainly.

[Macdrizzle]

I use a 6'6 ultralight. Stopper, slip bobber, weight, bead, swivel, leader, fly in that order. Cast it out and retrieve. I also bring a second rod of just weight and wireworm for when I want to switch to jigging and trying different depth. They key to it seems to be finding the right depths. You'll see them come up to the surface a lot and pick off bugs and chironomid pupae right below the surface of the water. I have also seen them pretty much every depth of the water column but seem to have the best luck from mid column to bottom. Good luck. Let us know how you do.

[jzz]

Yesterday July15, 2023, a good day, went to lake Wabamun, catch 3 white fish at 30 FOW


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[lakerman]

In 30 feet of water what was the ticket to catch them that deep? Haven't heard anyone getting 3 in a day.

[jzz]

Same as ice fishing, wire worm with a flasher


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[Macdrizzle]

Was able to get out for half the day couple weekends ago at Lac Ste. Anne. I never tried this lake before in open water so I started off slowly driving around the east side of the lake boat until I found a spot in 25 FOW where a bunch of fish kept surfacing. Decided to try the spot. Immediately when I dropped the rig down I got a bite. Fought him for 3 seconds and it popped off. I dropped the hooks down again at the same depth and let it bob away and 10 minutes later got another bite. He went on 3 big line ripping runs before wrapping himself around my anchor line close to the surface. I immediately started pulling the anchor line and saw him wrapped around the anchor line and but not before I scooped him up with my net. This whole time fish were jumping all around where I was. Dropped the hooks back down and a few minutes later, landed a walleye (released). Dropped it back down again and boom another whitefish. I was again fighting it until it got close to the surface and then all of a sudden felt like I hit a snag again. I looked down and assumed it wrapped around the anchor line again. Pulled the anchor line and there it was swimming in circles around the line. I grabbed the line and started hand pulling it and then was able to scoop it up with my net before it could pop off.
Things started to slow after that. Averaged about 2 – 3 walleye every hour or so until 2PM.

Both whites had empty stomachs with the exception of 2-3 scuds. They clocked in at 5lbs 9oz and 5lbs 14oz. Released 6 average sized walleye.20230722_185326.jpg20230722_140625.jpg20230722_104306.jpg20230722_101451.jpg20230722_100347.jpg20230722_095032.jpg20230722_152338.jpg

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[chucklesthe3rd]

Originally Posted by Macdrizzle

Was able to get out for half the day couple weekends ago at Lac Ste. Anne. I never tried this lake before in open water so I started off slowly driving around the east side of the lake boat until I found a spot in 25 FOW where a bunch of fish kept surfacing. Decided to try the spot. Immediately when I dropped the rig down I got a bite. Fought him for 3 seconds and it popped off. I dropped the hooks down again at the same depth and let it bob away and 10 minutes later got another bite. He went on 3 big line ripping runs before wrapping himself around my anchor line close to the surface. I immediately started pulling the anchor line and saw him wrapped around the anchor line and but not before I scooped him up with my net. This whole time fish were jumping all around where I was. Dropped the hooks back down and a few minutes later, landed a walleye (released). Dropped it back down again and boom another whitefish. I was again fighting it until it got close to the surface and then all of a sudden felt like I hit a snag again. I looked down and assumed it wrapped around the anchor line again. Pulled the anchor line and there it was swimming in circles around the line. I grabbed the line and started hand pulling it and then was able to scoop it up with my net before it could pop off.
Things started to slow after that. Averaged about 2 – 3 walleye every hour or so until 2PM.

Both whites had empty stomachs with the exception of 2-3 scuds. They clocked in at 5lbs 9oz and 5lbs 14oz. Released 6 average sized walleye.Attachment 186362Attachment 186363Attachment 186364Attachment 186366Attachment 186367Attachment 186368Attachment 186369

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Nice whites! How wormy were they being that size?

Chuck

[Macdrizzle]

Not a single worm. Not even in the guts.

It seems like the bigger they are the less wormy they are. The wormiest whites I found were from Sylvan and Whitefish Lake which all happened to be smaller whites. They must take away from their nutrition.

[fish99]

nice to catch whites in open water great fighters.

[safaridog]

We been trying for whites on open water the last couple trips with no luck. Went to Sylvan twice using brass and red wire worms 14 to 25 FOW. Lac St Anne tried a Mepps black fury and Wetaskiwin special bouncing off the bottom. I'm determined to get one this year on open water but I'm stumped right now.

We're going to try tofill some walleye tags tomorrow at Lac st Anne, most likely going to try for whites again in the evening Any suggestions for whites?

[Fenix_84]

Wait until the fall when the water cools and they come shallow.

[Macdrizzle]

Originally Posted by safaridog

We been trying for whites on open water the last couple trips with no luck. Went to Sylvan twice using brass and red wire worms 14 to 25 FOW. Lac St Anne tried a Mepps black fury and Wetaskiwin special bouncing off the bottom. I'm determined to get one this year on open water but I'm stumped right now.

We're going to try tofill some walleye tags tomorrow at Lac st Anne, most likely going to try for whites again in the evening Any suggestions for whites?

I would try for whites first thing in the morning. This was my first time trying LSA in open water so I'm no expert but I caught both mine on wireworms. I was in 30ft when I spotted them but like I said they seemed to be all over the water column. They're really big in there and they fight good. I also caught a few walleye too with my WW set up too but none big enough to brag about.
Good luck, let us know how you do.

[FreeToFish]

Originally Posted by safaridog

We been trying for whites on open water the last couple trips with no luck. Went to Sylvan twice using brass and red wire worms 14 to 25 FOW. Lac St Anne tried a Mepps black fury and Wetaskiwin special bouncing off the bottom. I'm determined to get one this year on open water but I'm stumped right now.

We're going to try tofill some walleye tags tomorrow at Lac st Anne, most likely going to try for whites again in the evening Any suggestions for whites?

Try gold WW tipped with pink maggot. I caught 2 white fish and one pike with that. McGregor reservoir on Sunday.


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[fordtruckin]

A bit farther south but I hit the lake whites pretty good yesterday. Between the FIL and I we got 24 in the boat in 3 hours. Hard to believe the limit on the lake were fishing is 100/per… took us a good portion of the afternoon to get everything cleaned and filleted. Our luck was had at 47FOW and using a perch jig with grub tail. Best we’ve done in years!

[safaridog]

You guys are making me jealous. Monday night we were out at LSA went mainly to fill walleye tags but I threw out a WW for ****s and giggles, no luck. Tuesday we were at Wab and I threw out a WW in 12 FOW near the weeds in the afternoon for a couple hrs before we got blown off the lake. Tonight I tried WW for a hr or so got tired staring at a bobber and went back to fishing for walleye. I'm gonna keep trying. I'm even more determined now.

[pikeman06]

Originally Posted by safaridog

You guys are making me jealous. Monday night we were out at LSA went mainly to fill walleye tags but I threw out a WW for ****s and giggles, no luck. Tuesday we were at Wab and I threw out a WW in 12 FOW near the weeds in the afternoon for a couple hrs before we got blown off the lake. Tonight I tried WW for a hr or so got tired staring at a bobber and went back to fishing for walleye. I'm gonna keep trying. I'm even more determined now.

I would fish them deeper than that personally this time of the year. Maybe shallower till about 9 am then id ho deep. If you have decent electronics you should see them suspended off tge bottom aways. Put your hook a foot or two above them. Theres lots of food now but in late sept they will move close to the spawning grounds.

[jzz]

Originally Posted by safaridog

You guys are making me jealous. Monday night we were out at LSA went mainly to fill walleye tags but I threw out a WW for ****s and giggles, no luck. Tuesday we were at Wab and I threw out a WW in 12 FOW near the weeds in the afternoon for a couple hrs before we got blown off the lake. Tonight I tried WW for a hr or so got tired staring at a bobber and went back to fishing for walleye. I'm gonna keep trying. I'm even more determined now.

How is the algae over LSA? Plan to go there this weekend Thanks

[safaridog]

There was a fair bit around West cove boat launch on Wednesday. We fished the main part and I could see my lure about 30" from the top of the water. It is way better then it was last week, it was literally pea soup back then.