The Season so Far
We're from Montrose and have been hitting BM several times each weekend since it opened up to out-of-county residents. For the first few weekends it was HOT. We were fishing on the south side of the lake, west of the Cebolla arm and consistently limiting out within a few hours between 10 and 25 feet on all colors, mostly spinners and dodgers but some hoochies. Trolling at 1.2 with downriggers and leaders about a foot behind smaller dodgers. At one point we even had a triple header - it was awesome! All of the fish were definitely on the large side and very spunky. Strangely didn't get into any small young ones.
Then last weekend came. We fished on Friday 6/5 with the same luck. Saturday 6/6 was the large low pressure wind system that came through (and a full moon I believe). We went out on Sunday 6/8 and twice this weekend and seem to have lost our mojo. The old honey holes that were producing well two days prior wouldn't produce as much as a bite. Not marking much below 20 feet we changed it up and went with two side planers and two rods at 10 and 15 on the downriggers. In the three trips since 6/8 we have landed a few small kokes (small enough to throw back) and trolled a lot of the area in southwest Cebolla and northwest Sapinero basins. The lake has also been on the rise and I notice water temps are down a degree or two.
I'm trying to learn what the kokanee are doing at various times of the year (as water cools, weather systems move through, lake levels rise, etc). Any wisdom out there? Is it wise to go with a more subtle presentation when they seem to get less aggressive (less spinners, slower speeds)? Or is it all just random and we keep trying until the good days return? Anyone else have a similar experience the past few weeks?
