LakeTrout?

[JOSHF]

I am heading up to Zarn lake on the 13th. I have only fished lake trout a few few time and never with any luck. Supposedly this lake has a good population of lakers in it . Is there anyone out there that could point us in the right direction on how to catch these fish? We are bringing up our Vexilars, heavy jigs, Cleo spoons, and a bunch of cow bells. Are we on the right track? What do these fish do at certain times of the day, are the deep shallow or suspended? Thanks to anyone who can help!

[Kingfisher]

JOSHF; First of all I'm in no way an authority on lake trout, and feel many others on the forum could answer your questions better than I. Each individual lake I've fished L trout in up in Canada have their own general preferences on lures and bait used, some lakes sucker meat works well, one deadly way is to cut 1/4" square sucker meat with the skin on about 1 1/4" in length, hooking two pieces on two of the treble hooks of a doctor spoon, troll at a very slow speed close to the bottom, the sucker should look like its swimming. Other lakes cisco's & styrofoam work much better fishing from shore. We have had good luck trolling dr. spoones, KB's,suttons, rapala countdowns in chartreuse; & silver & black. Cowbells work well if you have a strong arm, you can use meat, minnows, cisco's or a floating rapala behind the bells.
We found out the hard way, the fastest and best way to learn how to catch lake trout is to hire a guide. Good luck fishing those beautiful and fun to catch trout. Hope this helps a little.

[TomBow]

The latest report that I have heard is that the lakers were deep now, around the 40 ft. range in 50 to 80 ft. of water. Vexilars should help find them. One rig I've seen, and will try this year, involves slow trolling with a 3-way rig, a 3 oz. lead weight on the dropper and a light weight flutter spoon on a 4 ft. lead. This can be fished with a medium weight rod so you won't have to spend more cash on new trolling rods. Slow is the way to go for lakers. I have looked into dipsy divers but you need a pretty heavy duty rod to handle the pull of them.
Basically, find a likely looking school of baitfish with your vexilar, the trout will be just below them, then try to run your baits on the low edge of the baitfish school. If the fish are marking at a certain depth, try getting off to the side, where your not marking fish and watch the vex. while you drop your lures to the desired depth. Once your into the right depth, move back to the school and "fish on"!
Best of Luck. Tipping with sucker is definitely a good idea.

[Hemlock]

JOSHF,

You are getting some good info here, so good that I really have nothing more to add. (you've got to keep some secrets) Good luck, and let us know if you get any bigguns. I fish for them on Lake of the Woods, and they are a ton of fun. The lighter the tackle, the more fun/fight. We use cowbells and there is a new mylar (plastic) cowbell that trolls with virtually no drag, and we use lighter rods as opposed to the big rods needed for full size cowbells. Post report upon return.

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Hemlock
"Throw'm back"

[fishanytime]

A lot of good advise on Lake Trout, we use an excellent guide on LOTW, his name is John Stuhldreier. He and his wife Jackie run the Mine Shaft in Sioux Narrows. Excellent food and great guiding,email [email protected].