I have ice fished some of the smaller pit in the winter with limited success. I drive past Portsmouth Mine Pit often on Hiway 6.
Every once in awhile I see a boat out there. I know that the DNR has been stocking it for years with large number yearling Rainbow Trout. Was thinking about giving it a shot. Not being a deep water Trout fisherman any input would be appreciated. Will the trout be in the upper 30ft of WC?
i drove by it sunday morning and there was a boat out there and was wondering the same thing.
that thing is one deep puddle of water. i remember back in the day when it was pumped out and no where near that much water.
As an update, being a beautiful sunny day yesterday, I thought I would give the Portsmouth Mine Pit a shot. The launch concrete, clean and modern. Once on the water, the pit looked like you were on a pristine up north lake. My buddy and I spent the first few hours searching for Rainbow Trout. With the DNR stocking between 5000 to 7000 a year for over 10 years, you would think they would be abundant. We found a few arches with no success. From the shore line the pit drops very quickly to over 100 ft in the first 60 ft of depth there is a submerged dense forest of trees. There appears to be plenty of protection for the young trout. We did find some bass and sun fish but nothing to write home about.
Really have to go during the opener to get them at about 30 – 60 deep.
Just a heads up. I have scuba dived most of these pristine lakes and I gave up collecting all the lures on the submerged trees. There is big fish in these lakes and there is a lot of food for them to eat Very deep lakes with lots of debris. Have fun
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