June is here and so is the best fishing. We all know about walleye so lets set them on the backburner for a spell and talk about a different, but truly fantastic fishing opportunity. Lake whitefish in June. They are biting as hard and as strong as they do all year long. They're aggressive, they hit hard and the sometimes they even jump.
Could this be that same fish we angle for through the ice? It sure is and they're packed with a bundle of attitude to boot.
The hardest thing about fishing for June whites is deciding to fish for them. All those lakes we haunt during the winter months for the wily whites are primed for awesome fishing during June. There is one trick and that's about as sneaky as it need get. That's to fish near bottom and preferably over weed tops. This seems to be the preferred habitat of a summer white.
The next item is presentation. Like I mentioned in the leadcore line article, trolling will work wonders, even on whites. I've had my best luck fishing in 8 - 12 feet of water; however, I used smaller flies like the bead head prince nymph or zug bug. My friend Wally Warawa uses a hook he ties himself called a lazer wrap. It's bright orange and catches fish like nobodies business.
To fish it close the tops of the submergent weedbeds, all I have to do is count pulls. Count out how many pulls it takes while trolling to start catching weeds. If it takes 18 pulls and I start snagging up, I'll reel in and pull out 17. That assures me that the fly will be working along, just above the weed tops. But trolling doesn't necessarily have to be the only ticket in town. Simply anchoring and fishing over the side of the boat is a viable option.
My wife Elaine showed me that it doesn't have to get any more complicated than dropping a bead head prince nymph over the side of the boat and nothing more. She'd put the fly within inches of bottom, lay the rod down and let it sit there while she opened her book and started reading. Every so many minutes, the rod would start bobbing and she'd mark her place, set her bookmark, pick up the rod and reel in the fish. Talk about your easy fishing. Spend a little time in the spring chasing whites and you to will discover a virtually untapped, stellar fishery.
