5-23-24: Pre Season scouting report: Lake surface temps holding in the low to mid 60’s & even as low as 58/59F this morning. Did rise to 62F+ by 10am. Good temps for fishing!! One noticeable thing is the water color and visibility. Green is our new normal. Looking for bottom in 4ft of water was not happening. This can change as it’s been windy and we’ve had a lot of pollen mixing in just about everything. But she's a bit on the green cloudy side. 

I saw small fish rolling just about everywhere between the ramp to The Springs, the middle and towards the west side. Fish were planted last week & beginning to scatter. The big fish are there. They also were scattered. Some of the largest marks were holding around 15 to 20ft in mid morning. That’s not unusual to find fish even as deep as 24-30ft late in the morning/early afternoon on a flat pond & bright sun. The trout also like to hide in the shade of the foam if it hasn't blown off. 

If I were to go out opening day (I have all year & leave that to the tourists) I would be starting out with orange Jay Fair trolling flies on my toplines & be ready with rust or cinnamon & all around best. Under those lines I’d run my leadcores 8 to 18ft deep (2 to 3.5 colors) with Gold/Red Thomas Buoyant 1/4oz. In my back up line up would be red-dot or bleeding frog, gold, & copper (1/6oz). In the back: gold/orange broken back rapala’s (fast troll), Sure-Catch (anything with orange, I prefer double jointed medium size). 

I saw fish everywhere. West side structures from Shrimp to Christie showed quite a few nice solo marks, mainly off the middle ledge or 15 to 25/30ft of water. On the east side the marks were more scattered, dead water, then a handful of marks on the scope. There’s generally fish on that side due to Papoose Creek (near Camp Ronald McDonald) having flowed since December.

For the die hards heading up to Pelican Pt & The Youth Camp, it should still be holding fish for a while. Be careful on the unmarked rock piles. I’d check the water temps but early, there’s nothing like the 4 to 8 ft water trolling flies & fly lines real early in AM. But I count the boats….often pushing those fish out to the outer rock piles 8 to 15/18ft deep in a very short time. 

The trout will get pushed around on day one….folks will find em though. The waning moon will still be pretty light overnight. That can push the bite to between 11am to 2pm….often in windy conditions. 

Unless you know the shoreline rock piles, I don’t advise novices or those unfamiliar with the rapid changes in depth, including Miners Pt rock pile. Stay safe. There will be some really nice fish caught this season!! Get ready!! Here it comes!! 

Launching boats in spalding is not recommended but kayaks, canoes & paddle boards can make it thru the channel. It's shallow to just south of Rocky point then 5-6 ft deep to the Youth Camp channel (3.1 N miles from the ramp). Low water ramp at Gallatin will serve all fine throughout the season. Plenty of fish to be caught!