Palisades Report 1-6-07

[OvidCreek]

[font "Times New Roman"][size 5]I fished Palies this morning in a white out blizzard. I would love to sit down with other Palies fishermen and just figure out this place? Everything from my past experience told me it would be bad fishing today with a low pressure coming through, but go figure today was great fishing! There was defiantly the standard 45 minute bite, because I went from catching to sitting in the snap of the fingers. Well I will just get down to the points of today’s trip. Fished by the dam with 3.5-4 inches of solid ice, and used a board to get on. Jigging worked well for aggressive browns, and set poles landed some nice cuts. Pink and white jigs tipped with crawler in 18-30 feet of water suspended worked the best. I will say I did not venture to my favorite spot on Palies, because of the wind and you never know about the ice at this place. Even if you went tomorrow please drill some test holes; I am sure in a few days we will have 18 inches of ice-slush-ice-snow top, but for right now play it safe. Today was great tomorrow—who knows one might be skunked.[/size][/font]
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[size 5][font "Times New Roman"]OvidCreek [/font][/size]
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[jacksonlaker]

I fish Palies in the spring and summer and still haven't figured it out. The lake should fish better than it does, I think due to constantly fluctuating water levels it effects feeding patterns. If you find someone thats catches fish there on a regular basis, let me know !!!
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[tech29]

I have fished palies quite a bit also and have not been able to figure it out. I have one buddy that used to fish it a lot and swears that it is one of the better lakes to ice fish. He claims to only go 6 to 12 feet off the bank and to be there with holes drilled by daylight. I haven't ever been able to be out on there at that time in the morning yet, but he swears by it. I have found that the fish do seem to bite early in the morning, but there is a window of time between 11a.m and 1p.m that they seem to go on the prowl also. Like you said though, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to those fish.
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[BrianID]

Thanks for the report. I need to get up there and fish Palies sometime this winter. I'm not sure if I will get around to it though.

You might want to edit the year of your report. I seem to do the same thing a few times at the beginning of every new year.[crazy]
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[OvidCreek]

I appreciate all of the good insight on this fishery.

OvidCreek
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[bdn06]

I mentioned in some posts earlier that there are a couple of areas on the lake that tend to be productive more consistently than others. One is just off the north point of the rocky area on the lake side of Big Elk. Big fish cruise that bank in the summer evenings, and lay fairly deep off that bank, about 20-30 yards out in the summer and winter.

Another area is the west side where the fairly steep bank transitions to the flats. Right at the seam of the bank into flats, you can find fish not too far off shore. Just start on the flats and work your way to the bank section, either casting from shore/tubing in spring/summer/fall, or drilling in winter.
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[jacksonlaker]

Thanks for the info on Palies. I tried thr area you are talking about on the west side of the lake this past fall. We marked lots of fish there but didnt hook up trolling. Later on we talked to some guys jigging in that spot and they did really good. They had one brown that was close to 10 lbs. My best day on that lake is 5 browns which we worked for. My best day on Jackson lake is 26 in 3 hours !!! I like the challange of Palies, plus the variety of trout, but it is frustrating.
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[bdn06]

I agree with you there. It is one of the most temperamental lakes I have ever fished. The biggest regret I have is not having a tube when I lived there--I think with some jig varieties like TubeDude uses, and a float tube on a calm day, one could do pretty well. It would also be very interesting to fish it with a fly rod and a sinking tip line. I'm pretty sure you could do well with a variety of lake nymph patterns there.
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[OvidCreek]

I fished Palies this past Saturday and although our catch rates were low I would not call it bad fishing. We missed a couple right at the hole. I am definatly putting two or three poles of my son and I's ten by the shore. I witnesed one fisherman doing a lot better using your suggested method. My son did land a nice 19' Brown, and I got to land a big sucker. If it makes my seven year old's day then it is worth it. We left by noon and headed to another body of water and did well there. He even laded a 16' inch cutt there; plus about 12 little rainbows.

Thanks for all the insight on Palies.

OvidCreek
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[tech29]

Sounds like you had a good day of fishing! Another spot on palies I have good luck on is toward alpine on the flats where the lake transitions from a rock bottom to mud. For some reason a lot of cuts seem to congregate there. I also fished a maximum of about 30' off the bank. The person that explained this to me said that the minnows in the lake liked being along the banks with rocks for cover and the bigger fish trolled the shorelines looking for a meal! I am going up there in the next couple of days to try my luck. How thick was the ice? Was the edges soft? My next goal on palies is to figure out those dang lake trout!! I have been told that there are a lot of huge lakers in there.
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[bdn06]

I used to fish for the lake trout with a buddy up there. Never fished for them through the ice, though. We fished in the spring, summer, fall. Used a boat and trolled rapalas DEEP with banana sinkers. They only hit in the wee early mornings. White was a good color on most days when it was calm.
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[OvidCreek]

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[OvidCreek]

This time I will actually write a response. The ice was a little soft on the edge, but not what it is usually like. It is always smart to take a board to Palies There is no slush on top, and to my surprise the ice had not expanded that much 5 inches with 2 inch snow crust cover. Good luck and keep us posted.

OvidCreek
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