Tried Rice Lake this weekend, as my Daughter wanted to catch a trout. Having never participated in any urban fishery, I thought I should research how to...even for a thought to be easy, and novice water hole.
Saturday:
stayed in one shoreline spot. Gradual slope, quiet, not too deep. Tried worm, chartruse, red powerbait on float, plunking with same, and 3 purpose bought small spinner/spoon.
The spot 30 feet beside me, older seasoned guy C&R about 10 fish every 2nd or 3rd cast. I didn't ask but think he was using a dark fly or plastic leach. Then, new group shows up and although not as productive, and with zero finesse...caught 4 or 5 rather easily. Also, a few caught in other spots across lake.
Left discouraged. My idea of not going to the trout farm today and fish here instead, was brought up for discussion. My popularity score decreased dramatically.
Sunday:
in preparation to increase my chances, I purchased a small reel to better match my ultralight rod and improve casting distance, and spooled on some 4lb mono. Picked up a Panther Martin and rooster tail ala Brian Chan, and couple others, some deli shrimp, and some cheese marshmallows...how could the rainbows resist this offering?
Previous spots already taken, but noticed at the hot spot the novice family had several fish already caught, and looked to only be using powerbait with their newly acquired Army & Navy purchases...they did have trout scent though. Is this the secret?
Found another nice spot similar to yesterday's, and tried the same techniques with the previous and new offerings. I could cast much farther now, but still needed to add a small sliding bullet weight to the 1/16 and 1/8 gear to get it out and sink a bit...nothing except 3 picked up by others across the way.
Tried another spot. Very nice, deep, with lots of hiding spots for the fish. Again tried everything to no avail. Even when the sun changed and cast a shadow directly in front of our spot, where I started to see dozens of risers...nothing. I was throwing everything at this pool of fish and short of a little nudge with the shrimp...nothing.
My observations are that the trout congregate in the dark areas of the lake which moves around depending at the time of day. The water is cold and not totally clear so I didn't think it would matter so much. I didn't try the dock...it just was just too sunny and bright.
Also, it can't be a coincidence that the hot spot is so productive. Could there be a deep pool there that the majority of fish stay in regardless of the sun? It is a 30 foot circle in one spot of the lake where I saw 90% of the fish caught.
I don't want to give up on Rice Lake yet...what can I do differently?