Big Pike / Lake Trout Baits

I’m starting the process of Getting some gear together for a Mid June Fishing Trip to Central Manitoba in Canada. The lake we are going to be staying on this year is Known for its Lake Trout and also has a great population of large Pike. We also have several day trips planned for nearby lakes to chase both Monster Pike and Smallmouth Bass. Normally the time of the year we are going the Lake Trout are still rather shallow. I’ve never fished lake trout while casting to shallow water and have no idea of what Lures to fish. If anyone here has fished shallow Lake Trout and can suggest some lures to have along Id be grateful. I’d guess a lot depends on the current water conditions when we arrive. I’m told ice out in this area can be anywhere from Early May to as late as Mid June.

I when I fished Lakers in midrange depths, we usually use leadcore to get spoons down to depth and also keel sinkers to get down to 15-25 feet. i am sure chrome crankbaits would have worked as well.

Spoons for pike, they are easy to cast, easy to unhook fish and easy to fish and deadly in Canada. My favorites are pixie spoons, silver minnows and doctors but a variety of styles are good. Mepps #5 spinners work great also. For trout I use J plugs, spoons, and plugs. Trolling with dipsy divers to get your lure away from the boat.

Some guys like the Williams wabler spoons. Guys say they work for trout, I don’t know. Keep throwing them at pike each year with limited success.

White tube jigs are not bad to have around. Pike aren’t opposed to these either.

Otherwise, what bigpike said.

I have to believe that time of the year and in shallow water you could throw out a pop can and a pike would mash it.

Early season, clear water I like silver spoons and big spinners for pike. Also like big rat’l’traps that you can rip fast through shallow water. White swim baits also seem to work but they don’t last long. I picked up some of those 360GT search baits I plan on trying this spring.

Can’t help you on the Lake Trout.

The beauty of spoons is you can catch 30 big pike on them and they don’t get destroyed. The paint might peel off, the hooks might get bent or broke but the lure itself keeps going.

For the ice out lake trout I would use crankbaits. X-raps, shadow raps, husky jerks, etc. I wouldn’t go without a few Savage gear 4-Play Herrings. Those would work great for the pike and the trout. If you miss the shallow water window, it’s tough to go wrong with spoons and leadcore.

We used a lot of Reef Hawg jerkbaits for pike in Manitoba and then switched to Pig jerkbaits but I think those are discontinued now. You can still get Reef Hawg at Thorne Bros it looks like.

Never fished shallow for lake trout. Further north in Manitoba than Clearwater, during the same time period you are going, we would jig in 100-110ft of water for lake trout. We used heavy duty jigs, like saltwater ones, with sucker meat.

Pat McSharry wrote:

For the ice out lake trout I would use crankbaits. X-raps, shadow raps, husky jerks, etc. I wouldn’t go without a few Savage gear 4-Play Herrings. Those would work great for the pike and the trout. If you miss the shallow water window, it’s tough to go wrong with spoons and leadcore.

That Savage gear 4-Play Herrings Looks like it would be a Great Bait. How do you think the hardware on it will hold up to 40″+ class Pike and large Lake Trout. The Only lake Trout I’ve caught other than on the Great Lakes was last year on our Canada Trip. We caught them trolling Rapala Clacken Raps. The Early Ice out up there last year had most all the lake trout moved out of the shallows. Hope this year to be closer to ice out and Have the fish in shallow.

Reef W wrote:

We used a lot of Reef Hawg jerkbaits for pike in Manitoba and then switched to Pig jerkbaits but I think those are discontinued now. You can still get Reef Hawg at Thorne Bros it looks like.

Never fished shallow for lake trout. Further north in Manitoba than Clearwater, during the same time period you are going, we would jig in 100-110ft of water for lake trout. We used heavy duty jigs, like saltwater ones, with sucker meat.

Its funny that you say Clearwater lake in Manitoba because that is the lake we are staying on. Hoping to be closer to ice out this year and still have the Lake Trout in the shallower water. Last year slightly more North the Big Pike were all about the BullDawgs. Throwing those things all day takes some getting use to. I threw the Reef Hawg and the Pig baits a fair amount. They caught a few Fish but not as many as I thought they would

Matt Moen wrote:

I have to believe that time of the year and in shallow water you could throw out a pop can and a pike would mash it.

Early season, clear water I like silver spoons and big spinners for pike. Also like big rat’l’traps that you can rip fast through shallow water. White swim baits also seem to work but they don’t last long. I picked up some of those 360GT search baits I plan on trying this spring.

Can’t help you on the Lake Trout.

I’m going to pick up a supply of those 360GT baits. I have a bad feeling they wont last to long with all the 5-10 Lb. pike up there. I’d think any Swim bait would be the ticket on the Lake trout if they are still shallow. I like the Idea of a Large swimbait with one of the swimbait hooks with a spinner

Been going up to that area for quite a few years and believe the shallow lake trout bite is in the fall when temps are falling. Have found lakers shallow a few times but never the truly big ones, the big ones consistently are out deep that time of year. My boat will not be targeting anything less than 60′ and most likely will be in the 90-110′ feet but I like to jig for them as that is how we have caught our biggest ones. Casting reef hogs, spinners and spoons I have found catch northerns up to 42″ and occasionally a bigger one. All our 42″ and above have come via the dead bait rig, this rig is responsible for many master northerns over the years. The big gals are lazy and swim along looking for an easy meal. Soak some sucker meat, all the bait shops up there sell it for lake trout and you may be very surprised at your results. Good luck will be up there a little farther north in same time frame and can not wait.

The 4 play herring hold up really good. I did end up breaking this bait after about 8 big pike. It happened when a big one decided to gator roll in the net. Broke part of the plastic fin off of the tail and the bait didn’t run right after that. Some of the most bone jarring pike bites i’ve ever felt are on these baits. They do run extremely shallow though – less than 3 feet.

I don’t have a lot of experience with ice out lake trout in that part of the country, but it can be a little challenging. The fish can be anywhere in the water column. Just because they CAN be in less than 10′ doesn’t mean that all of them will be. I still think smaller crank baits would be a go-to method. You can always catch lake trout vertical jigging a white swim bait or tube too. I’ve done that quite a bit even in the dog days of summer.

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