Jigging for Lakers

[perch bait]

Hello fellow Ice Anglers,
My Dad and I are probably going to be striking out in search of a good Lake Trout bite next weekend and I'm hoping that we will be able to get a couple jigging. Last year, I was able to experience a descent laker bite on Crystal Lake and put our new fish finder to the test. It was really cool to watch the fish come charging up to the bait and chase it all over the place before finally making the mistake of eating it. I used primarily spoons last year, but this year we have upgraded our arsenal and added some plastics and hard baits. The rod I'll be using is a Fenwick Elite Tech 27" Medium with a Pflueger Trion. The line I will be using is 6lb Seaguar Invizx Line. What lb. test line do you guys use for lakers? What's your Laker arsenal look like? What kind of features in contour do you look for when selecting a spot for Laker fishing? Any information is helpful. Thanks and Tight Lines, PB.

[perchkiller123]

I use 8 pound braid for a main line with a 8 pound floro leader. 234016048Hen looking for a spot to fish I usually for a large flat next to dep water. The best spots I have found are flats in about 20 to 30 feet contacted to 80. I fish right above the drop off on the flat. I use spoons tipped with smelt heads or smelt meat.

[perchkiller123]

234016048Hen... Sorry I meant when. I hate spell check

[spot]

Most of my lakers have been taken using hand lines on braided nylon line (35-45 lb. test) with a couple of feet of 8 lb. mono as a leader with a swivel in between and either jigged with spoons or vertical plugs or rigged smelt. Usually I've found smelt first and then caught a laker among them and then switched over the one of the above lures/methods. I'm not against fish finders really, but I'll probably never have one because in the same way that part of the fishing thrill is catching fish on things I've made myself, a big part of it is reading the water and trying to guess where the fish will be. Often I get it right, but there are always those times I don't.

Usually I've found the bigger ones right near the bottom, following schools of baitfish in 50-80 feet of water. In the summer I've caught them as much as 200 feet down.

[thefishingweatherman]

We like to look for underwater structure when picking spots on laker lakes. The navionics site is great for that: https://webapp.navionics.com/#@6&key=s_qnGby%7C%7DL

The depth depends on the time of year, and the body of water. We had the best luck on Champlain last year in 60-80 feet. Caspian this year has been most productive for us in 40-60 feet. Look for flat areas, in those depths, adjacent to much deeper water. I think the lakers come up from the depths to feed on baitfish in the shallower water.

Other productive areas are near where streams come into the lakes. I think smelt like to hang out around those areas, and where there's smelt, there's lakers.

As for technique, it's hard to beat jigging, especially if you have a finder. Two weekends ago Erik's dad came up from Maine. He was all about the tip ups with live minnows near bottom. Had three setup with shiners in a row. On each end of this, we were jigging out of two additional holes and getting fish after fish! Well, he only had 3 flags all day, and only one of them had a fish on... A little 16" laker... You know there were fish all around those shiners too, since we were getting them on the jig.

Lures: We typically get them on berkley rubber swim shads - the ones with the really wobbly tails. They have a real life-like action underwater. Color doesn't seem to matter a whole lot, but we have had our best luck on the ones that have colors similar to yellow perch. White storm swim shads can be productive, especially on Champlain, where there are alewives. I have also got them on kast master lures, tipped with a minnow.

Technique: Drop your jig to bottom and bang it up a bit to kick up dust. Then come up about 3 or 4 feet and jig. When you see a fish coming in, start reeling up at a medium speed. 9 times out of 10, they will chase it down. They'll sometimes absolutely CRUSH the lure. Erik's dad was surprised by how aggressively they chased. He always thought they were somewhat lazy fish - probably because he had never seen that on a finder. I don't think he'll be using tip ups all that much anymore. haha.

Good luck!

[bootstrap]

great report and tips. thanks.

[SirCranksalot]

234016048Hen... Sorry I meant when. I hate spell check

54321heck!!

[spot]

I've caught them jigging with big daredevil spoons too. Drop it all the way down to the bottom, wait a second, then jig it up a couple of times and let it settle, then again, and then after a couple of jig-ups, start reeling in fairly fast. A laker or walleye will see it getting away and hit it hard, as the weatherman says above.

[perch bait]

Thanks for the pointers guys! Hopefully I'll be able to stick a couple good sized lakers this weekend!

[koissu]

Thanks gentlemen!

[troutcrazy]

Great stuff!  I caught my first laker in open water this past December, but I've yet to catch one through the ice.

[fishy1]

Great stuff!  I caught my first laker in open water this past December, but I've yet to catch one through the ice.

do you dare tell how you caught that laker and what you caught it on. i found it interesting since i caught one soon after you left landing a white perch which the laker engulfed.