They are usually an olive to pale green-brown color and have white fins with dark edges. Bring your lure down to their level and slowly entice them to give chase. Feel free to make your cast again if you aren't satisfied with the first cast. Lake whitefish tend to spawn in the fall or early winter, depending on the area. Drill holes over four to 10 feet of water and plan to be fishing as the light hits the horizon. Try to keep the hook close (within a foot or two) to the lake bottom and as horizontal as possible to better mimic a blood worm. Spoons are one of the most popular lures among anglers for catching whitefish. Lake Whitefish Found in the upper Columbia River impoundments of Roosevelt, Rufus Woods, and major irrigation lakes of the Columbia Basin including Banks, Soda, Billy Clapp Lakes the Lake Whitefish if often the most numerous fish by biomass in many of these waters. Though they can reach sizes up to 15lbs if you’re extremely lucky. A good medium-power spinning rod around 6... Lures and Baits. Spring can be a difficult time to catch whitefish if you’re not looking in the right areas. It can be grilled, baked, broiled, pan fried, deep fried, poached, steamed, roasted and even pickled. Coho Salmon Fishing Tips Pike Fishing Tips Great Lakes lake whitefish is the primary catch for Michigan commercial and tribal-licensed anglers. You can search online to find popular fishing spots in advance. I have caught whites at all times of the day, but the best fishing has always been at first light. These fish mainly live on the floor of rivers or lakes, spanning primarily across northern United States and Southern Canada. Phil Duracz of Chesterton broke the state record for whitefish while fishing on Lake Michigan near Portage on March 6. In early winter you can still find whitefish near their spawning grounds near the bottom-feeding on whatever they can find (usually eggs). Often they will migrate into rivers and streams. Some whitefish are found in the Pacific Ocean as well. They also have a forked tail. They reside in deeper, cool, oxygenated lakes. Last Updated: July 31, 2020 Usually, this occurs when the water temperatures fall below 45 degrees F. They prefer to spawn in shallow rocky areas that are near the shores of lakes. At 0% condition food disappears if inside of a container, but not outside of containers or in the player's inventory. We use cookies to make wikiHow great. In crystal-clear Lake Superior you can generally watch your bait and nothing beats directly seeing fish come in and noting how they react to your bait. Native to the Great Lakes Monofilament line is widely used for catching whitefish. Lake whitefish is a pale, shy member of the trout/salmon family (Salmonidae). Lake whitefish state records are the most frequently broken in Indiana in the past decade. Smaller lures, smaller bait, smaller hooks, lighter lines. Typically they are silvery to white in color with an olive to pale greenish-brown back. Snagging your fish is when you scrape it with the hook rather than piercing it. It’s a modified drop-shot rig with a 1/4-ounce firetiger Badd Boyz jig, a legendary Lake Simcoe whitefish lure that is a nose-heavy specialty jig that looks like a small minnow and features a center line tie. For most of the year they spread out at great depths and are challenging to catch. Small bait like eggs or small lures will only need 1 puncture, while longer, thin worms may need 2 punctures. Often I’ll jig fairly aggressively until a white­fish approaches my bait, then I’ll almost let it sit, adding a slight bit of motion as it approaches. Try them and you’ll find they’re very different from their cousins, the mountain whitefish. This is very popular, especially for lake fishing. Fishing: Mainstay of the commercial catch in the Great Lakes because of its exceptional flavor, convenient size, and habit of schooling. The consistent bite is in the early morning and this seems to hold true from lake to lake. Whitefish have little and delicate mouths, which is the reason the vast majority who get Whitefish were Walleye angling while at the same time utilizing tiny hooks and minnows or tiny jigs. Hundreds of years ago, the Ojibwe and Chippewa Indians used to hunt lake trout, whitefish and sturgeon from Lake Superior. Some anglers will opt for braided or fluorocarbon lines as well. For ice fishing, sonar is extremely helpful. wikiHow is where trusted research and expert knowledge come together. Once the fish move to the flats, which can … Trolling spoons also are effective later in the season when whitefish suspend over deep water. In some areas, they may reside in brackish waters, but this is not as common. The total annual catch in 1999 from Canada was 8 328 t and USA 5 353 t reported by the FAO. Without it, it is very difficult to locate the fish. Learn how to make it better. You can catch them with live bait or a jigging spoon, either in the early morning or at night. The key point that you need to remember is that whitefish have small mouths, so your hook size has to be small. If the fish are going, a limit of whites will be on the ice within the hour. Just before dark, whitefish sipping emerging insects from the surface film often hit dry flies presented on a fly rod or casting bubble, or small compact spoons like Acme Kastmasters or Little Cleos. They tend to eat anything that is near the bottom of the lake. How to Catch Lake Sturgeon, How to Catch Lake Sturgeon – Fishing Tips. Whitefish, by most accounts, are tasty to eat and there's a limited time to fish for the species while they spawn near piers in West Michigan. Every dollar contributed enables us to keep providing high-quality how-to help to people like you. Many fishermen catch whitefish using jigging spoons. The Bear Lake whitefish, Prosopium abyssicola, is found only in Bear Lake on the Utah-Idaho border. {"smallUrl":"https:\/\/www.wikihow.com\/images\/thumb\/7\/7d\/Catch-Whitefish-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/v4-460px-Catch-Whitefish-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","bigUrl":"\/images\/thumb\/7\/7d\/Catch-Whitefish-Step-1-Version-2.jpg\/aid9742435-v4-728px-Catch-Whitefish-Step-1-Version-2.jpg","smallWidth":460,"smallHeight":345,"bigWidth":728,"bigHeight":546,"licensing":"