Jigging for walleye can be pretty dang fun, but how about lake trout in 150 feet of water, with 2 and 3 ounce jigs on walleye rods and 10 pound braid? That to me is a surefire way to have some fun, and better yet, the day yielded 50 plus fish in 7 hours with the majority going over 6 pounds! This past weekend Lake Superior was dead clam and buddies Jake and Matt were along to take part in the fun!
It took around 2 hours to find the fish as they were not exactly where i expected, but then again when are they. Water temps pushed 70 degrees and the fish were deep. In fact, any water shallower than 120 feet was absolutely barren. As soon as it seems the temps are about to cool down, they rise once again. Trolling these fish can be effective as well, but when they are this deep, jigging can outproduce trolling 3 to 1 on a daily basis. Thus our efforts were concentrated on breaks that dropped from shallow to deep water. It seemed as 130 to 160 was the best range to find these aggressive lake trout.
The best lures seemed to be a white and glow bucktail with no bait or plastics involved. These fish we so active and willing to eat, all you had to do was get it in front of their face and they would eat. These fish were glued to the bottom but were more than willing to feed. It would seem as though fishing would slow down in one area after 25 minutes of caching fish, so we would move to a new area of the break, sometimes just 50 yards away. After we moved, the first one who got their jig to the bottom would hook up. Every single time!! And 2nd place wasnt bad either because whenever one of us would hook up, another fish was right there to hit whoever’s jig was in the way. Im guessing we had over 12 doubles and 2 triples. There must be something when those fish get hooked up that starts a reaction because it was more than coincidence that we had that many doubles.
All in all, it was a great day on the water with two good buddies! I am as excited as ever to get back to this area to jig up some more fish! It is sure a nice change of pace from trolling. From what i have noticed,
the fish you jig up will be smaller than those you get trolling, but the numbers can be way higher. PLus, it is sure a great workout for your forearm! Furthermore, yes you could jig these fish on heavier gear
but a 6’6 medium spinning rod, with a 1500 sahara reel is tons of fun!! Any shoreline break, or reef break will work for this type of fishing, year round. There are a lot of breaks around the two harbors, silver bay area, and on up. With summer weather patterns still in effect, now is a great time to give this a try! And as i mentioned before, walleye gear is perfect to use!!
Wish-wish-wish I could have been there, buddy. Thanks for the update and the pics. As soon as those water temps hits the lower 50’s I think we’re in for one heck of a good time trying to find those big lakers on jigs.
PS – what was your ratio of redfins to siskwits? From the pics, and based on the depths you were fishing, I’d expect the catch to be dominated by fats. That last pic looks like you guys had at least one redfin although it is hard to know for sure. Regardless I’m sure they were a ton of fun on light tackle. Nothing crushes a bait like a laker!
Sounds like a blast. Thanks for the report.
Now that looks and sounds like a blast, great read and pics Grant
Grant, curious what plastics you like to use up there?
Over the last 30 years or so of vertical jigging lakers on Lake MI. I’ve narrowed my arsenal to a few flies/hair jigs, glow squids on a tube jig, Rip Tide Glow curltailers and 5″ glow tubes.
I like the jigs for calm water, however found 3-way rigs can be super hot for rougher water. I fish out of a bass boat now, so I have to watch conditions much more closely than before. But when finding more scattered fish on shoals or shale rock, I drift a 3-way with a 1oz weight and tandem tube flies. Beats the heck out of using broom sticks and a winch.
Simply awesome Grant
Your reports always get me excited to get back up to Superior. Hopefully a potential early October trip to our friend’s cabin up in Hovland will work out
That is some crazy fishing there Grant !!!!
The majority of those fish that are hugging the bottom in water over 100 feet are the fatties. We did have a few redfins which was a nice treat tho!
And yes the light tackle is so much fun! Most guys i see jigging out on Superior have 7 and 8 foot heavy action rods with huge 4000-type shimano reels. Are they a little more efficient? Yes. But as much fun? no way!! Id take a 6’9 medium rod such as an avid with a 1500 reel any day of the week! Its fun knowing that any fish you hook has the potential to break your rod, and moreover, strip all your line off!
The majority of those fish that are hugging the bottom in water over 100 feet are the fatties. We did have a few redfins which was a nice treat tho!
And yes the light tackle is so much fun! Most guys i see jigging out on Superior have 7 and 8 foot heavy action rods with huge 4000-type shimano reels. Are they a little more efficient? Yes. But as much fun? no way!! Id take a 6’9 medium rod such as an avid with a 1500 reel any day of the week! Its fun knowing that any fish you hook has the potential to break your rod, and moreover, strip all your line off!
That 3 way is a great idea! Have never really thought about that before! I mainly stick to 1 to 3 ounch bucktails. Easy to fish and VERY efficient. No bait is required and the hook up percentage is as higher than anything else i have ever used.
Thru the ice, tube plastics for bass work well, but in the summertime you need a heavier bait so i opt for the bucktail! If the fish were 40 feet or shallower, that would be a different story butdeep fish = bucktail in my opinion!!
That 3 way is a great idea! Have never really thought about that before! I mainly stick to 1 to 3 ounch bucktails. Easy to fish and VERY efficient. No bait is required and the hook up percentage is as higher than anything else i have ever used.
Thru the ice, tube plastics for bass work well, but in the summertime you need a heavier bait so i opt for the bucktail! If the fish were 40 feet or shallower, that would be a different story butdeep fish = bucktail in my opinion!!
Randy, do those fly’s float up at all, sink down a little, or stay straight behind the weight? One of those on a bottom bouncer wouldnt be a bad idea either!
Randy, do those fly’s float up at all, sink down a little, or stay straight behind the weight? One of those on a bottom bouncer wouldnt be a bad idea either!
No bait, that’s my kinda bite! Great work up there Grant, and thanks for re-introducing me to deep lakers again the last time we were out. It had been too long.
Curious if you’ve tried either heavy blades or the largest sized jigging raps? In a size 9, they’re 7/8 oz. Would they get down well enough?
Joel
The plastics sink, but the flies seem to have more neutral buoyancy. I do the best on them during a north-east blow when we get big waves with the long swells. They seem to like the long pause when your in the trough, and smash it when you start lifting back up.
Joel- I do great down here early in the year on blades when the fish are shallow. I’ve tried them deep 80-120fow and didn’t do as well as the hair jigs and larger profile plastics
Looks like a ton of fun Grant