Splakezilla

I love it when a plan comes together. Half of the fun for me is the planning and execution of a trip. When things go right it is always a bonus. I have always been a puzzle guy. Am I trolling or casting? What is the forage? Will the fish be deep or shallow? Where areas should I target? Sometimes I spend weeks planning a trip that may only last a day or two.

I didn’t pay much attention to Splake until one of the guys over on the acplugs.com forum posted a picture of a fish over 10 pounds. Suddenly I was very interested. My trout bucket list is made up mostly of trout over 10 pounds. I had read about splake before but had never targeted them.

Splake are a hybrid from a male brook trout and a female lake trout. As with many hybrids, they do not reproduce well and that makes them a great candidate for fingerling planting in lakes with other trout species in them. Triploids and hybrids are becoming increasing popular in many states since fishery managers don’t have to worry about the negative impacts of cross reproduction with other trout species.

So, I started to research the Splake and learned that there are 3 lakes in Utah that grow trophy splake. This was great news since I am in Utah several times a year for work and always try to squeeze in a little fishing around my travel schedule.

I learned that they are big time piscivors, which came as no surprise based upon their heritage. I did some research on their forage base and learned that in many lakes in Utah they love to eat chub. I knew that chubs come shallow to spawn in the spring so I figured they would follow the chub up shallow that time of year.

I set up a trip with my buddy Chris and started putting together a game plan. I tried to match the color and profile of the chub as best I could for my lure selection. I knew the water would still be pretty cold so I figured a slower trolling speed than normal and a much less aggressive jigging action on my rod could be the ticket. I packed everything up and headed to Utah.

It was freaking cold! Chris and his wife were in a tent and I was in my rig trying to get some sleep. The anticipation was bad enough…. bundle in the sub freezing overnight temps and sleep was very hard to come by that night. I finally just gave up and starting making noise around 4AM so we could just get out on the water. Better to suffer with a lure in the water than to just suffer in the car! The ramp was frozen solid which made for some interesting moments launching the boat. Let’s just say that it is a good thing that the lake was there to stop us from sliding any further =)

I tried to focus in the numbing cold. I put my plan into action and crossed my fingers. Everything felt right… weather, time of year, water conditions, temps, etc. We slow trolled along some areas that we had located on my navionics iphone app. There were some shallow flats with a steep river channel that looked really good. We were in that zone when suddenly the rod was almost ripped from my frozen fingers. I’m on! We had only been in the water for 45 minutes. This was too good to be true. Ok, focus now. After a spirited battle that reminded me of a bull trout fight we had our first big splake to the boat.

I stared at the fish in the net, illuminated by my head lamp. It was a killer hen splake fat from the spring feed. The trip was a success! I got some pics and carefully guided her back into the water to grow a little bigger. We got our lures back in the water and kept at it for another hour or so. Now it was spitting snow. Suddenly my rod bucked over hard again. Could it be another big splake?

It was grey light by now and we could see this fish come up. It was big! It turned out to be an awesome buck splake with some amazing colors. It was almost a perfect blend of brook and lake trout. It had vermiculation along its back, white leading edges on its posterior fin sets and a broad tail like a brook trout. The head was a lake trout’s head with a nice hump behind the gill plates for good measure. It had an amazing lemon belly, plump from his recent chub exploits.

We hooked a few more fish of no consequence and called it quits later that day. As I drove away I knew I would probably never have another day like this one with two monster splake to the boat. Every trip is unique and special but this one had exceeded my expectations. These are the memories that fire me up for the next trip.

Mark Knoch