The last week of March saw some great fishing, both on Flathead Lake and Lake Koocanusa , as well as some last ice fishing opportunities.

Lyman Plugs;

I fished Lake Koocanusa last Tuesday and Wednesday. The ice had just come off of the Rexford area on Monday. We caught 2 bull trout on Tuesday, 1 bull and 1 rainbow on Wednesday.  All the fish were caught on Lyman Plugs.

The boat ramp at Rexford Bench is not usable yet, to much mud on the ramp and the parking area. We did use the launch at Peck Gulch, no problem.

The lake is down about 90ft. so be careful there are some rocks exposed that we don’t normally see. The surface temperature was 36 degrees. We did see a lot of fish on the fish finder, just not that interested. I look for the fishing to pick up in the next week or two as the water starts to warm up.

Worden’s Lures;

On Flathead Lake, trolling with Worden’s Mag Lip, as well as Luminous Glow T-60 Flatfish on the bottom in 180-200 FOW found co-operative lake trout in the 6-16 pound range.

Yesterday we were out and put 8 fish in the boat, one 37” at 16lb’s. We also caught a laker with a clipped adipose fin. That fish was turned in to the Derby folks at Blue Bay and was worth $100.00, congratulations to Gay Obrey.

Matt did a charter down by the islands and put 7 fish in the boat including 2 slot fish and says they lost the derby winner!

I fished on the north end just south of the delta and marked a lot of fish at 140’. We caught our biggest fish on an Electronic Stingfish from Pro-Troll #385 chrome and blue.

We caught 5 fish on the F-2 flasher from Silver Horde with a #35 Octopus/Squid

(4 1/4”)

#8180 double glow.

The fish seem to be spread out on the east side of the center bar from 80’ to 190’ of water. There were several boats jigging in the same area and all doing very well. The weather was a factor again, so keep an eye on the wind.

Folks jigging for numbers of smaller lake trout, as part of the Spring Mack days contest were finding them in 180-260 FOW.  Zimmer Tackle Glow-Grub with Fly set-ups seem to be the lure of choice, but white tubes and smaller, heavy spoons are also working. 

Mackinaw are eating whitefish now, so baits that match the color/profile of a lake superior whitefish are key, 4 to 5 inches in length.

A $1000 tagged fish was turned into the Mack Days Contest last week, and several $100 tagged fish have been turned in by recent Mo Fisch customers.

Local lakes that were still iced over with mostly safe ice were turning out big catches of nice “eater” size perch, but those conditions are rapidly turning dangerous.  If you want to go ice fishing, its time to start thinking about next year!

Up to date fishing reports, as well as local outdoor news, can be heard everyThursday night at 7:00PM on Snappy Sport Senters Flathead Outdoors on KGEZ AM 600 Kalispell.

Thanks to all that attended our seminar at Snappy Sport Senter

Outfitter: Bob Orsua

Guide: Mike Howe

Mo Fisch Charters,

Website: www.mofisch.com