Laker Time

[Jim Hudson]

Well, for the most part, our early season trolling is over with here on the Chequamegon/Apostle side of the big gitch. Still can catch a few salmon and some rogue browns or splake in the shallows, but the big number days are just over, as the fish are spreading out due to warming temps.

So, time to search out Lake Trout. Late May into the first part of July is my favorite time for this, as the water gets a bit stratified and the fish push more and more to the bottom. With that comes big fish, in bigger numbers. Seems like early in the season, we do get our biggest fish (40 inches or more), but, not numbers. Now, we will see numbers of bigger fish, say 32 to 40 inches.

I run simple techniques to do catch these fish, as I want to fight the fish on their own power. One reason being its much more fun this way. Two, we release these big fish, to spawn another day. So, most times, I love to jig for them. But, if I want to get bigger numbers, I do troll, but keep it simple. Running two riggers, maybe a stacked line now and again, along with two dipsys. If any current, I nix the dipys, and just stay glued to the bottom with the riggers. Like I said, fish are concentrated, so no need to pull surface lines or anything else. When a fish hits, put the boat in neutral and have the bow mount push us a long slowly (gotta love the I-Pilot). You get to then fight the fish under their own power, let them burp air, and then get to see them release back to the depths. Even with this method, we have boated over 40 fish in a day. Most days, with the other rigger just "jigging" as we are fighting a fish, we still take hits!!