Hey guys,
I’m just looking for some insight on a decent lake trout set up. Heading up to northern MB in the fall, the plan is to vertical jig and possibly cast for them depending how shallow they are. Any tips on type of rod/reel, line, bait etc would be awesome
Thanks in advance!
The rod you use will depend a lot on the jig weights you’re going to drop and the size of the Trout you might tie into . Some really deep water might find you using anywhere from 1 to 3 ounce hair jigs with stingers and sucker strips which like a stuff rod. Jigging 4″ to 6″ tubes can get done with a much lighter rod and lighter jigs.
Personally I’d go with a decent casting reel on each rod but spinning reels will work too. I have 4 C4 Ambassador reels in 5600 size that go in the boat for trout jigging and three are spooled with straight 10 pound fluorocarbon line, one with I believe Power Pro 6/15 line and a fluor leader.
Trout down deep like chasing jigs up and often long lifts are the key to getting them to chase so rod length can be important along with its backbone. I wouldn’t want a rod any less than maybe 6 1/2 feet, but that’s my preference and can vary.
Assuming your jigging will be either wide open water on suspended fish or on top of mid-lake rock piles and humps you can get by with lighter lines. I’m accustomed to mono lines for my Trout jigging in even deep water but in this instance if the water will be quite deep I’ll say a good camo braid in maybe a 6/15 weight with a 15-20 foot fluoro 8 to 10 pound leader with a GOOD ball-bearing swivel tied on the tackle end and at the merger between the braid and fluorocarbon would be a good way to go. Jigging can produce a ton of twist even if you close a spinning reel bail by hand religiously…..its the nature of the lures, not you….and the deeper you have to jig, the worse the twist. Swiveling like this really helps reduce twist.
Fall fish that far north, and depending on the weather in the area for getting water temps down, could well be quite shallow and in that case I’d want a clear mono or fluoro, so I’d have at least two rigs, each different lines.
For heavy hair jigs I’d look at Northland jigs with the integral stingers. White, white/blue, and glow are great colors. For tubes I’d like at least 4 inches in white, pearl, white/chartreuse tentacles and I really would try to use the PowerBait tubes…..they’re a productive bait most of the time. I would not go there without at least a couple 1 ounce Little Cleos in Gold/Orange strip, but re-fit those with decent one-size over trebles, preferably a wide gap version.
Be sure to take a good hook stone or diamond sharpener and keep the hooks sticky sharp.
How big are the trout?
If it’s common to catch 20lb fish bring some 15 to 20 lb leader. I like medium or medium light action rods 7 feet or longer
Swimbaits, spoons, hair, and Sebille vibratos top my list.
This is a good color
Whites work well in all lures.
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Thanks Tom,
I plan to throw anywhere from a 1/2 oz tube jig to a 6 Oz bondy bait. Do you have any specific rods in mind? I was looking at the fenwick predator or something along the lines like that. Right now I have a 7’ MH fenwick HMG casting with a quantum s3 pt accurist spooled with 30lb power pro and a 6’ 20 lb fluorocarbon leader.
You should be good with that rig Josh.
The jig MnPat1 shows is a great jig….blue/glow I have several of them up to 2 ounces.
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