Just Wait a week til the march 1st opener of several of the smaller lakes in the area should be some good fishing for nice sized trout.

Try trolling black woolly buggers in the littoral zones. Tip with hunk of worm. Troll slow and be quite. Northern Shorelines are best especially if it's a sunny day.

Thanks for the info....Which of the smaller lakes would you recommend?

Hey DD still going to give it a try, we leave Sat. Hope its nice and calm. After the potholes we are going to Martha lake on the 1st, always have great luck there. Just exited to get out, will give you my report when we return.

I don't work the smaller lakes anymore. Trout you catch there have a bad flavor to them. I like to use a small boat and work up in the dunes area. Was gonna make my first trip of the year this weekend but it's just gonna be too cold. Will try again mid march just before they open the gates to charge the canals.

Well Robert went and got some woolly buggers, gonna give them a try with everything else i have. Just want to get away from work and get a line wet. Will use all the Great advise from all of you,see you all when i get back.

Let me know how you do. I've had good success with them early in the season. Definitely want to smam the little bugger with some crawfish, nighcrawler, or shrimp scent though. I sometimes use a little hunk of shrimp instead of the worm. I'm itch'n to get out myself but it's just been way too darned cold. Hopefully it will warm up by mid-march and I'll be over. Definitely appreciate the reports by deltadog though. My theory in regard to slow fishing for powerbait early in the season is that the trout are looking for the warmest possible water and that tends to be near the north shore (most sun exposure) littoral zones and the woolly bugger is something that is easy to troll shallow. However this is just a theory. I've had some good days working it and some empty stringers also.

Let me know how you do. I've had good success with them early in the season. Definitely want to smam the little bugger with some crawfish, nighcrawler, or shrimp scent though. I sometimes use a little hunk of shrimp instead of the worm. I'm itch'n to get out myself but it's just been way too darned cold. Hopefully it will warm up by mid-march and I'll be over. Definitely appreciate the reports by deltadog though. My theory in regard to slow fishing for powerbait early in the season is that the trout are looking for the warmest possible water and that tends to be near the north shore (most sun exposure) littoral zones and the woolly bugger is something that is easy to troll shallow. However this is just a theory. I've had some good days working it and some empty stringers also.