[BravesFan]

Planning to head out to my first ever trout opener tomorrow morning and was thinking about trying Belleau instead of Axehead, since I'm thinking the pressure will be heavier at Axehead. Has anyone else ever fished for trout at Belleau? I'm hoping artificial baits such as rooster-tail spinners or spoons will work; if not, I'm might have to dig around for some worms ;-)

If anyone has any advice about what artificial baits to use for trout, or any opinions about Belleau v. Axehead for the opener, I'd really appreciate it. If I don't catch anything in an hour or two tomorrow morning, I might head over to Axehead.

I hope I'll have better luck tomorrow than the Braves starting pitching ...

 

[Augy]

I'm going to Axehead only because I've fished for rainbows there before and never at Belleau. I've got one word of advice for you...POWERBAIT. Lures may work but with the amount of people, casting could be an issue. Also something to really consider is lb test. These rainbows are extremely line shy. I use either 4 or 6lb line. I'll be using 4lb line this time cause last outing at Deep Quarry I was using 6lb and Will was using 4lb and he was killing them although I ended up with the monster 17" big fish rainbow of the day. They like the powerbait off the bottom. Last year I tried a bobber from top and not a damn nibble. Off the bottom...first cast fish on. Second cast fish on. Third cast, you get the idea.

Good luck. I'll be at Axehead at sunrise tomorrow.

 

[phil]

I'd also go to Axehead. You might think that Belleau has less pressure, but that is not true. Since it is smaller, there is less room for people to cast and it gets crazy.

 

[BravesFan]

Thanks for the tips, Augy. I believe you that powerbait is probably the fastest way of limiting out, but I'm also planning to head out around sunrise and won't run into any bait shops open at that hour. Maybe if I haven't caught much by 9am I'll head over to Ed Shirley's or Walmart.

Good luck to you too.

 

[JasonN]

The gas station at Touhy and Dee has a bait machine. I haven't checked it in a while but i'm sure it will have some "trout" worms (red wigglers).

For anyone who is interested... i'm not planning on keeping these fish for myself as I don't eat fish. So what I catch is yours.

I'll be at Axehead about 4pm.

 

[Augy]

For anyone who is interested... i'm not planning on keeping these fish for myself as I don't eat fish. So what I catch is yours.

me, me, me!

 

[toothdoc]

I went to Axehead this morning with my son. We got there at about 6:45 and fished for about 2 hours and got nothing. Then we went to Belleau and spent another hour there with another skunk. We tried Trout Bait, spawn and small spinners, but nothing! I'm going to go back this afternoon and try it again. We saw people at both places leaving with a few fish.

 

[Augy]

Hey doc, I was fishing on the south end from 6:15 to about 9. I saw a dad and son crew walk by but didn't think it was you cause I thought you were headed to belleau.

Anyway, here's the report. Temps in the mid 50's and wind gusts between 15-20mph or more. Fished off the bottom using orange and pink glow in the dark powerbait about 3 feet off bottom. I only got two hits and lost both cause of line tangles from my idiot neighbors who obviously didn't know how to cast straight. Arrrrgh! I got frustrated and went over to the northwest end but nothin happening there.

Your right, I only saw a handful of people who were catching anything. One guy had about three and they looked decent size. Another guy had two dinks. I'll be back out there again around 3 with Jason (WCF administrator). I'll try the southend again but looked like most of the people were bunched up on the east end. Hmmm...do they know something we don't. Maybe that's where the fish were dumped. Might try there also. I'll be wearing a red and white cap with a beige fishing vest. Hint, tall asian dude (me) with a redhead tall dude (Jason).

 

[Augy]

oops. I posted an Axehead report here in Belleau. oh well...can't copy and paste cause of my pornified computer. :lol:

 

[BravesFan]

Not much to report. Got skunked at Axedhead and Belleau this morning using small spinners and spoons. At Axehead, I saw at least 10 good-sized trout caught by people near me (just due north of the port-o-potties). Among these, fish caught on spinners out-numbered those caught on powerbait (or something similar) under a bobber by about 4:1. Belleau was completely dead this morning during the 30 minutes or so I was there. Didn't see a single fish being caught.

Anyway, kinda tired from the double skunk. If it wasn't for the wind, I'd be out there again soon since I've convinced spinners can work.

Hope y'all had/have better luck out there this afternoon.

 

[will]

Pretty windy out today huh?

Windy city that is.

 

[phil]

Went by Belleau and saw that there weren't many people there...so I stopped by for a few hours. Nothing until it was so dark I could barely see my bobber. I was packing up my other rod and my friend saw my bobber go down. I grabbed by rod and set the hook, but there was a lot of slack and ended up losing the fish about ten feet out. It wasn't that big anyway. Got a good look at it and I'd say it was about 12-14 inches. I wonder why is was so slow? That has never happened to me before. Any ideas?

 

[Augy]

well...Jason and I were talking about it yesterday and one theory was that the fish are not fully acclimated to the water since it was only a few days ago that the fish were dumped. At least that's our excuse for having one dink between the two of us. :mrgreen:

 

[will]

My guess would be that its too sunny and warm.