Lake Cocolalla Fishing Report 8.29.17

Lake Cocolalla has been tough, but very rewarding. I spent a few hours fishing the lake yesterday morning from 7-10 AM with hopes of finding a few big trout. Loaded with fast sinking and intermediate line, no trout was out of range.

The trout appeared to be very scattered and not under much pressure to eat initially. The little inconsistent surface activity further proved that the trout were feeding casually, wherever and whenever they please. However, the fish I did find were actively eating subsurface.

That they are hungry is both good and bad. Good, in that the trout were feeding, bad that they were spread throughout the entire lake. This made finding a decent concentration of trout difficult. I was able to find one beautifully chunky 3 1/2 lb brown trout in 10 feet of water. I also found a school of slab Crappie suspended in 28 feet of water, and a handful of random Smallmouth during the rest of the day.

All fish were caught on a #8 Olive Woolly Bugger, with sinking line and intermediate line. I concentrated most of my time fishing the south and west sides of the lake. Next time I will explore more of the east and north side to see if the trout have moved.

My early morning theory was slightly dampened after finding only a few trout. The only thing that keeps me returning to this wonderful lake this time of year? When you do get hooked up, you get hooked up well.