Headed down tomorrow for the long weekend.
Anyone care to share any tips on how to target lakers down there?
I will be in my boat with an Ulterra on the front so I will be able to jig if necessary.
Thank you.
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I've only ever caught a couple of lake trout and I'm far from an expert. I'm interested and hopeful that you get better replies.
But for what it's worth I've caught a couple this year jigging deep with a 3.5" green tube. I was sitting in 100+ feet of water, and chased after any that came in the 80-100' range.
I've had quite a few fish hit down deep, but have had a tough time hooking them and keeping them hooked.
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Very interesting, thank you!
Did you tip with anything?
I have a large selection of Rapalas and Flatfish that I am planning on risking losing behind 2oz. bottom bouncers.
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Quote:Did you tip with anything?
I've tried tipping with perch and various Smelly Jellys. Nothing seems to work great, if they hit and I miss the hookset (which has happened embarrassingly often lately) they rarely come back for more.
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When you get down there talk to Brad at the Bowery Haven marina. He is the owner and has a passion for fishing lake trout at fish lake. He sells tackle at the marina. He is about as good of a source as you can get for Fish Lake Lake trout. Good luck!
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They will hold to any deep structure. Spot lock the structure/fish and drop down a 4-8 inch tube jigs(1-2 oz jig heads) in various colors, I tip mine with chub meat. The trick with the big ones is keeping that jig as close to the bottom as you can, most days they will want little to no movement. This time of year can be hit or miss so don't get to upset if your not getting a lot of bites, I'm usually happy with 1 good one a day. My best bites come from 20 minutes before sun up to just after. One last tip is your setup medium heavy rod rigged with 30-50lb braid and a 15-20lb flouro leader. Once you get a hook in one let them have it, the heavy jig can easily fall out of the mouth. Also read up on how to safely hand and release the fish as a big lake trout can take several decades to get the size they are. Good Luck!
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Quote:They will hold to any deep structure.
Any advice on how deep this time of year? Also I haven't seen much structure, it seems like the bottom is mostly smooth. But I haven't spent much time up there, do I just need to search more? What am I looking for - rock piles, humps, dips, etc?
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If your not seeing a lot of structure that may not be a bad thing. That means any rock piles, humps or deep points you do find may have multiple fish on it. I'm catching them anywhere from 40-100+. The key is deep structure, and it doesn't have to be dramatic structures. The slightest change on the finder could be holding fish, and depending on how good your finder is and how close to the bottom/drop the fish is you may not mark the fish its self so do hesitate to may a drop. If nothing is happening move on and cover water. Also if you get a big mark in deep water its likely a laker. I'll cruise from area to area with my Terrova hitting spot lock on any deep mark I hit. Dropping a jigs that big are quick and easy. Good Luck
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Thanks for the tips. I think I'll spend a bit more time searching for a spot next time I'm there. And I'll go up a few sizes on the jig heads and tubes - I've been using mostly 1/8 to 3/16 oz with 2 1/2 to 3 1/2" tubes. It takes a bit to get those down 80+ feet, and once you're down there you kind of want to stay.
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Ya when I started that's the biggest mistake I made was using tackle and gear that really wasn't meant for the fish I was targeting. Definitely covering water is your best tactic when getting started. The more areas you discover the more option you have as the fish move through the year . If your like me spending a day just finding spots and not fishing isn't my cup of tea. I do a lot of trolling and mapping/marking spots while still doing a bit of catching. I'm headed to the Gorge right now, I'll let you know if I get any bigguns.
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I fished every morning for 3 days and finally got 4 hits this morning. The first 2 days was windy and today was absolutely perfect. I think keeping my line vertical was more important than I thought.
Unfortunately, I don't think I was in a mac spot because all the bites felt the same and the 4th bite yielded a nice rainbow.
Oh well, it beat going to work.
Thanks to everyone throwing in with tips.
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Unfortunately, I don't think I was in a mac spot because all the bites felt the same and the 4th bite yielded a nice rainbow.
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If you caught a rainbow, this time of year, it is highly doubtful you were fishing in water deep enough for macks.
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And you caught it on the bottom?
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No, I caught it in the lip. Hee hee....
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It can be a little shocking how deep some of the Rainbows are caught there in the summer. They will actually hang out below the thermacline. Sometimes the best lures are the Rainbow rapala's.
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Seriously though, I had reeled in a couple of cranks.
I am guessing I was 15 or so feet off the bottom which would put me in the vicinity of 80' of depth.
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IF you released it and it swam away you didn't reel it up from 80 feet.
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Quote:IF you released it and it swam away you didn't reel it up from 80 feet.
Why? I've done the same thing recently at Fish Lake. And I could see my tube jig on my sonar, and I know my rainbow came up from over 75'. It swam away just fine. I've caught several at well over 60' and they've all swam away seemingly fine.
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Quote:IF you released it and it swam away you didn't reel it up from 80 feet.
Why? I've done the same thing recently at Fish Lake. And I could see my tube jig on my sonar, and I know my rainbow came up from over 75'. It swam away just fine. I've caught several at well over 60' and they've all swam away seemingly fine.
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Well, apparently I stand corrected. It has been my experience that they can't get back down from being brought up from that depth. Macks can burp off the gas and usually can get back down to that deep just fine. Rainbows don't have that ability.
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