Small Lake, Hot August, Trout Tips

I'm going to be fishing for trout in Olallie Lake. I haven't read anything to give me hope that the fishing will be good this time of year. I've read a lot of tips on fishing in June and July though which I will put to good use, but most say August is dead. I've got lures and worms, power bait and eggs. Just about everything I could think of. I have my FF and down Rigger. I was hoping somebody has some tips that work for these conditions. Any ideas?

Never heard of it. What's the elevation?

Only things I might add would be a fly rod (or a spinning rod and casting bubble) and some flies for super early AM and sunset. Hopper patterns sometimes work well in the summer.

Or some live crickets or mealworms.

Both of those sometimes work when nothing else seems to...


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It's about 5000 ft. That's something I've never done. I'd seen it suggested but didn't include it in the arsenal. Maybe it's not too late to spend some more money. 

Haha! It's never too late... At least that stuff is pretty cheap.


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 I would recommend using jointed Rapalas - on the downrigger if needed.
Paddle around until you mark a few fish on the fish finder or set the sensitivity high enough to pick up the thermocline. Once you locate the depth the fish are holding at or locate the thermocline, target the water 3-5' above this depth. When the water is warm, I find that the fish will sit in the thermocline, but feed just above it where baitfish tend to hang out in the slightly warmer water.

I use the attached dive tables below to measure setbacks & depth. If they are deeper than I can get the lures to run long-lining, I'll clip into the downrigger to get the additional depth. The nice thing with running diving lures on the downrigger is that the downrigger weight is up and away from the lure, thus shouldn't spook the fish using shorter setbacks.

Example:
You mark fish or see the thermocline is at 30' down; you want to fish 3'-5' above at 25'-27' deep. You can get a JSR-05 Rapala to dive to 10' down with a 50' setback on monofilament line, so let out 50', then clip into the downrigger and send it down another 13' - 15' to gain the extra depth, thus putting your JSR-05 25'-27' down.

Of course if you're not getting hits running above, you can lower the downrigger the additional 3'-5' and put the lure right on top of the fish.

Colors: Fire Tiger, Orange UV, Green UV, Orange Tiger, Rainbow Trout
Scent: I also use garlic scent or tip a trailing hook with a piece of crawler.
Speed: In the summer, I run anywhere from 2.0 to 2.5 MPH on the GPS. Alter your speed every now and then . . . paddle hard to get up to 3+ MPH and let it coast down to 1.5 MPH. I'll even stop hard and fast, then paddle hard to get back up to speed. Change it up.

I'm pretty sure I have some jointed baits. Guns and Fishing has had a big sale and there isn't much left. I'll see what they have tomorrow. Thanks for the tips.