Trying for some Lakers

[JohnH]

The Ark. Game&Fish stocked Lake Trout in a couple of our lakes a few years back, and some are still surviving. Thought I would give them a try just for the fun. What is best average trolling speed with down riggers and cow bell rigs? Any suggestions for other rigs, bait etc. I don't want to invest in too much extra gear and tackle, since I spend all the rest of my money and time chasing walleyes (which I caught my limit and started on my partners in just a couple hours the other day- he kept the net ready while drinking cold ones!!)

[Sunshine]

John,
When I'm not chasing walleye I concentrate on lakers for relaxation. For a small investment, I'd say that spoons are the way to go. The long thin ones designed for trolling. Northport nailers, Scorpions and Strike Kings are some name brands in my area that work. During the summer, Lakers are pretty deep and downriggers are the best tool for the job and produce most of my fish but dipsey divers are an inexpensive way to get down to some of the depths. I have also added up to 6 ounces of snap weights to my line while in Canada to create a poor mans' downrigger that worked. I would graph fish at a certain depth and then go toward shore until I was in the same depth that I spotted the fish. I would then add weight and play with speeds until I could feel bottom and was confident that I was at the right depth for the fish that I was graphing and then head to the area that I saw the fish on my screen.

Standard rule of thumb for lakers is to go as slow as possible and still have good action on the lures that you are using. I go no faster than 1.7 on gps and continue to slow down until fish tell me their preference.

I also use dodgers and flashers as attractors for lakers. Behind these I will use either a fly or a spin 'n glow.

On my flasher I'm generally looking for fish a couple of feet off the bottom (more active fish) that are near bait fish or a hump.

It sounds like an expensive fishing experience but once you have a couple of the toys it's actually pretty cheap. Good luck and if you want more info or have more questions email me at dskurulsky@yahoo.com

[Tennessee Jed]

Hey John! You weren't trying to catch Barry's limit, were you? He got the Minn Kota and Lowrance installed on my wife's boat last week. We were on Greer's Ferry this weekend and caught a few walleyes on the flats. They were tail-biting until we finally got a West wind yesterday!

Barry and I were talking about lakers just the other day. If you guys need some additional comic relief, let me know. I was thinking of getting a couple of downriggers that I could also use for saltwater, eventually.

[bernie]

tube jigs and a piece of fish jigged verticly is the best way i know of to catch lakers cheap and effective

[Neal/CO]

Bernie is right! Use your electric and stay on top of them. Here in colorado we use white,black and chartruece Power Tubes and vertical jig them. Look for humps, islands, or rock piles that rise vertically from the bottom, in 60-100 feet of water. Lakers will school in deep water and starve before they will leave their comfort zone of 48-50 degree water. This makes them very hungry (aggresive) if you can keep your bait in that zone. Heavy jigging spoons will also work. Lakers also have a vent that walleyes don't have, so you can bring them up slowly from these depths and they will survive, should you want to release them.

[cisco]

There's no question that vertical jigging is an effective laker presentation. Several heavy spoons and jigs are used for that purpose, and that's a lot less money and hassle than trying to rig your boat for deep water trolling.

Should you want to troll, however, consider using wire line with a 14 to 16 ounce weight. Even with downriggers, Lake Michigan trollers score much better with wire for lakers than anything else. If the lakers you are after have any size, you can go with a large flutter spoon without any other hardware -- bigger the better on the spoon. Otherwise, use a single attractor (00 dodger) with a trailing smaller spoon.

You will need a rod with a roller tip if you use wire line -- or, spend a bit more and get tip and roller guides.

But, you should not need to spend mucho bucks on downriggers.

[JohnH]

Barry only wishes it were him! Ha!! No he was another friend who fishes walleye, but usually during the early spring up the rivers. We trolled cranks all day, tried nightcrawlers for only short time, no luck. I used a chrome/black/orangebelly Rougue Super Pro(only one in bag then lost it) switched to chrome/black HotnTot.

[Lyle]

I fish a lot of lakers in Georgian Bay and what I find works is to troll slowly. As slow as possible while still getting action on your lure. Try a Norther King 28 or a Norther King Magnum in silver/blue, silver/red or silver/chartreuse. The lakers will be on bottom or just off the bottom. If you cannot get them to bite try to bounce your cannons balls off the bottom that seems to wake them up and they will then react to your bait. A dodger running about 6 to 15 feet in front of your trolling spoon works well. If you do not have downriggers try vertical jigging a large swedish pimple or a little cleo. This works but it is hard to stay on top of the fish. I also have luck downrigging with larg Williams Wobblers in the same colors as the NK 28 or NK Magnum. Good Luck