![]() But nothing captured my youthful imagination like bait fishing for lake trout. ![]() Like most anglers, I began my fishing career drowning worms and salmon eggs for brook trout, rainbows and the occasional suburban-pond sunfish. But a few times every year, I happily leave the fly rod at home and load my bait-fishing tackle into the Jeep - never once feeling an ounce of embarrassment about the cooler of sucker meat that’s sitting on my back seat. As a self-proclaimed “fly snob,” it’s not easy confessing my fondness for bait fishing to my fly-fishing peers, particularly when that style of bait fishing involves soda cans and sucker meat. Okay, I admit it: I enjoy bait fishing for lake trout. And although I’ve experienced days just like this one countless times throughout the years, I’m reminded again of how much I enjoy bait fishing for one of Colorado’s supreme sport fish - lake trout. We spend the rest of the afternoon basking in the warm sun. I nod in agreement, while biting into my turkey sandwich and doing my best to ignore the foul stench of sucker meat on my fingers. “That was a blast,” she says with childlike enthusiasm. Krueger, who just experienced her first “Mack”-fishing trip, is grinning ear to ear. By noon the action is over and we are enjoying a relaxing lunch on the beach. My friend Karen Krueger and I land eight fish in the 2- to 7-pound range and miss half as many more. Photo by Jerry Neal/CPW.ĭuring the next four hours, pop cans fall like targets in a shooting gallery. Karen Krueger proudly displays her first Lake Granby lake trout. Three minutes later, I land a fat 5-pound “Mack” - not huge, but a terrific way to kick off this outing. The resistance pushes the circle hook through the fish’s jaw, and the battle begins. The fish hits the tight line like a dog reaching the end of its leash, bending my rod into a deep arch. Then, with a subtle “click,” I close the bail, put the reel in gear and stop the fugitive before it strips me of both line and bait. ![]() With rod in hand, I allow the fish to swim freely a few more seconds. I jump from my folding chair, spilling my coffee and hurry across the bank to rescue my spinning rod from its metal, v-shaped holder. Line races from the reel’s open bail, and my anticipation soars - the first “run” of the morning is always the most exciting. Pepper can supporting my fluorocarbon line topples and crashes down the rocky bank toward the water. The clatter of the makeshift strike indicator disturbs the tranquil Lake Granby shoreline and rouses me from my early morning stupor. on a sunny May morning, the fun begins: “Clang!” The empty Dr. A Self-Professed ‘Fly Snob’ Shares His Guilty Pleasure of Bait Fishing for Colorado’s Largest Sport Fish A lake trout (Mackinaw) taken on a sucker minnow. ![]()
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