Lac Seul Lure Suggestions?

[LundPuller]

Going to be fishing on Lac Seul first week of July, out of Mahkwa Lodge. This is my first time fishing up north, never caught a Walleye/Pike/Musky in my life. I have rods/reels that should be able to handle anything from finesse rigs, to casting 10 oz lures.

Walleye: I plan on buying a bunch of bright colored jig heads 1/8 oz -> 1/2 oz, with some plastic curly tail grubs, and maybe some small swimbaits for drop shotting.

Pike: I have some bass gear such as jerk baits and spinner baits I was going to try.

Musky: Was looking at DOMINATRIX #10 double bladed bucktails, not sure what the difference is between those, and the higher dollar bucktails. Not really focusing on Musky, so I would just be getting the barebones, few bucktails I suppose.

What would be some essential lures I should pickup before heading up north? Any colors I should focus on? Appreciate any input you guys can give.

[martinbns]

It's the 9th of June now so I assume you mean July.

Otherwise Muskie isn't open yet.

Jigs you won't use anything as heavy as 1/2 oz unless you are fishing in heavy current, the heaviest I have in my two jib boxes are 3/8 except a couple rigged up with huge tube baits for Lakers.

Most if not all of my walleye fishing is done with 3/16 oz jigs I buy at Scheels, they work great are cheap and unless you are fishing in 30' of water or it's really windy they work perfectly. Otherwise 1/4.

Pike will be deeper by the time you get there, I only tend to fish for them in spring but catch a fiar number of them on a jig and a minnow while walleye fishing.

[LundPuller]

Yup, meant July. I wont bother getting 1/2 oz, thanks for the tip. How deep do you think the pike/walleye will be in first week of July?

[martinbns]

Originally Posted by LundPuller

Yup, meant July. I wont bother getting 1/2 oz, thanks for the tip. How deep do you think the pike/walleye will be in first week of July?

I suspect off points 20'+ but who knows. Last summer on LOTW which would be similar we caught them everywhere from 35'+ to 2-3". I think mostly cruise around. After the spring is over, we pretty much seem to catch them by accident but I am not an expert by any means.

[Bob/MN]

For walleyes all we use is spinners and crawlers.

[David Anderson]

Originally Posted by LundPuller

Going to be fishing on Lac Seul first week of July, out of Mahkwa Lodge. This is my first time fishing up north, never caught a Walleye/Pike/Musky in my life. I have rods/reels that should be able to handle anything from finesse rigs, to casting 10 oz lures. What would be some essential lures I should pickup before heading up north? Any colors I should focus on? Appreciate any input you guys can give.

Well, fished opener last month and we had the best in years. Heading up next Saturday again. We mostly fish for walleyes, that time of year they should be off the points in 15 - 20 feet of water. We use 3 basic baits, 1/8 oz jig, 1/4 oz jig and rarely a 3/8 oz jig. If you talk to my partners any color is good as long as it's gold. I have found that most gold jigs were plated and the hook needs touching up first. I prefer H20 (http://customjigs.com/categories/bfi...sion-jigs.html) jigs in chartreuse, orange, or white. I like the wire keeper as they really hold plastic well. Also they have a relatively long shaft for running the hook through the minnows gills and hook them through just behind the head. Minnows last longer and you can often catch up to 4 walleye on one minnow. Gulp works really well if the fish are in a biting mode. The water is quite stained so bright colors work well, for all species. Good Luck.

[PRO-V16]

For pike I would bring some large crank baits and large silver doctor spoons.

[Bstar]

If this is your first trip to Canada and you say you never caught a Walleye, Pike or Musky in your life then my suggestion would be to hire a guide for the first day or two. That being said, the suggestions so far are on the money. Spinner rigs on a bottom bouncer with a leech or crawler on wind blown rocky points and humps in about 15-20 feet of water is where I would start. Once you find them you can switch to a jig and leech or piece of crawler and sit on them until the action slows and then move on.
For Pike I would start by trolling a large crank bait in those same areas. If you find a nice weed bed near some deeper water I would be casting a large Johnson Silver minnow with a 4-6” twister tail on it. A copper and orange Doctor spoon and buck tail spinners work well. Also try a # 5 or 6 Vibrax spinner. They are deadly at times.
I agree with gold as being a good color on Lac Seul.
Lac Seul is a great body of water to fish and it has some huge walleye in it. Like I said a guide the first couple of days will show you where and how to fish as well as show you the safe routes.
Good luck on your trip and post a report when you get back.

Bstar

[MikeinMN]

I second Bstar on your hiring a guide for at least a day. Our group has fished the west end of Lac Seul for many years and I well remember some tough times learning to fish there. Having said that, Lac Seul is a great lake and Makwah is in a really good place on the Lac. We fish for walleye and catch a few pike every year without targeting them. We have caught some pike in the 40" range but really never on a specific presentation or specific spot. My boat trolls 60% of the time and jigs 40%, the other boat exclusively jigs. No one in our group has a favorite jig color, and just like other replies, we fish lighter jigs mostly 1/8 ounce. Minnows or crawler pieces work well to tip the jigs and we struggle with plastics. Best crankbait colors seem to be bright, although chrome can be good too. If I didn't like to troll so much I would not troll Lac Seul, it fishes better with jigs in my opinion, but I have gotten into some really good crankbait bites. Depth is always unpredictable for us, we fish mostly late summer and have caught walleye from 4' to 30', depending on conditions. We don't fish deeper than 30' as I think too many fish die after release that deep. It's an awesome fishery but it does take a little figuring out. One of the members on this board is ProV1800 and he guides Lac Seul, and if I were new to the lake I would look him up, hire him for at least a day and go from there. Good luck!

[martinbns]

Originally Posted by MikeinMN

I second Bstar on your hiring a guide for at least a day. Our group has fished the west end of Lac Seul for many years and I well remember some tough times learning to fish there. Having said that, Lac Seul is a great lake and Makwah is in a really good place on the Lac. We fish for walleye and catch a few pike every year without targeting them. We have caught some pike in the 40" range but really never on a specific presentation or specific spot. My boat trolls 60% of the time and jigs 40%, the other boat exclusively jigs. No one in our group has a favorite jig color, and just like other replies, we fish lighter jigs mostly 1/8 ounce. Minnows or crawler pieces work well to tip the jigs and we struggle with plastics. Best crankbait colors seem to be bright, although chrome can be good too. If I didn't like to troll so much I would not troll Lac Seul, it fishes better with jigs in my opinion, but I have gotten into some really good crankbait bites. Depth is always unpredictable for us, we fish mostly late summer and have caught walleye from 4' to 30', depending on conditions. We don't fish deeper than 30' as I think too many fish die after release that deep. It's an awesome fishery but it does take a little figuring out. One of the members on this board is ProV1800 and he guides Lac Seul, and if I were new to the lake I would look him up, hire him for at least a day and go from there. Good luck!

It's a funny thing, Canadian's who fish shield lakes for Walleye love to jig and American's seem to love to troll.

I recently a bought a kicker as mostly an insurance policy for my big motor when I fish shallow water and for being 20 miles down LOTW from Kenora. When it was being installed by my Dealer who is the second largest Lund dealer in North America, the GM was telling me they don't even stock Kickers anymore as everyone jigs. The advent of spot lock killed off the kicker for 95% of Walleye guys in Canada especially those that fish the Canadian Shield.