Loon Lake Macks

[lucky33]

Ive been at it for weeks, and one hookup with a mack. The hooks pulled free and I lost him.  Any tips for catching them would be good.  Ive been running leaded line, spoons, plugs, ect to no avail. I keep marking them on the fish finder at 50-90 ft. depth, and have adjusted colors and speed ect.  I know Im getting down to bottom as I snag quite frequently.  Ive entirely gave up fishing for silvers or anything else until I raise ''Big Louie'' from the depths.  Can anyone help?

[Skillet]

We used to fish for macks on Loon in the afternoons before we'd anchor up with the fleet to jig for kokes at night.  Never had a consistent pattern for success, but found our best luck was catching a few squawfish and fileting them, then driving around until we found a few macks concentrated on the finder and jigging for them with a squawfish filet.  If we caught one a day, we thought we were doing pretty good.  That was back in the late 80's/early 90's, anyway.

My gramps caught a 20+#'er out of here a number of years before that.  He was trolling a Lucky Louie plug on leaded line, if I recall correctly.  Got the newspaper clipping in my garage - I'll check it out tonight.

[TommyH]

Buddie of mine got one last weekend pulling a rapala! They were not targeting macs but got lucky. I will be out there soon trying for one myself. My father and his fishing buddie go out there often and do ok.

[sirfunkeybut]

I'm gonna feel stupid when I here the answer but what's a Mack?

[benhuntin]

Mackinaw. Lake trout I think?

[lucky33]

"mackinaw" is a native american word for " large fish that dissapoints..." 

seems to be the case.  The only one Ive hooked so far was on a rapala, but I do like the idea of jigging.  I know where to find them consistantly, so ill give it a try  Cant be any slower than it has been

[sirfunkeybut]

Ah, well I don't feel that stupid since I've never heard them called that before

[HUNTINCOUPLE]

Saw fish in show about Lk Chelan maks and they used bucktail jigs to catch them. And allot they caught.

[Skillet]

"mackinaw" is a native american word for " large fish that dissapoints..." 

seems to be the case.  The only one Ive hooked so far was on a rapala, but I do like the idea of jigging.  I know where to find them consistantly, so ill give it a try  Cant be any slower than it has been

Jigging for them is fun - especially when you see them rocket off of the bottom to catch your bait as it falls.  Here's a pic of some I was jigging for in Chelan a few years ago- Correction - those were downrigger fish... but I've done pretty well with the jigs there, too.




This is pretty cool, too - that's a 3/4 oz jig going down to meet a pile of macks on the bottom in Lake Chelan

[Skillet]

"mackinaw" is a native american word for " large fish that dissapoints..." 

seems to be the case.  The only one Ive hooked so far was on a rapala, but I do like the idea of jigging.  I know where to find them consistantly, so ill give it a try  Cant be any slower than it has been

If you know where they're at you got the hard part done.  They can be just a bit finicky, so just keep switching up jigs until you find the combo.  Whatever you use, make sure it smells good.

[Skillet]

My cousin and I caught a couple macks in the 3-5lb range incidentally while kokanee fishing on lamiglas fc 7'6" UL rods - I have never been so fooled by a large fish. Thinking I had snagged weeds or a stick and reel up a good size laker... anyone know why they don't fight even a little? Is this typical mack behavior?

Yep.  They are fat, lazy, eating machines.  I've had a few bigger ones make some blistering runs back down to the bottom, but I've NEVER mistaken one for a coho... they basically headshake you and try and get back down to the bottom.  Were you trolling with mono?  Jigging with braid seems to always get a better fight out of them from what I've experienced.

[mwhunter]

get your self a bottle of supper dipping sause and dip your jigs in that works really well

[lucky33]

No go on the lakers.  Tried all weekend, nothing. Not a bite.  Im sure they cant be caught    Trolling, jigging, and a whole lot of lure changes did nothing.  Im marking them a bit deeper, 70ft average, but even when I know Im going through fish with my lures they arent tempted.   

[TommyH]

No go on the lakers.  Tried all weekend, nothing. Not a bite.  Im sure they cant be caught    Trolling, jigging, and a whole lot of lure changes did nothing.  Im marking them a bit deeper, 70ft average, but even when I know Im going through fish with my lures they arent tempted.   

Try hitting them at night?

Not sure....IF they are that deep.....what can they see that deep in the dark?

[Skillet]

They can see glow stuff! And they can smell smelly stuff. Sometimes hard to catch fish go on the bite when its dark. Ever watch "river monsters"?

Ah, nighttime is for the silvers on Loon!  Here's the old pic of my Gramps with the big ol' mack he caught out of there a long time ago-

As you can see, he was more of a "filet and release" guy...