Mackinaw tips from the yak

I've never fished for macks at any point in my life, so I'm hoping someone might be willing to offer general tips on what to do and what to expect. 

I'm headed up to Buck's Lake near Quincy, CA in mid-June. I've been there before and caught lots of browns and rainbows, but I've never targeted macks before. Will my Rapalas and in-line spinners work for macks, or should I pick up something specific? I'll be headed past Cabela's in Reno this weekend, so I can probably find anything I need there.

I'll be fishing from my P15, no downrigger, 7' light and ML rods, one spinning and one casting. I think the spinner is loaded with 2lb test and the casting rod has 8lb braid with an 8lb flouro top shot.

Any thoughts or advice for a mack noob? 

Check out this tahoe report for limit on macks.  As you know Stu and Savage are exceptional anglers so it is wise to borrow from their techniques.

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/index.php/topic,3694.0.html

Martin stole my thunder.  I was going to suggest reading that thread.  The 2 lb. might be a bit light, but the 8 lb. I would imagine will do the job.  Good luck!  Look forward to hearing the report.

Michael

Zilla would be the one for info if he's around. He might be out of state on a job.

Jay -

For jigging on Tahoe I use a 2oz Hopkins or Butterfly jig with 30# powerpro mainline, barrel swivel and 30# 6ft top shot seaguar flouro on a daiwa luna. This seems heavy but Tahoe has giant macs. For smaller macs and shallower jigging you can scale down. Live bait is another effective technique using a dropper loop technique. Trolling is more common in the winter and early spring.

Scott

I have caught them on minnows, jigging iron, and trolling an deep six with a watermelon apex.

Never fished the lake, but macs tend to like the cold water which is usually also the deep water. I think your best bet is live minnows bounced along the bottom. Just remember that it probably isn't legal to buy minnows and bring them to the lake.

My favorite mac jigging lure is a green/white(glow) 2oz.

If you want to go after the big boys, match the hatch ( planters ).

-Brian G

Great tips! 
The trip starts June 16 and is a bit of a congratulations party for a friend who will be ordained as a priest the weekend before. Instead of his friends showing up to the ordination in Arizona, he wanted us to take him fishing. He's never fished much before but wanted to learn, so hopefully I can put him on some big trout, and if I figure out the mack bite I'll try to get him on one of those too!

Great tips! 
The trip starts June 16 and is a bit of a congratulations party for a friend who will be ordained as a priest the weekend before. Instead of his friends showing up to the ordination in Arizona, he wanted us to take him fishing. He's never fished much before but wanted to learn, so hopefully I can put him on some big trout, and if I figure out the mack bite I'll try to get him on one of those too!

How fitting if the soon to be man-of-the-cloth landed a Mack of biblical proportions?  It would make for great Jonah and the Whale-type sermon material.

I've also caught them jigging with 2 ounce leadheads and white curly tail grubs.  Not all macks are feeding on trout/kokanee.  It depends on the feed base of the lake which could be crawdads, mysis shrimp, bullheads, suckers, squawfish, etc..  I have no idea about bucks, but figure that out and match the hatch.

I got a mack trip coming up to a lake up here.  We're going to downrigger them deep with luminous flatfish with a herring strip (not wrapped, just trailing on the rear hook).  Scented up with crawfish scent.

From everything I've heard ... scent it up!!!  Put a strip of meat (herring, squawfish, squid, worm, etc.) and apply added scent.

-Allen

I got a mack trip coming up to a lake up here.  We're going to downrigger them deep with luminous flatfish with a herring strip (not wrapped, just trailing on the rear hook).  Scented up with crawfish scent.

I guess I should say that my biggest mac ( 32" and 13lbs) was on a chrome flatfish.

-Brian G

Sounds like Baptisms for all!!!
    Randall

Funny thing is, my friend was an Army Ranger before I met him  and when we were in college we used to chase girls, drink, and go shooting. When he called me a few years ago and told me he decided to become a priest I laughed because I thought he was joking! 

It's still strange to think of him as a priest now, but I'm looking forward to the trip. As a congratulations gift, another friend of ours from college that's coming along bought all the components for a new rod and I built him a nice custom 7' spinning rod with his name on it. We also bought him a Shimano reel to pair it with. I'm really looking forward to this mini-reunion!   

I'm going to hit the Plumas County area myself next week. I may hit Bucks. Never tried there only looked at the place. If I go there I'll post a report. I'm planning on hitting Almanor, Davis, and maybe Bucks. I've never tried for the macs either. Except once trolling Donner with my dad years ago. Lot's of options up there. 

I've caught macks in Oregon.
Odell Lake.

Macks are like steelhead......they only bite when your hands are so cold you could cut off your fingertips and use 'em for bait.

Judd