Jigging for lake whitefish

Depending with whom you talk, this year's lake whitefish run in the Flathead River is either up or down. In other words, some people are catching fish and some aren't.

A recent report by Bob Orsua of Mo-Fisch Charters indicated he was catching from 10 to 25 lake whitefish per day. Sounds good, but a far cry from years when anglers were catching 50 fish in a morning.

On my first trip, about three weeks ago, I caught six fish in about an hour and a half. That's all I wanted, so I quit. Last week, I caught one fish in three hours. Go figure.

According to Fish, Wildlife and Parks Region 1 fisheries manager Jim Vashro, there's still plenty of lake whitefish living in Flathead Lake and making spawning treks up the Flathead River.

"We haven't seen any variation in abundance," Vashro said. "There's still plenty of lake whitefish in Flathead Lake. We just don't have the baitfish to concentrate them (for good summer fishing.)"

The popular method for catching lake whitefish in the Flathead River is casting and retrieving a green leadhead jig in deeper pools.

Most importantly, give line to allow the jig to fall quickly to the bottom, then raise the rod tip with a gentle twitch, forcing the jig to jump up, then drop quickly.

Expect a fish to grab the jig as it falls back to the bottom of the river. Lake whitefish won't grab the jig and run.

The "take" is subtle. If you feel any resistance on jig-fall, cross their eyes. A long-handled net prevents the fish from rolling around in the sand, something you'll appreciate when filleting.

Lake whitefish are delicious, but you've gotta remove those nasty pin bones. Best advice I can give for removing bones is either cut away any meat containing bones, or stop in at Snappy Sports Senter in Kalispell for instructions how to fillet lake whitefish.

According to both Orsua and Vashro, lake whitefishing should soon get better in the Flathead River. Good fishing and good eating.