Do Lakers bite at night

[Neiko]

I was wondering if Lakers bite at nite? Thinking of giving it a try late one night if they do.

[JBMasterAngler]

For the most part...NO. I'm sure it happens once in a blue moon, but if you give it a try I think the only thing you'll be catching is eel pout

[RonZych]

I LOVE eelpout!

Someone melt me some butter!!!!!!

[Nate McVey]

Yup, not much of a bite after the sun sets, or before it rises for that matter.

[Neiko]

Thanks guys looks like I will probably spend more time playing poker then at night.

[EBass]

Quote:

I'm sure it happens once in a blue moon

So you're saying there's a chance! Funny - it's going to be a blue moon this weekend. Happens every 2.5 yrs

I heard - dunno if this is true though, but will lakers take dead bait?

[BRULEDRIFTER]

Dead bait? Most definitely!

[JBMasterAngler]

You better believe they will...they take live bait too

[Nate McVey]

Quote:

I heard - dunno if this is true though, but will lakers take dead bait?

Smelt heads on a Cicada, jiggin rap, airplane jig = deadly! The more action the better. Check out this thread for more detailed laker info from the HSO masters. There's a LOT of pages, but they are filled with great tips and tactics.

Laker Tactics

[fishgutz77]

Guys, I got news for ya, Trout do bite a night. One of the nicest lakers I ever saw came out of Big Trout Lake at 11:30 pm.

The fish was caught trolling 30 down 100 back on a spoon while fishing for lakers. Also now and then someone on Michigan comes up with a nice laker or two at night. the guy I bumped into on BT only fishes them at night on BT and does well I just happen to stop and say high while fishing the WFC for eyes.

Also I think there maybe laws about fishing trout on some bodies of water after midnight.

[Steve Foss]

Lake trout do bite at night. And they are piscatorial vacuum cleaners who love to suck up dead fish off the bottom.

[JBMasterAngler]

Nightfishing on designated stream trout lakes is illegal, but I'm pretty sure you can fish for lakers at night anywhere.

I think big trout lake would be an exception to the rule based on the fact that lake gets about 500 times more boat traffic than a typical lake trout lake gets

[Steve Foss]

I've caught them at night on Burntside. So have others. Not often for me, but that's because I don't spend much time on Burntside after dark. May change this year, as my love loves walleye, and there are plenty of fat 'eyes on Bside that turn on when the lights get low.

I also caught a laker on L.S. off the Two Harbors breakwall more than an hour after sunset one fine summer night several years ago.

Very few laker takers pursue lakers at night, so you don't hear about them being caught after dark very often. Nor do I know how commonly they'd be caught if a legion of laker anglers decided to stay out fishing two hours after dark every night or start two hours before sunrise. Maybe they wouldn't catch as many as during the day. Maybe they would.

I never used to bother staying to and after sunset, but that changed four winters ago when I talked to a couple Bside old-timers who gave me the goods. Those same guys got me ice fishing shallow for lakers, too, shallow enough that in a darkened shelter I can see bottom. Those conversations with the old guys changed the way I fished Burntside. I've largely kept my mouth shut about those things. I fish Burntside better now than I did five years ago, mostly because of those two codgers. The commonly held "wisdom" often is just guys repeating things back and forth to each other without knowing for sure if it's true. Been there, done that.

I think we lack the data to make rules about how often lakers bite at night. My personal opinion is that if we started fishing for them as actively at night as we do during the daytime, we'd be catching plenty of them at night. But that's just an opinion.

[MN Greenheads]

I caught some at night this year trolling on Lake Michigan this year. We were after Chinooks but did catch a few Lakers just after sunset.

[Neiko]

Well we are heading up in March so I might have to stay out late one night to give it a shot.

[knoppers]

we have caught them after sunset in canada, for about an hour after sunset. we used tube jigs power baits in the glow color, and have done good, in fact one lake, they seemed to bite better after the sun sets.

[monstermoose78]

Glow jigs when i was in college in ely we spanked the lakers after dark off of Van Vac. Keep the jigs glowing and hang on!

[Steve Foss]

My post-sunset fish came off glow Jigging Raps.

[Jackpine Rob]

Many, many moons ago my partner and I were camped out for Spring Break, basking in subzero temps and catching lake trouts. We decided to try a little evening fishing.

After supper and a couple of snorts of Snowshoe Grog, we headed out in search of trout. There were some mid-lake reefs about a mile from our campsite, so we decided to hit a variety of depths, using ciscos.

Whether it was due to the blowing snow, the darkness, or perhaps the effects of the Grog, one of the holes we punched ended up in 7 feet of water, but we tossed a cisco down anyhow.

Darned if we didn't get a trout immediately. And then another. And another. And another. We gave up on the other lines and the two of us fished just that hole, one guy fishing and the other guy taking off/releasing fish and re-rigging.

We repeated that process two more nights that week, with similar results. We went to jigging poles using eelpout belly on a small Swedish pimple, to make things easier and save our ciscos, and that worked out too. The key was to hover the bait just above the bottom and give it a little shake - no jigging, just a shake. That "Magic Hole" did not have a trout anywhere near during daylight, but at night those fish moved in shallow!

Funny thing about that pattern - those fish were chasing crayfish.

[JBMasterAngler]

Well son of a gun! I'm gonna have to give night fishing for lakers a try now

[Gas Man]

Really low light in morning or evening has always produced Lakers for me. As the day goes on, I like to move with the shadows on the ice as the sun moves, and fish along the edges. Once you key in on a depth, work those edges. The dark / light transition seems to be a structural element that the trout relate to on good underwater structure.

[Arctic]

Sure, you can catch lakers at night, but on average your catch rate will be LOW. Certainly there are always exceptions to the rule when it comes to fish.

In summer we catch them late into the evening twilight, but the action tapers off with the light. That being said, I did catch (and release) a 14 pounder from a BWCA lake last summer as we about to quit for the night.

In winter your catch will be DOMINATED by eelpout at night!!

[Steve Foss]

In winter your catch will be DOMINATED by eelpout at night!!

Within a couple feet of the bottom, yes. Jigging aggressively higher up in the water column, no.

[waterbound]

In winter your catch will be DOMINATED by eelpout at night!!

I wouldn't complain about that! I just fried a couple up the other day and it was the best fish I've ever ate.

[fishgutz77]

the water in B-side and most other trout lakes is gin clear and these fish can see very well at night so it only makes sense that they would eat as somthing was offered but probably do more acutal hunting with a small amount of light still left early and late.

If I saw a dead cisco on the bottom I might try that. maybe if I hook a smelt or two on b-side I'll roast'em up on the sunflower.