lake trout setup?

[apz245]

Okay, so I'm back.. had a great time,

day 1:Started off with the bucktail jigs (with a shiner) while most the other guys were just using a live shiner, on the first day I had 2 hits but didn't set the hook hard enough and lost the fish, the rest of the day everyone else was getting hits/fish on their live minnow setup and I was getting nothing, So I decided to switch, but the bite died down and I had nothing the first day, while my buddy had 4, the other had 2 and there were a few of us with nothing. most of them were small, 12-14 inches, but there was one 20 incher that made some nice fillets

day 2: started at 10 am.. was cold and sunny, -20 and bright all day, started fishing and got my first laker and first ever fish through the ice, the bite died down again towards mid day and I tried a williams jigging spoon for a few hours.. took a short break to warm up and when we got back the bite was back on, only one decent sized fish all day between us but lots of nice small ones for lunch/the smoker

day 3: -2 and overcast but felt colder than the day before, there was lots of wind, I almost lost my rod while putting on a minnow, my friend pulled out the fish for me, he was small but hooked deep so we kept it, right as we were about to leave my dad got a 18" on a Swedish pimple (just used to attract, and then a minnow under). my piece of crap shakespeare ice reel fell apart after 3 lakers

most of us were fishing with split sinker setups, letting it hit the bottom and then just lifting it up a few feet so the line was tight, it was the most effective method for us, so in the end all the artificials I spent money on didn't work for me, i still have the rapala jigging lure i didn't even open

here is my first ever lake trout

 

[chris f]

congrats on the lakers and your first

 

[redneckchromer]

sounds like a great weekend!! i have that combo too the reel is quite crappy but the rod is pretty sweet

 

[apz245]

sounds like a great weekend!! i have that combo too the reel is quite crappy but the rod is pretty sweet

Yeah im loving the rod, really sensitive and even though I only had small ones I think it could handle a larger one.

also to those wondering why i didn't use the drop shot rig I asked about, I was planning to but forgot my 3 way swivels at home

 

[redneckchromer]

Yeah im loving the rod, really sensitive and even though I only had small ones I think it could handle a larger one.

also to those wondering why i didn't use the drop shot rig I asked about, I was planning to but forgot my 3 way swivels at home

the rod can handle it idunno about the reel, ive landed all my simcoe lakers on that rod! its developed a bit of play where it meets the cork but im sure good ole jb weld will fix it

 

[CanadianAngler87]

Beauty fish! Musta have been great to be out 3 days straight. I Too will be off to do some of the same in a couple weeks!

 

[apz245]

congrats on the lakers and your first

thanks!

 

[apz245]

the rod can handle it idunno about the reel, ive landed all my simcoe lakers on that rod! its developed a bit of play where it meets the cork but im sure good ole jb weld will fix it

yeah, I just threw on a huge old spinning reel that I wasn't using, should still work for trout, though the balance is way off now, I might buy a tiny reel, but right now im just leaning towards using it this way, love the rod though, im a big fan of ugly stik

 

[apz245]

Beauty fish! Musta have been great to be out 3 days straight. I Too will be off to do some of the same in a couple weeks!

Good luck! do you mostly fish lake trout too? hopefully I get one more chance to get out for march break

edit: one more thing to say, we only had shiners the first day.. and seemed to have the action on them, when we switched to some other minnows we were getting way less hits ( I know the lake we fished has shiners and suckers, so I guess we were matching the hatch at first, one of the bigger trout we caught spit up a 5 or 6 inch shiner, so now we know what the big ones go for.

 

[CanadianAngler87]

Good luck! do you mostly fish lake trout too? hopefully I get one more chance to get out for march break

edit: one more thing to say, we only had shiners the first day.. and seemed to have the action on them, when we switched to some other minnows we were getting way less hits ( I know the lake we fished has shiners and suckers, so I guess we were matching the hatch at first, one of the bigger trout we caught spit up a 5 or 6 inch shiner, so now we know what the big ones go for.

I ice fish for lots of different species, acctualy only targeted lakers twice the first time being at the ice GTG. Then one more time a week or so ago, managed to ice fish both times! I've had a good ice season lcing 5 or 6 species so far.

Redneckchromer some buddies and I are heading up to a cottage for a weekend, the cottage is on a laker lake. We plan on fishing it and couple other lakes in the area that hold different species aswell, walleye,splake and pannies etc.

Matching the hatch is key, thanks for the heads up. I always check the stomach contents when I keep a fish to determin what the fish are feeding on.

 

[apz245]

sounds like an awesome trip, have fun and be safe

 

[NADO]

apz I probably would have suggested something different set-up wise if I knew you were fishing back lakes for Lake Trout. 10lb main might be a bit overkill for those lakes, 6-8lb is probably more than enough. Not that im an expert or anything but simcoe lakers go on the big chases after spoons, jigs and those types of baits while ive been told that the back lakes fish require more finesse.

 

[redneckchromer]

10 pound for back lakes is major overkill, i landed that simcoe laker yesterday on 4 pound lol i was out of 8 and everything was closed on family day so i had no choice. the fish came up pretty quick even on such light line

 

[apz245]

apz I probably would have suggested something different set-up wise if I knew you were fishing back lakes for Lake Trout. 10lb main might be a bit overkill for those lakes, 6-8lb is probably more than enough. Not that im an expert or anything but simcoe lakers go on the big chases after spoons, jigs and those types of baits while ive been told that the back lakes fish require more finesse.

thanks for clearing that up, I used 8lb mainline and 8lb fluorocarbon leader,

i tried some spoons and jigs like i mentioned earlier and nothing, i dunno if was the method/presentation or the bite was off, but we only had luck with minnows set up with a very natural presentation, and I don't think anyone was using anything thicker than 8lb, so I think there is something to your point about requiring a little bit of finesse for these back lakes.

apparently all the locals use a minnow with light tackle too, some of them with a swedish pimple just to attract

 

[MichaelVerdirame]

Fishing lakers on Simcoe compared to some of the northern lakes is like night and day. Sometimes you have to go ultra light or you won't get anything.

Do you mean that you have to go ultralight on Simcoe or on the northern lakes?

 

[Dozer]

apz, good work, appears you guys dialed in on the lakers.

apparently all the locals use a minnow with light tackle too, some of them with a swedish pimple just to attract

My laker hunting friends suggests this also, have two rods going ( if legal ) a few feet apart. One jigging, strring up bottom, moving throughout the column, etc. and the other ready to set the hook when the fish bites. Great report, I bet next time you'll do even better. I'm feinding some backlake fish hunting... clean, unmolested fish? Sounds about right

 

[apz245]

apz, good work, appears you guys dialed in on the lakers.


My laker hunting friends suggests this also, have two rods going ( if legal ) a few feet apart. One jigging, strring up bottom, moving throughout the column, etc. and the other ready to set the hook when the fish bites. Great report, I bet next time you'll do even better. I'm feinding some backlake fish hunting... clean, unmolested fish? Sounds about right

Thats exactly what I'm gonna try next time I go, maybe mess around with the fish finder a bit, I might go this week, i'll write up another quick report if i go/ catch anything

 

[Kingsransom]

Fishermen helping Fishermen
I have my own forum,so i hope the owners of the forum,don't mind me posting here,and i also invite you to do the same on my forum

I caught over 350 lakers lost count on how many broke my line and lost count on how many i lost, pictures and video's have been posted.

99 percent lakers will not hit a still bait,i posted a video please watch and comment.

I would say i know a thing or two about fishing for Lake Trout
Just trying to help
Thanks

 

[apz245]

thanks.. and i checked out the video, nice work..

was wondering.. how far do you drill the hole for the fish finder from the hole youre fishing from

 

[Dozer]

1- 2 feet... laziness tends to kick in especially with a manual auger and 12" of ice so typically the transducer goes into the same hole I'm fishing out of.