Shallow water lake trout??

Hey guys,
Just got back from the BWCA this weekend. I’ve been going out a lot recently to the lakes around the area – further out than most usually go and have had pretty good luck. This past weekend was a fun one, 8 miles of hiking with 200lbs of gear! All the work payed off in the end with the final lake trout being pretty decent (for snowbank at least). The thing that I am confused about is that this lake trout was caught in 20ft of water which I would never generally fish for lake trout in. I was jigging a couple feet off the bottom and thick mark flew up, smashed the Swedish pimple I had on, and started peeling drag. I thought it was a northern until it got to the hole based on the depth and how it was fighting but it ended being something much better! I’m thinking about trying lakers again this coming weekend but maybe sight fish for them in shallow water – I’m just not sure if it would be worth it setting up in 15-20ft of water. Has anyone had a situation like this before or has had much luck fishing lake trout shallow? Thanks!

Also, got a nice silver pike which was a bonus!

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In my experience Lake trout don’t care about depth or structure nearly as much as they care about water temp. This is what drives them deep in the summer. In the winter the entire water column is in their target temp range so they could literally be anywhere from surface to bottom.

Wow!

That does make sense! The whole column is probably around the same temperature by now so maybe sight fishing would be good this weekend. It’s one of those things that’s been on my bucket list as far as ice fishing for a long time. Just seeing a Laker come in and slam a spoon would be pretty sweet

Lakers can and will be anywhere in the winter. Next time you’re having a slow day fishing traditional structure just start moving shallow. The other thing is don’t forget to fish the top of the water column. Last few years I’ve caught majority of fish within 20′ of the bottom of the ice.

That silver pike is freaking cool!

I dont fish lake trout but the ones I have caught have all come from 10-20feet of water on the tops and edges of humps when targeting walleyes.

The main spot I’ve been fishing for about the last 5 years on bwca lake trout opener is 15 ft. We do really well at that depth and thats on opener, so around new years. They’re roamers and do not stick to just one spot or depth in the lake.

I know guys who see them in their spear hole every time out in northern MN. I bet you’d be surprised how many you’ll see.

That is a nice laker for an inland lake. I had decent luck last year at Seagull fishing in 20-30′

That’s an awesome report, and beautiful fish! That silver pike is a tank!

From what I’m hearing and from fishing recently, it seems like the lake trout that are up shallow (like the one I posted) are usually just cruising – possibly feeding on baitfish while the 40-60ft basins usually have a population that hang around most of the time.

What I’m thinking as well is that the shallow water lake trout may be more charged up for feeding, thus more aggressive?

Thanks BigWerm! Sight fishing the silver pike was pretty crazy – it bit 1 foot under the hole. I was having lunch and looked over to see my transducer being pulled under! Can’t believe a pike tried to eat it lol

Lake trout thru the ice is a bucket list item for me. I know they are a blast in shallow water on light fishing tackle up in Canada each spring trip. I can only imagine the fight they would put up through a ice hole.

By the way nice pictures of each fish. That Silver pike is way cool.

Nice fish!

Those are both awesome catches. Great pictures. I’m jealous of hiking in, I haven’t had time for that in 10 years.

Love the Ely area for winter fishing, Best place to go in MN by far. A guy I know that fishes up there a lot slammed the walleye and lakers in 55-60 feet mid-winter on Snowbank. Next year I’ll for sure be trying deep structure for walleye if I am looking for a meal. I will be working on Fall Lake this summer, Bringing up my 16 tiller can’t wait to do more exploring. I know most people target the lakers pretty shallow in the early spring around opener up there so not too surprising you got some shallow.