Caribou Lake – Lake Trout

As I continue to diversity the types of freshwater species of fish; I often find myself intrigued by the fun I have fishing for Lake Trout; whether that be because it is something new, becaue of the fight, or because they taste absolutly delicious on the grill. As I have caught a few lakers on Pokegama I find myself thinking that since that lake is known for lakers I should go to a lake that is fished specifically fished for trout to try and refine my tactics.

I have heard of a few Lakes in the area that are known for lakers, those being Caribou, Bluewater and Trout Lakes. I have decided that Saturday I will be heading to Caribou. That being my decision I have two questions you as readers.

Has anyone fished Caribou and is this a good choice on my part to continue to learn how to catch this species?

What are some good lures or tactics to trigger more bites from Lake Trout on smaller inland bodies of water?

I have typically been using a wide variety of rapalas in different colors and sizes and briefly tried a gold crocodile spoon.

Any suggestions would be appreciated!!!

I am also going to post on the Salmon and Trout forum for some help and hopefully be successful enough this weekend to report on my fishing excursion.

Can’t wait for the report. Might be able to convince the guys to hit it next week.

You heard anything about Kremer for trout? I know (I think) that you’d have to take a canoe out there though. That’s the lake my nephew and I have talked about ice fishing.

Is Kremer the smaller lake right off Hwy 38? Least that is the lake I am thinkg of anyway.

Is there a cisco forage in the lakes you’re looking at? They can be hard to find but sutton spoons are legendary for being good for trout and salmon. They’re paper thin flutter spoons. Here’s a size 31 next to a cisco one of its victims coughed up in the canoe.

Thanks I will see if I have any silver spoons or go pick one up. I am interested to try anything that works and note what I am using, what time of day, weather, for everyfish I catch so any advice is worth a try and any lure I can add to my tackle will come in handy on any given day.

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Is Kremer the smaller lake right off Hwy 38? Least that is the lake I am thinkg of anyway.

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Yep. There is a sign that says designated Trout lake I believe.

Here it is

Survey & Info
I am not even 100% sure you can legally access it in the summer. Winter you should be able to walk on, but launching a canoe in the summer could be tough? I can’t imagine that the DNR would manage it if it were only privately accessible.

Mike – Don’t take this as a smart-alec response, because I don’t intend it that way. If you want to learn laker fishing and catch a few…..I suggest heading to a GOOD laker lake. Lakes like caribou(or pokey) have marginal populations when compared to a good lake…..the learning curve on a marginal lake is pretty steep, because even when you do everything correctly, you might still blank. Living up here, my best suggestion is to head to Superior. I love the north shore and would be happy to have you as a partner in my boat for a day trip…….Silver Bay is 1.5 hours from my back door here in hib-ville.

T

I may have to take you up on that offer, I went to caribou and found the fish. Threw the tackle box at them and still no takers. The lake it small and the fish were in two separate schools in 65 to 85 FOW and down 40 to 55 ft. There was quite a few fish on the graph but the passes were short and sweet and I was given ample time to see what they would have hit on. Now I don’t have a real extensive selection of raps and spoons but I must have changed lures 20 to 25 times and finally gave up.
With that said I am not necessarily discouraged but more or less driven to eventually go back and catch them. I hate getting beat by a fish with the brain the size of a pea.
Unfortunately, the cooler nights and days will have the walleyes back out on the sunken reefs and a lot hungrier in the weeds the next few weeks; I have also heard that the lakers on Pokey really start to bite in the fall and a 10 fish day isn’t unheard of so that has me a little more intrigued. I might even give up a day of bow hunting if they get going.
Are there any other lakes that you know of that have a healthy population of trout? I heard Bluewater and the Canisteo pit near Coleraine do. I have fished Canisteo with some success but the problem with that lake is you fish it blind because there are no lake maps for it and you have to constantly be on the ball and watch out for the sunken trees. There are a lot of fish in that lake and some big pike if you get lucky to set into one of those as well.

Have u tried this lake since? i have fished it once in each of last 2 years and have only got one each time. one was ripping a blade bait and other was a f11 blue and silver on leadcore. have tried spoons with nothing. did see some nice fish on the camera while jigging. tried white tub jigs also with alot of interest but no takers. Both times were right after opener with cooler water temps.

No I haven’t been back since I have been waiting for the water temps to start going down before I try trout fishing again this fall. I may not make it back to Caribou this fall but I am definitly heading out there this winter. I did mark a lot of fish on the graph when I was there and am real curious to see how they react through the ice. A friend of mine goes there a few time every winter and has yet to skunked and he had a 7 fish day through the ice which I don’t think is too bad.