Lake Trout and Tip-ups?

[tnord]

For two years now I have set out 1 or 2 tip-ups for lake trout while jigging with my buddies. I have had 1 flag go up, no fish. Baited with a dead ciscoe. The grief I am receiving about the set up and take down time when they want to move has me determined to haul one up this year or give up. I know dead-sticking has been the traditional tactic for years, what can I do to refine this presentation?

[Surface Tension]

tnord, Theres times when a tip-up and cisco on the bottom will out fish anything else.
You don't want to crowd yourself when fishing Lake Trout and thats one reason for using a tip-up. Meaning get your 2nd line away from you. If the cisco on the bottom isn't producing suspend the cisco. The best way to determine what depth to suspend it is when your in your shack drop your pimple or what ever your jigging with down and look down the hole. What ever depth your bait disappears thats what you want to set the tip-up at. Now I can tell you I've fished the same lake and noticed the bite switching from tip-ups to a worked lure over the years. I first thought it was the mood of the fish but it was a constant so that rules the mood out. There are strains of lake trout that prefer bugs over ciscos. Where things get scued is when DNR plants a strain of lake trout and their food preference differs from a lakes forage base. This isn't a limiting factor when cisco on a dead line doesn't produce either because I know I'm fishing the same year class fish that used to hammer ciscos but five years later turn their noses to one.
So the mystery continues, you just have to keep trying different things till you connect. I can say the pimple or jigging rap tipped with cut cisco will always be my bread and butter no matter what. Even in negative moods you can pull a laker off the bottom to play cat and mouse using your sounder for your eyes. Lake Trout are definitely my favorite game fish and the biggest challenge. Fishing them in Northern Mn along the Gunflint trail which happens to be my heaven on earth doesn't hurt either.

[knoppers]

we used cisco's many times in canada for deadbaiting in the spring, we will be heading up to kenora for our annual laker trip, and what I found out to be the best bait, is power baits on jigs. they work very well for us. lots of lakes in onterio have special regulations that forbid any bait, and barbless hooks, so most of just use power baits with barbless hooks full time, and they perform great. we have no troubles getting our dinner of lake trout every day.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Tnord,
I use tip-ups a lot for lakers and they work fine. I use the large spooled tip-ups and spool them with 20# plastic coated tip-up line,add a snap swivel and tie on a 4' 10# to 14# mono leader and a hook of your choice.
I rarely use ciscos as bait though. I have had much better luck using live 8" to 10" suckers or large golden shiners as bait.
When you get a hit let the trout run until it stops, when it moves again, set the hook!
When we use ciscos as bait we run the line through the bait with a cisco stringer, pull the hook up to the mouth of the cisco, put a couple of half hitches around the tail of the cisco with your leader,(the half hitches keeps the cisco from bunching up around the hook on the hook set), and hook the leader back onto your snap swivel. Clip a snap-on 3/8 oz. bell sinker above your swivel to hold the bait down with. Use on both live and dead baits.
We make our cisco stringers out of darning needles. Just drill a small hole in one end of the needle to run your leader through.
Push the stringer into the cisco's vent and out their mouth,push a few inches of the leader through the stringer hole and pull the leader through the cisco.
Kind of long winded, but this method works great for me!!
Good Fishing!
Cliff

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Cliff's Guide Service
CliffsGuideService-LakeVermilion.com
Lake Vermilion
Phone: (218) 753-2005

[tnord]

Thanks for the info, Cliff, do you use a treble hook or plain hook on that ciscoe?

[Steve Foss]

On Burnside last year in four trips I put out a tip-up for a second line each time. Three of the four trips I had at least one fish on the tip. Bait was large live golden shiners, using the large-spool Polar HT tip-ups. Line was 20 lb XL with a small (but not tiny) treble hooked into the back behind the dorsal. I made it a legal lure with a tiny spinner blade. Put a heavy split shot a couple feet up the line from the hook. Fished bait about half way down the water column fishing over 50 feet of water.

I'm using hole covers as well. You can find the waterproof sealed foam kind or the hard plastic kind. Both are cheap and easy to find in tackle stores. Sure makes it nice to keep the holes open with those tip-ups. I'd use one of my round insulated Frabill's, but they don't come with big enough spools to suit me for lakers.

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"Worry less, fish more."
Steve Foss
[email protected]

[tnord]

I will be using the frabils and just cranking the spool a couple hundred times I guess. Thanks for the info, I will catch one this year.............on a tip-up.

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Tnord,
Treble hooks work best when legal.
To make them legal all you have to do is add a couple of beads or a very small spinner blade.

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Cliff's Guide Service
CliffsGuideService-LakeVermilion.com
Lake Vermilion
Phone: (218) 753-2005

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Tnord,
I also use the Fabril round tip-ups and like them.
Cliff

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Cliff's Guide Service
CliffsGuideService-LakeVermilion.com
Lake Vermilion
Phone: (218) 753-2005