MONTE LAKE
fishing reports
Monte Lake is a popular fishing lake year-round, with kokanee in the 1lb range . Learn more about Monte Lake here.
ICE UPDATE
january 13, 2025
At last, Monte Lake is beginning to show its first signs of ice. About half of the lake’s surface is now covered with a thin layer of ice, and with colder weather expected over the next couple of weeks, we may get a bit of an ice fishing season yet!?
ICE UPDATE
December 31, 2024
It is going to be a short ice season- if these lakes even freeze up enough, that is. There is still no ice on Monte. Hoping for a cold January!
ICE UPDATE
December 9, 2024
I took a drive to Monte today and wasn't surprised to find it completely ice free. It looks like there won’t be any early starts to the ice season, but if you’re feeling adventurous, you could probably still take the boat out.
august 14, 2024
I haven't had great success at Monte this year, so I hoped that today would be different!
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I arrived at around 9:30 a.m. and was out on the water and ready to fish by 9:50 a.m. I started right in front of the north end launch and trolled southwest.
I still had one rod set up with a Chrome's single spinner from Paul Lake yesterday so I left that one on and on the other rod I put on my go-to pink wiggle hoochie. Most of the fish were marking between 15 to 30 feet- much shallower then I expected.
I lowered the gear down to 20 and 25 feet in depth. A fisher in another boat on the water told me he hadn't had any success, and neither had I at this point. After about 30 minutes I changed out my gear, switching to a gold wiggle hoochie that had been the only thing to get fish in the boat last time I was at Monte. It was the right choice for today as well! I caught one very small one that I was hoping to shake off but it was hooked good so I kept it, making this the first kokanee of the day. I was just starting to think about heading to the south end of the lake, but shortly after this thought I started marking lots of fish. I was straight across from the middle pullout and just south of the lone house that sits on the west side. Soon after marking these fish the gold wiggle hoochie produced a better-sized kokanee and then lost another. I reeled up the pink hoochie that had caught nothing and put on a silver hoochie. The silver hoochie performed as well as the gold!
By 11:30 I had put 4 kokanee in the boat and lost 7 others. The action was steady for about an hour. At 11:30 I was chasing my limit fish and the fishing seemed to turn off. For the next hour and 10 minutes I did nothing but switch out lures on one rod every 15 to 20 minutes, but left the gold wiggle hoochie on my second rod. Finally at 12:40 the limit fish took the gold hoochie.
I tried trolling at a few different speeds but my usual 1.3 MPH seemed best. I had action at depths between 16 to 30 feet, and because I was mostly fishing shallow I used 50 to 75 foot set-backs.
the Strategy
Rod one: a Chrome's custom bendable dodger and 14 inches of leader to a silver wiggle hoochie
Rod two: a Chrome's slim swing tail dodger with 14 inches of leader to a gold wiggle hoochie
THE CATCH
There was one steady hour of fishing starting at 10:30 and the rest was pretty slow.
Limit caught, and 7 others lost.
kokanee: 5
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
July 2, 2024
I woke up this morning thinking about going to Peter Hope Lake or Stump Lake, but I was also curious about how Monte Lake has been producing. I haven't heard many good reports from Monte this year so the decision was made! I was heading to Monte to test the waters for myself.
I arrived at 10 a.m. and there were only a couple boats on the lake. Usually in July trolling is the way to go so I set up with my standard pink wiggle hoochie on one rod and a Chrome's single spinner on the other, both paired with my new light swing tail dodgers and tipped with scented shoepeg corn. I went searching for marks and it seemed that the middle of the lake in front of the middle pull out had the most fish.
I was marking fish at 25 feet and 45 feet deep but couldn't get a bite. Trolling proved to be tough: for the first two hours I threw everything but the kitchen sink at those fish with no luck. Finally I tried a gold wiggle hoochie (of all things) and a red and gold wiggle shrimp. I had a bite almost right away on the gold wiggle hoochie and soon after caught a fish on both the gold wiggle hoochie and the red and gold wiggle shrimp, both at caught 45 feet deep. After that, it was another hour of trolling with nothing.
As I was packing up I set up my chironomid jigging gear. This is what I should have been doing all day! In only 45 minutes I lost 3 and caught another. It seemed easy to get them to chase and bite the chironomid on the slow rise.
the Strategy
Rod one: A 4 inch chrome wobbler with 12 inches of leader to pink wiggle hoochie
Rod two: A 4 inch chrome wobbler with 14 inches of leader to a variety of lures
Check out the report to see what was working!
THE CATCH
It was a tough day of trolling. I should have been jigging all day instead!
kokanee: 3
rainbows: 0
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge
APRIL 3, 2024
I wasn't feeling well today but instead of lounging on the couch I decided to take a dose of ibuprofen and lounge in my boat. I have heard decent reports coming from Monte Lake so I hooked up my boat for the first time this year and headed out.
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When I arrived it was super calm and there was only one other boat out on the water.
I headed over to the middle launch and got my gear out. I was marking a few fish all over the water column with the majority down at 80ish feet.
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I put a Chrome's custom UV and pink dodger with a pink kokanee wobbler on the first rod, and a swing tail dodger with a pink wiggle hoochie on the second rod. I sent the wiggle hoochie down to 75 feet and the kokanee wobbler to 10 feet.
I chased the deeper marks around the water column with the wiggle hoochie but I couldn't get anything to hit. It took a while before finally getting my first kokanee on the wobbler at 10 feet. I then pulled the wiggle hoochie up to 10 feet and chased the deeper marks with the kokanee wobbler but this didn't seem to work.
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I pulled the kokanee wobbler back up to 10 feet and this seemed to be the best option. I caught one rainbow and two more kokanee on the wobbler. In between fish I changed out the gear on my other rod, trying spinner hoochies and single spinners tipped with shoepeg but with no luck.
I tried both ends of the lake but I caught all the fish in the middle trolling back and forth from the pull out to the house on the other side. I think that most of the fish were near the surface today which was why I was only marking a few, and that most of the deeper marks were sucker fish.
the Strategy
Rod one: a Chrome's pink and chrome custom bendable dodger and 14 inches of leader to a pink kokanee wobbler
Rod two: aSwing tail dodger with 14 inches of leader to a Chrome's pink wiggle hoochie
THE CATCH
A bit of a slow day but I didn't go home empty handed!
kokanee: 3
rainbows: 1
PHOTO GALLERY
click to enlarge