Arificial Lures for Lake Trout.

[Some Old Guy 968]

Here is my take on using artificial lures for lake trout.

 

First we have to understand how a lake trout hunts. If you take a look at the placement of a trout's eyes on it's head. They are near the top of it's head much like a walleye. They usually spot their food source above them. Sure they can look down but they love to ambush from below. Now check out a salmon's eye placement. Their eyes are placed way down their heads which is perfect for horizontal hunting, almost like a pike.

 

Adding to this, now, is water temperature. In the summer lake trout are in their preferred temperature zones in the depths of a lake. In the winter this changes and they hunt using the whole water column as the water is basically the same temperature..... COLD! Lake trout can be shallow, mid depth or deep.

 

Now I just want to take a minute to dispel a common myth that lake trout will get the 'bends" when caught out of deep water while ice fishing. They won't if they are allowed to burp. When you catch a lake trout from deep water, when 50they burp, you will sometimes see big bubbles coming up in the hole. That's from the trout.

 

Lure selection, White is a very common and great choice for lake trout. People think the trout can see it better, shows up better, etc. As I mentioned earlier white is a great choice because trout hunt looking up. And now I ask you........ What is the colour of every fishes belly? In my opinion, that is why white is a good choice. Silvers, golds, blues, black, and pink are my other choices.

 

I talk to many people and they like to use a minnow, be it a sucker, cisco and for where allowed, smelts. These are all great choices. Two of these bait choices live and feed quite a bit of the time suspended. Suckers like the bottom. Many anglers like to hover their bait 1-2 feet off bottom. And yes you can catch trout this way. But try bringing that bait up off the bottom. If you are in 50 feet try suspending the bait at around 35-40 feet. I use this analogy, You are standing next to me. I point at a white rabbit in a snow cover field. I have to really point and describe to you where that rabbit is so you can see it. Now I ask you if you can see the plane flying over head. You see it pretty much right away. Same thing happens under the ice. I have caught trout right under the ice over 100 feet of water and they are usually pretty big ones too.

 

Now back to artificial baits. You can use what ever you like it's pretty much all the same concept. Also electronics will enhance your game a 1000 fold as you can see where in the water column the trout are. I like to start jigging at 1/2-2/3 of the water depth I'm fishing. So if I'm in 40 feet I like to start between 20 and 30 feet. and so on. If nothing seems to be attracted I'll use the sit and wait. That means I won't move the lure at all. I can only remember once that a trout came and hit the stationary lure. But when you see one approaching your lure, start reeling the lure up. You can jig while reeling up. The most important thing is to keep moving away from the trout. Watch what happens. You just increased your odds on a hook up.

 

Here's some lure tips.

 

Try inserting a Hopkins spoon into a tube. Spoon action tube style. (I know Gussy wrote about this and it isn't my idea either. It's a bass tactic from back in the 80's!)

 

Try vibrating lures such as a Zonar, Cicada and I can't remember the name of the blade bait but it's my new favourite and it's in the same aisle in DNR as the Swedish pimples. Rattle traps and Rattlin Raps work but I find that the sink to slow..

 

Anyways there's way more and I'll add a part 2 soon..

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

[RatherBeFishin 86]

Unreal info roger !! Great read. Deffinitly gonna rember and try this out !! I definitly dont have to many issues catching trout. But any advice is always appreciated and good to up my game !! I just read an article and i believe it was in the january issue of ontario out of doors. It talked about instead off hooking a spoon on the end drill holes in the side of it and use it sideways. They said it helps with action and also looks more like a baitfish which would sit sideways in the water instead of vertical. Which makes perfect sense. So i started altering some lures. I am excited to try that tactic out also. I think it was ontario out of doors and no on here. Lol !! Going walleye fishing tommorow and damnit now i wish i was going for lakers to try out some of theese tricks ! Next weekend i suppose

[Garbie 7]

Great info!!!! Thanks for sharing Roger.

[arvey 154]

Interesting good job Rog.

[ottoman82 41]

Thanks for all the great info Roger.  I am new to fishing for lakers and now I am even more excited to get out there and apply some of your tactics.  Cheers

[Some Old Guy 968]

Here is another analogy,

 

How many people down rigging for lake trout drag their lures 1-2 feet off bottom? Usually they set them well off the bottom and more mid way up!

 

Roger

[RatherBeFishin 86]

And if u are dragging bottom while downrigging make sure to keep side cutters on board !!! 😮 A hung up cannonball on steel cable gots no forgivness !!! 

[arvey 154]

This can also work for other species as well , I watched a Linder video , I think it was on bass and they mentioned that many anglers fish below the fish .

[eyelander 164]

I have caught many lake trout in the 3 feet just below the ice. When jigging I drop the lure down 3 ft. and jig there for a bit. If nothing, then I drop it to bottom and slowly work my way up stopping every 10-15 ft to jig for a bit.

[Zackcorbin1401 536]

I'm heading out tomorrow for the mighty lake trout.I have so many techniques to try out can't wait to see how I do.

[Red_Nuck 5]

Thanks for the awesome info Roger, and everyone else that added their info. I'm guessing you'd say all this applies to splake and specks as well?

[Some Old Guy 968]

No......  Specks and splake are a different ball game altogether.

 

Roger

[Fred 30]

You put much thought into catching a fish. Don't you enjoy the other aspects of fishing? Scenery fresh air or anything?

[speckmaster 114]

Everyone has their own reasons. 

[levi64 72]

Some very good info.

[gsambray 172]

Well I'm going Saturday and guess I'm heading to dnr Friday at lunch to add to my collection. I've always used a jig and a sucker on my still line and a white tube jig on my jogging rod. I usually tip the tube with a sucker minnow unless the bite is aggressive then I don't bother with the sucker. I normally work from deeper water to shallow and my biggest laker so far which is just shy of 11 pounds came from 9 feet of water and crushed my tube as soon as it dropped below the ice. Seeing that big head and my tube disappearing with an open bale was awesome even though I tried to set the hook without closing it. What a mess of line that was but in the end I won. Good read an lots of info!

[Some Old Guy 968]

Yep. I enjoy the scenery on the drive out and the fresh air is constantly flowing through the nostrils!

 

what I really enjoy is trying to entice a bite on an artificial lure. Fish can be triggered into biting. My goal isn't a limit and not worried if I lose a fish. If I have a split second hook up that means I did it all correctly. Except land the fish! Haha. 

 

Roger 

[gsambray 172]

Picked up a Hopkins spoon today and it's shoved in a tube ready to go. I also grabbed a buzz bomb too. Never used a buzz bomb but figured why not try it. Let's see how the lakers like it tomorrow

[Some Old Guy 968]

A few people have come up to me and asked me if I tip my artificials with a minnow or minnow head.

 

No, I don't.

 

Here is why,

 

I jig the upper column of water. This is where aggressive trout on the hunt are. It doesn't take live bait to get them to pounce on the lure. If I put and piece of bait on my lure it will mess up the action of the lure or prevent my lure to sink the way I want it to.

 

The other reason I don't use live bait is to prevent the lure from being swallowed and injuring the fish.

 

Yes I get it when there are days that live bait might out perform artificials for lake trout but not that often.

 

In the summer time...... Who uses live bait for lake trout?

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

[Some Old Guy 968]

Check out the photo gallery. The lake trout I just uploaded, I saw it smash my jig 3 feet below the ice as I was looking down the hole. 

 

This fish snapped me off and I had to re tie. Got my lure back too!!

 

Never ignore the lights up high!!

 

Roger

[MILLER 77]

15 hours ago, Roger Mayer said:

Check out the photo gallery. The lake trout I just uploaded, I saw it smash my jig 3 feet below the ice as I was looking down the hole. 

 

This fish snapped me off and I had to re tie. Got my lure back too!!

 

Never ignore the lights up high!!

 

Roger

Roger, you're right, the big one's are just below the hole.

[Some Old Guy 968]

Sure seems like they are Miller. 

 

I have a theory on why. 

 

Lake trout will stun bait fish such as ciscos and whitefish. These will float when stunned. I think the bigger trout are targeting the stunned baitfish that are floating to the surface. 

 

Roger

[MILLER 77]

In conclusion, it appears that you only have to put your line down the hole a little, to get the biggest results. There's definitely some correlation here.

[Wolf 2]

On 2017-02-25 at 7:58 AM, Roger Mayer said:

A few people have come up to me and asked me if I tip my artificials with a minnow or minnow head.

 

No, I don't.

 

Here is why,

 

I jig the upper column of water. This is where aggressive trout on the hunt are. It doesn't take live bait to get them to pounce on the lure. If I put and piece of bait on my lure it will mess up the action of the lure or prevent my lure to sink the way I want it to.

 

The other reason I don't use live bait is to prevent the lure from being swallowed and injuring the fish.

 

Yes I get it when there are days that live bait might out perform artificials for lake trout but not that often.

 

In the summer time...... Who uses live bait for lake trout?

 

Roger

 

 

 

 

Do you tip your spoons with anything? By artificial I assume plastics. I Have a few slender spoons I want to try, not sure if I should tip them or not. Never fished for lake trout much. I like the tube idea. Thanks wolf

[Some Old Guy 968]

No I don't.

 

Try a Thin Fisher spoon. These work really well.

 

There are a few left at D & R.