Lake Trout Fun!!

Fishing for walleyes is tough to beat, but combine the sheer speed, agility, and power that lake trout posses and you have a combo that is hard to top. All I can say is when you have your ¼ Oz Slender Spoon from Custom Jigs and Spins hit by a lake trout, you better have that drag set properly. As many of you know from watching Sunday’s show, lake trout are truly a special fish that I absolutely love to target whether it Is on the ice on a 2000 acre lake or open water on the largest lake in the world. A few days ago I found myself up in northern Minnesota chasing these elusive fish. And elusive is the perfect word for describing these fish. One day you can hammer them, and the next day you can go back and have the same weather pattern and not even mark a fish. They are tough fish to figure out, and that is what makes them so much fun.

These fish roam in water that is 40 to 90 plus feet deep on this lake as they chase smelt, tulibee, and cisco’s. This contributes to the challenge of catching these fish as bait fish are always seen on the flasher and schools of 100’s move through by the hour. There is so much forage for these fish and when their prey is an average of 7 to 10 inches long, these fish do not need to eat often. To me it’s almost a gamble as to if the fish will bite on a given day, but there is only one way to find out and that is to get out and do it. I prefer to target fish that are not oriented to structure, both in the winter and summer alike. Sure you can go set up near a 40 foot hump that comes out of 90 fow, and yes you will catch fish, but the open basins are where you will find me. From experience, I see it as your bigger fish are more likely to roam and chase bait, rather than sit on a piece of structure, and I realize these fish do both interchangeably but it seems your basin fish are more plentiful and larger on average.

The alarm clock went off at 2am this morning and we jumped in the truck and headed north. Little did we know a great day of fishing would be in store for us. With the lake to ourselves, warm weather and cloudy skies overhead, and the lake trout on the bite the day sure flew by. Totaling 16 hook ups and putting just a little under half of those fish on the ice, it was a very memorable day. That is a lot of fish in one day for those who are not familiar with lake trout fishing. Considering its an average of a 3 to 7 minute battle per fish, it is well worth it! I am very particular to using a ¼ oz silver and glow slender spoon with no bait or anything on the treble hook. Nearby, I will have some type of plastic minnow bait rigged up with a chunk of meat to serve as a backup if the fish are not interested in the spoon. 90% of the time, the plastic rod never gets used as the slender spoon is a top notch bait for these fish.

Jigging aggressively, make it a point to try to attract these fish from a long ways away. Make noise, flash, vibration etc to entice these fish to come in. The WILL rise over 55 feet to hit a bait, trust me I have seen it numerous times. Generally, I like to jig 20 to 30 feet off of bottom, but sometimes I will pound bottom with my jig if the fish are not responding to a lure higher in the water column. For these fish I use my Throne Bro’s walleye and perch sweetheart rods. Yes you may say I’m bringing a stick to a sword fight, but these fish will average 3 to 6 pounds and for that, these rods are perfect and are a TON of fun!! 10/4 braid with a 10 pound mono leader is a great set up on a 1000 Shimano Sedona reel. I hope to be back in the near future to tangle with these fish again!