Lake Trout / Chubby Darter

[superbee]

What seems to be the best color for fishing lakers in NW Ontario. I mainly use tubes and few other things, but am going to try some of the Chubby Darters and wonder what everyone has had the best luck on.

[fishgutz77]

I've fooled some nice lakers on the big perch pattern.

[superbee]

I bought one of the glow dace colors and haven't tried it yet. I have a hard time not using my glow Venom tubes. Thanks for the info, I will grab one and give it a try on a day they are biting and see what the results are. Thanks for the tip.

[troyfideldy]

I used Chubbys some last winter and did not have much luck on them. I like alittle meat on my hook and chubby cant handle any. Tried some time without meat but just did not have the confidence.

[superbee]

I never use any bait for lakers, it seems like more of a hassle for the guys that use it.

[kingkobbla]

I was gonna buy one today but it looked to be on the small side for lakers. What size does everyone use?

[Steve Foss]

I've used Chubby Darters three winters for lakers. They work as well as any laker bait I've got. Especially now that I've basically quit tipping my lures with meat (haven't had my catch rate go down, either), the Chubby really shines with that tight hard wobble when you rip it up, and the slow fall is great.

If you're in big laker water, you might upsize the trebles one size. I've done that without any noticeable slackening of the lure action.

Blue/chrome is a good one on the lake I usually fish (lots of smelt for forage). I've also had good luck on the glow/black/orange pattern. Hard to go wrong for lakers using a lure with some orange on it. I don't think color is the primary laker trigger too often, anyway. It think the right action for the day/fish is more key.

I don't recall the No. size, but the ones I use are 2 1/4 inches long not including the hook.

Two downsides are that it takes awhile for them to sink into the deeper laker water and they don't return much of a signal on the electronics, so you may have to crank up the gain a bit.

[frogtosser]

I have a few that i might have to try, I suppose color doesnt mean much in 60ft of water does it.

[Steve Foss]

I suppose color doesnt mean much in 60ft of water does it.

Especially with a foot or two of snow on top of the ice. In those conditions, even on a sunny day in crystal clear water it gets pretty dark pretty fast as you go down the water column, and a laker looking up at a lure is going to see a silhouette against a paler background, in most cases, and color likely is negligible.

For all we know, black/dark is always the best lure under those conditions, just like black/dark surface lures work best for muskies and bass at night because they stand out better against the relatively brighter sky.

I'll tell you, I've done REALLY well on black/purple lures icing lakers.

[superbee]

I agree with the black / purple colors working well. I have never used them in the winter, but in the summer have done well on those colors with North Port Nailers.

[lakerunner]

Oh so there is some one out here that uses Northports. After I moved here from MI, I can't find one to save my life (or hear of anyone using them). They are one of the best spoons that I've ever used for open water salmonoids--especially raspberry on black, and gold on black for salmon. Silver or orange on black for lakers and stealhead.

ST--I concur with you somewhat on colors but I do believe that for whatever reason, orange in a lure is always the go-to for lakers and stealhead. Even when common sense says that they shouldn't be able to distinguish the color, orange will always put lakers and steelhead in the boat.

[superbee]

I have an assortment of them and have had good success. Everyone has their standby lures.

[lakerunner]

10-4 superbee, they are a great standby. One problem, they are no longer making the nailer version. I checked out their HSOforum this fall and the "nailer" is being discontinued. Supposedly the replacement is better--I'll just have to try because it would be hard to improve!