Slippery Lakers!

[John19]

Last year was my first year fishing for Macs at Granby, and I absoultly loved it. Laker fishing is some of the most fun I've ever had fishing, but also some of the most fustrating ! I fished Williams Fork last Wed and Thurs mornings and the action was pretty hot!!! Now , the fustration comes with actually landing those suckers on the ice. Now, I'm no expert fisherman by any strech of the imagination, but my hooked to landing ratio for all other species is pretty darn good. Open water or through the ice. If I get 10 bites tommorrow at 11-mile, I'll bet ya I land 8 of them, easy money . But those lakers are a different story. No problem getting them to bite, but something magicly happens about half way up, THEY GET OFF! The nice thing is that most of the time they strike again, and again, and again. That's one of the things that makes laker fishing so much fun. They're ferocious.

I've tried setting the hook hard, like a bass. this is risky obviously, with lite ice fishing gear,

I've tried letting them run with it awhile or the bottom, before setting the hook.

I've tried big pieces of sucker meat, little pieces of sucker meat.

I've tried big tube jigs ,little tube jigs, airplane jigs and even plain hooks.

I think you guys get the point! Speaking of points, Yes my hooks are sharp!

Is there something to do to improve my success rate, or is this the nature of the beast (or fish). Now this is primarily with 16-20 inch fish, is that a factor?

Boy, I sure feel better now that I've vented.

It's better to have been bitten and lost, than never bitten at all! (or something like that )

John

[Gilles]

Thats sounds like a pretty typical day of laker fishing to me. At least as many get off as through the hole. Lakers have very hard mouths and that is why they slip the hook more than any other fish I've targeted. Make sure your hooks are sharp and give them a few more jabs on the way up.

[mwktrapper]

Sometimes it's worth it to use that heavier line on lakers. Like Gilles said, these fish have super hard lips. It takes a really strong hookset to get through those lips. Once your hook is through, it'll usually stay through. The fish you're missin probably aren't hooked all the way through. I think it happens to anyone who fishes lakers and I've learned to set the hook on a laker like I don't set it on anything else. Set it to the sky, You ain't gonna rip lips like a crappie. The harder you set it, the harder it's hooked. Since those lakers are usually in real clear water I like that Vanish line. You can use it heavy and it's still as visible as a lighter line.

You boys must get into a lot of lake trout over there. What sizes do your fish usually run? Probably a little different stuff than over here in MN. We don't even start for a couple weeks here on trout but good luck with em.

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

John,

Like Gilles and MWKtrapper said,if your using a light stick it can be even harder to hook them. I catch them on my light rods sometimes,but you really have to set multiple times. Another thing lakers sometimes do is just mouth the bait, especially if you use a big piece of sucker. A small piece is all you need. See ya on the ice,

Dan

[ChadinArvada]

John,

There is an easy way to take care of this. Used to do it all the time for them on the big lakes and now here in Colorado.

What you need is called a stinger hook. Just go get yourself some small treble hooks (note smaller the better)and depending on your jig configuration here is what I do.

If I have the lead head above the jig, I tie a piece of 10-12 lb test (stiffer the better) to the eye of the hook, and run it inside the body and out the rear end about an inch or so behind the tail.

If I have the lead inside the jig (doesn't seem to matter here on most days) I again will take and tie some line directly to the hook like a dropper on a fly rod. Again have it about an inch behind the tail.

By doing this, I'm willing to bet those misses you have will no be converted to fish on the ice.

Good luck and hope to see you up on Granby or WF soon.

Chad

[lucky7]

John:

Great question! I lost more fish at Granby on Monday and Wednesday than in my entire life. It was still a blast!

[John19]

Thanks Chad, I'll try that. I've used stingers for lite biting walleyes before, I should of thought of this.

Lucky, How was the action at Granby. I've heard there is plenty of ice now. We are going up to Winter Park in a couple of hours, but I don't think I'll get to fish this trip .

[Sharkbait]

This is basically a trailer hook-up, like using a trailer hook right, or????? - - Sharkbait

Good Luck Fishin -n- Keep Yer Line Wet

[Dan DAN the fisherman]

Yep,

Thats what there talking about.

[icedummy]

Like all of you I've had the same problem with hooksets on Lakers until I read an article in a magazine about using braided line. The braided line doesn't stretch like mono therefore you get a better hookset. In deep water you can have a lot of stretch. I use the braided line with about a five foot leader of heavier mono. It really increased the number of fish I put on the ice. Gotta love them Lakers.