Lake Trout

[S. Thompson]

I’m looking for some advice on tackle and equipment for ice fishing Lake Trout and/or Trout. I've been ice fishing for 20+ years and geared towards walleye, perch, crappie and panfish. Now that family life has slowed down with fewer kids activities, I have more free time on the weekends and can travel further. I’m looking to make some trips to the S.D. Black Hills, Colorado, Montana, Michigan and other locations for Lake Trout and other types of winter trout fishing.

For those of you who regularly Lake Trout ice fish, what type, length, or action of rods would you recommend? I assume some of my heavier walleye rods would work for Rbw.Trout.

What about tackle? Again, I would assume some of my larger walleye tackle would work, but I’m sure there is other more appropriate tackle.

Any other advice on tackle and equipment for Lake Trout / Trout fishing?

[Tim Moore]

I absolutely love the Jason Mitchell Mackinaw Big Fish rods. I use the 38" spinning rod with a Shimano Symetre reel. I have 20 pound power pro line with a 12 foot fluorocarbon leader. A suggestion if you use braided line is to start with a few passes of mono on the reel before you tie on your braid. This keeps the braid from slipping on the reel in cold weather.

In New Hampshire the most common lures for lake trout are bucktail jigs and tube jigs. I tie ,my own bucktails. I like white/red, purple/red, and perch colors. White tube jigs are also a go to lure.

I like to fish structure; humps and rock piles. There are a few areas on Lake Winnipesaukee that are like underwater sand dunes. We often catch lakers in those spots as well. We usually start in 30' - 50' of water, but they are often caught shallower.

[Bernie Keefe]

For lakers I love the Dave Genz 40" heavy split grip handle. It has the backbone to control heavy jigs and to set the hook in a big fish. The tip is just soft enough to work as a shock absorber when a big fish shakes his head at the hole. Team this rod up with at least 10 lb test and you will have a great combo. As for lures out west tubes rule but twisters, gulp minnows, fuzzy grubs and hair jigs also work very well.For rainbows your walleye rods will work Great pair them up with 4-6 lb test. Bring the Phsyco Shad out with you. I have had some amazing days on the ice with it.

[Capt. Russ]

Hard to beat the rods mentioned above, both the Jason Mitchell 38" Mackinac and the Clam 40". You can use your walleye reels on them spooled up with a 12-20 pound braid Which when you're fishing deep as you will with lakers, to eliminate line stretch,and use a fluorocarbon leader. I don't go heavier than 12 pound leader as the fun is in the fight. Also, you really don't need to travel too far, as we have two excellent lakes here in Minnesota, Burntside Lake and Snowbank Lake both are close to town here in Ely, where there is a good variety of lodging.. White tubes and Chubby Darters work very well, and you could use a live rainbow minnow or shiner on a dead stick while you're jigging with the other.

[Craig Oyler]

I'll throw in another vote for both the JM Mackinaw, and Dave Genz split grips. Having a good backbone is crucial when setting the hook in a laker. Especially when fishing deep water. A reel with plenty of line capacity is also very important. Bigger lakers like to make big runs. I didn't pay attention to how much line I had on one rod, and last weekend it almost cost me a big one. The fish spooled me twice, but somehow I was able to hold it and get it turned around. To give an idea on their runs, by the time I landed the fish it was tangled in one of my dead sticks more than 30 yards away.

As far as jigs go, the above posts pretty much have it covered. When setting the Arctic Warriors, I like to start with a variety of sizes of minnows, to help narrow down what size and presentation they are in the mood for. Last weekend, a tail hooked shiner was dynamite.

Hopefully you can get out this way before the winter is over..... Like maybe late February? (Hint hint)

Good luck!

Craig

[Jason Hamilton]

I also use the JM Mackinaws and walleye in 38" MH. Bump up to 2000 or 2500 series reels. Not only to hold greater amounts of line but these reels allow you to pick up line quicker which can be critical. Making lakers chase a bait vertically in the column increase your odds of having them hit. Tough to go too fast.

I use a lot of lipless cranks and big soft plastics. Having a throw back bait with a jig and minnow or smaller jigging spoon and minnow and catch a few more. I've had some days where an unweighted frozen shiner slowly falling was the only ticket.

Keep your gain turned on your Vexilar to maximize the cone size. Be sure to bring your bait up to ANY marks you see even flicker on your screen.

Good luck

[Matt Breuer]

Lots of good advice above! I too have the Mackinaws, as well as a split-handle Clam rod, and have really gone forward with spinning set ups, as they allow you to move really quickly up and down in the water column. Baitcasters are great for hard hook sets, and fighting the fish, but the speed you lose makes the spinning set ups better IMO.

I am not a fan of braid, as lakers are often line shy. I prefer some stretch, and like to run 12lb. flouro. Abrasion resistance is huge, as lakers will run you sideways when they get close to the surface. Lots of digging and scratching on the bottom of the hole...

Tough to beat tubes and hair for lakers, and any trout for that matter. 90% of my tackle for winter trouts consists of the aforementioned. The other 10% is miscellaneous, including Chubby Darters...

Don't overlook set lines either. Tip ups or tip downs are great for lakers. I love the Arctic Warrior from Clam, teamed with a baitcasting rod and a line counter reel, they are tough to beat! Just check all of your holes, and scribble the depth in the snow next to each hole, and you'll never have to worry about checking depths while setting lines again. Getting down faster and spending less time messing around = better chances and more time jigging.

Addiction, begin.

[S. Thompson]

Awesome advice and great tips guys!

Craig Oyler, your invite for me to help out at the end of February was just the push I needed to finally break out of my comfort zone. We have such great fishing opportunities on the east side of South Dakota as well as the river, it’s tough to tear myself away. Especially when I can land a 15” crappie or a 14” perch within an hour of the house or a 28” walleye just 10 miles away. Still looking for that 10” gill this winter! It’s been a great winter up to this point with lots of memory’s made with my kids.

I’ve talked for a while now of trying new areas, lakes and species and really expanding my fishing knowledge. I dug through my salmon/steelhead downrigging tackle for any tubes, bucktail jigs, etc. Most of that tackle is for downrigging/trolling and is of little use for vertical jigging, but I did have a few things that were mentioned in the above post. Matt Breuer’s tip for scribbling depth beside the hole is much like when I’m running my downriggers for salmon. Once I can key in on the depth, the rest can be set pretty easily. Great Tip!

I assume Lake Trout make runs similar to the Chinook salmon I down-rig for, so I can see the importance of using a fluoro leader. This may also be a good time to put the 10” drill on my auger. I’m still up and down with braid. There are days I love it and days I hate it. I run mono or co-poly on all my ice rods, but am thinking I may give braid a try on one of the Laker rods. I will tell you that I did spool 2 of my walleye ice rods this winter with Berkely Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon Ice. ABSOLUTLY HATE IT! I might as well spooled the rods up with a Slinky. I’ve never had a line with memory like that stuff. It just shoots off the reel when I open the bail and end up with a pile on ice.

As for rods, Craig showed me the Dave Genz rods at an ice show earlier this year, and I’ll have to say I was impressed for a production rod. I have a few JM Elite Walleye & Perch Series rods and love the action on both, so I’m sure the JM Mackinaw rods will be great. Since my son will fish with me from time to time, my thought right now is to pick up the following…

2 - JM Mackinaw Spinning Rod - 38 inch - MH Action

2 - Dave Genz Split Handle - 40” Heavy Action

Each will get a Shimano Sedona FD or Sahara FE Spinning Reels

I’ll use my JM Walleye Elite and other rods for the smaller trout.

When it comes to tubes I can assume an assortment of sizes ranging from 2-1/2” up to 4-1/2”

Jigs from 3/8oz up to 1oz ? I would also assume bucktail/marabou jigs in the same range of sizes… 3/8oz up to 1oz.

I’m sure I have more questions, but this is a good start and can add it over time.

[Fred_Bear]

Looks like you're getting a pretty good idea as far as equipment goes so I'll just add a few of my thoughts.

Tube jigs and flutter spoons have been the clear cut best producers in the area I fish, but this definitely changes depending on the lake. I stick to white or silver for colors.

I personally like 1/4 oz tube jigs with a 4 inch tube, this is to get the biggest circle on the fall. The fall is usually what gets them to notice the bait and start chasing and then reeling/pulling it away is what gets them to eat. 3/8 oz is probably the most common and up to 1 oz is going to work just fine, the heavier ones are going to fish a lot faster which is nice on the days they are really going. I'd stick with 4" tubes with a slim profile on lakes where the average fish is 4 lbs or better.

The biggest key with tube jigs is using ones that sit horizontal, most that you find in US stores are going to be vertical baits designed for bass fishing. These don't give the action you want for vertical jigging lakers, you need the horizontal ones.

Braid vs. Mono/Fluoro/Copoly: I stick with braid because I am almost always fishing 1/4 oz baits and with the lighter baits and 10 lb or heavier mono you get the slinky effect you referred to and it's impossible to feel anything while the bait is falling. Heavier baits you don't notice it as much of a problem. I do use a 12'+ fluoro leader in 15 lb tied to the 15 lb braid mainline. This is mainly for a shock absorber and much better abrasion resistance when the fish gets near the hole as Matt mentioned.

For rods I stick to spinning combos. I've experimented a lot with casting reels and they really do work awesome as long as it's warm out, they just don't handle cold and ice nearly as well as spinners and that's a deal breaker for me. Baitcasters really are a great option for fishing in a shack or above freezing weather and there are plenty of options that bring in 30+ inches per turn which is faster than an average spinning reel.

[S. Thompson]

Thanks for the additional advice Fred. I think I have the rods and reels nailed down. The local Scheels store had few of the JM Machinaw rods in stock, but it looks like I'll have to order the Genz Split-handle. Shimano reels are easy to find.

My biggest challenge is finding tackle. The closet Lake Trout/Trout lake location to me would be the SD Black Hills which is about 5 hours away, so the sporting goods stores here just don't carry what need. I can find a handful of bucktails, but it's really limited. The tube jigs and tubes seem to be non-exsistant here. I have one more bait&tackle shop to check when I stop today to pick up bait for the weekend.... gotta date with a few walleyes, perch and crappies this weekend.

If any of you guys have links to some of tackle you like, please send me a PM. It would surely be appreciated!

Thanks again for all the help and advice!

[brad119]

Try Red Rock Wilderness Store online. Joe runs a good shop up in Ely. Call him if you have more questions. He has the lead jigs that hang horizontal and probably has the white approx. 4" tubes for order too. If you're going to use a tip-up, a mustad double bait hook (available via Red Rock) threaded through a cisco works well - just thread hook spine through the mouth and out the dorsal and make sure it hangs right. I'm going to try a zero rig this year on my tipup to see if it will work. I think it may be too visible for the fish. Like it's been said, lakers can be finicky about what they see. Cabelas has the northland magnum airplane jigs. Swedish pimples are available all over the web. In some of the lakes I fish, lake trout actually like lighter, smaller baits...small (~2.5" long) spoons like castmasters, swedish pimples, the big slender spoons, smaller bucktail jigs, etc. Tip with soft plastics, live bait (where legal), or frozen/salted bait. In all cases, we use white, clear, silver, flecked, and blue baits in different combinations. 8-12# test line (mono/braid/fluro - it's personal preference. all have advantages/disadvantages). 15# braid for my tipup.

For rainbows, softer baits tend to work better for us. Rainbows have a soft palette (Dad's a DNR fisheries technician so there's your biology lessen for the day), so they tend to shy away from the hard baits compared to soft. Think the large end of the spectrum of jigs you use for walleye/crappie/gills. 1/16oz gumball jigs w/a matching mr. twister tail, small ant jigs, etc all tipped with waxies seems to do well for us. I think probably many types of jigs would work. Same colors as lakers. 4# mono has worked well for us. I've used the red cajun line over the past years...can't find their ice fishing line this year. The red seems to disappear better, esp at deeper depths and is easy to see against the snow/ice. Personally, I like to hand line rainbows. In northern MN, alot of the lakes are put and take lakes so the rainbows are usually around 14-18 inches and are fun to pull up by hand.

Good luck to you.