Lake Trout

[UpNorthMN]

I am going lake trout fishing this weekend and to be honest I don't know much about trout fishing. The lake i'm going to gets up to 160 feet deep and a majority of the lake is 60 to 80 feet. I am looking for advice on line, lures, bait, rods, depth, and time to fish. (light or dark) Any advice would be appreciated.

Ryan
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]Lake trout are not really too much like the other trout. They hang out mostly in the deep parts of the lake, but, they can also suspend at some mid levels. Try fishing on deeper humps and dles for them. If you have electronics, look for deep structure. However, Macs will also cruise the deeper flats at times as well. I think early morning or later in the afternoon/evening are the best bite, but, Lake trout can be caught all day long. I have not ice fished for them at night so I don't know about that.

I use Fireline and Power Pro up to 50 pound test with a 12 - 20 lb. flourocarbon leader. A medium casting rod with a baitcaster, or line counter reel or even with a spinning set-up of similar size. Meat tipped jigs with tubes/grubs - kastmasters will work as well as heddon sonars or airplane jigs sweetened with a piece of minnow (cisco if that is the main forage in that lake).[/size][/black]
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[UpNorthMN]

I believe there is cisco in the lake. Do you think it would be worth picking up some shiners and putting one on a jighead on a tipup?
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[Fishhound]

[black][size 3]I don't use tip-ups, I like using a rod instead. We can't use live bait in our area, but cut or whole dead minnows will work well. If you can fish with live bait, then yes, pick up some shiners and jig with them or put them on a tip-up.[/size][/black]
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[davetclown]

I dont know about your lake, we target cisco with minnows, not shiners, electronics are the way to go with cisco because they come in at varried depths.

we fish drop offs where the bottom goes down to 25 feet, there they normaly come in around 10 feet deap, we have caught them at 4 foot and near bottom.

they come though fast, so you need to get you minnow at the correct depth when they pass though, you almost asured to pick up one or two on a pass if you act fast.
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[UpNorthMN]

Dave,

I was asking if the lake trout would bite on shiners, not the ciscos. []
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[fishnguru]

Hello, sorry to butt in but just to be to the point YES they will hit on the shiners you just have to find them in the right mood. But if you can find their primary food sourse for the lake your fishing and that will give you the best chance at the larger lakers they seem to be a bit more picky than the average size on just about any lake, my best luck comes with a sweedish pimple tiped with a tasty shiner but you might have better luck just experimenting with different baits as the day progresses. GOOD LUCK hope I helped some.
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[davetclown]

the guys north of me fish for them at a hundred feet, hand lining with a pimple tipped with the back half of a large minnow or shiner.

I saw your conversation mention cisco and thought you should know shiners are to big for cisco.
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[UpNorthMN]

Thanks for the advice guys. I went saturday, caught 2 early in the day and 1 before dark. The 2 in the morning were about 9#'s each and the afternoon fish was about 6#.
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[davetclown]

Kool beans [cool]

which method did you use? and from your experience, what would you suggest for some one who wants to give it a try?

how much of a lead from your sinker to your hook, bait? ect....
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[UpNorthMN]

Dave,

I actually caught the 3 fish on 3 different rigs. To start off I was using 10# fireline without a leader. First fish of the day I caught on a firetiger pattern rattling jigging rapala with the tail of a shiner on one of the hooks. Second fish of the morning was caught on a pink glow in the dark walleye jig with a big shiner. The fish I caught in the afternoon was on a small airplane jig that my dad has had since the early 1970's. All the fish were caught in 60-65 feet of water. The 2 in the morning were close to the bottom and the afternoon fish was up about 15 feet from the bottom. good luck if anyone else tries for lakers this winter.
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[davetclown]

sounds like you were there on a good bite day,

I went out behind the house sunday, for gills and crappie, they were being a bit finniky slow at best, I did pull in a hundred but threw back eighty four. lots of small ones.
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[Coldfooter]

Mack through the ice?? Man now I've heard every thing!!
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