Laker Chasers I need some advice

[Gillpill]

So I've only eve fished for Lakers through the ice once. Just wanted to know what the majority of you like to use for line and bait. I know a lot of guys use fluke style baits on jig heads or tubes but trying to get an idea. None of the lakes around me with Lakers will probably freeze again or at all this year but hoping they might. Thank you all, stay safe and tight lines.

[Eaglecrg]

You've already hit on some of the better options.  I like white tube jigs, deer hair jigs (white), and silver swedish pimples.  I seldom use colors other than white or silver.  Not sure what number the pimples are that I use but they are about 3" long.  Most places that have Lake Trout have either smelt or whitefish/cisco in them which are their main forage base.  They are very silvery in the water which is why I stick to white or silver 95% of the time.  Scent is also important to lakers I believe so I usually either apply scent to my offering or attach a bit of fish skin/flesh or something to the hook to give it some smell.  When I jig for lakers I use a pretty big sweep with the rod a lot, especially with tubes as it gives excellent action on the fall.  Just keep a tight line to the jig.  Its been my experience that when lakers do decide to hit, they don't mess around.  Lots of folks will recommend reeling in as fast as you can when a laker approaches as they often don't like to let prey get away.  Sometimes this works, sometimes they turn around, but its an option if you're getting lookers but no takers.  There's a lot of info on fishing for lakers if you go to the trout section at the very bottom of the "Community" listings.

[reeleyz]

I run 10 lb. fireline with a 3' leader of 10 lb. fluorocarbon. I do well with Berkley gulp 3" minnows. I like a 3/4 oz. gumball style jig head.

[cold_feet]

WHen Fishing Lakers its a game with them to take a lure.  Tube jigs or those swim tails are a great choice to start or a locating lure.  Electronics are a must when jigging. I fish in a hut that has heat so for inside I go with a braided line because it will not stretch when fishing 90 ft of water. I put a small swivel not snap swivel just swivel at end of the braid and tie on about 5 to 10 ft Floro leader off that. then attach lure. Make sure that swivel goes through the tip top  weight of leader and mainline is depending on average fish in the lake.. I am not fishing 30lb leader for 5 lb lakers.  nor wil I fish 6 lb leader for 30 lb Lakers although that would be a challenge.   Outside of the shanty when you move around find a low stretch line that doesn't freeze.  Lakers love to chase lures and they never are in one specific location in the water Column So you need to fish it all.. Drop the lure to the bottom. Work it hard to attract fish bang the bottom what have you. Now start reeling that lure up and twtich it as you go up like 20 slow pause and twitch then reel up 20 twitch than swim it up to withing 10 ft of surface and drop it back down start over again.  WHen you see a fish come at the lure on the locator Swim that lure up and watch the fish It will follow right on the back of the lure Dont stop reeling keep it going like a minnow escaping that prey fish If the Trout drops off Drop that lure back to the fish  and work him over again. Tease that fish to attack again and start reeling once it goes into that attack mode  Try speeding it up this time.  The idea here is to tick that fish off into a reaction strike. Those fish swim fast you almost can not reel fast enough.   When it hits its not going to rip the rod out of your hand but any tap  Nail it. .  If you see two fish on your lure .You will get a hit for sure so pay attention.  If you get short hit all the time. tie on a trailer hook or small treble like a 10   When fishing a spoon a little meat helps too. ..
 

[Cal64]

I have played around with a bunch of different types of line, found that straight braid was great for feeling the bite in deep water, but I lost a lot of the big guys(10 pounds +). Mono, with its extreme stretch takes up the slack from the head shake, and the big fish stay on better. Downfall to mono is that it doesn't take much water,(30 ft), before You can miss the bite entirely,again due to the stretch. Finally settled on braid with a 10 ft mono leader. This combo has increased my catch rate a lot.

[KeukaZ71]

I like strata spoons. I use 6.5-7 ft baitcasting rod.

[Gillpill]

Thank you all, I sincerely appreciate all the advice. Hoping some Lakes with Lakers freeze up around here so I can get out after them.

[pmac3]

I like the 3/8 oz. white Krocodile spoon with pearl tape, tipped with sucker meat.

[conesusguy]

You're talking about Hemlock and Canadice lakes.  In my experience, they are notoriously difficult places to catch lakers through the ice.  Especially jigging.  All but one of my fish came from tip ups.  It's one thing to catch their attention, another to get them to strike.  I have had them chase plastics 20 feet at a time, only once did I manage a strike.  Definitely must have sonar, and definitely have to put your time in on those lakes.  They are both stuffed with smelt, we fish in the summer and read out massive clouds of baitfish, in comparison  bigger groups than I often measure up here on Lake O trolling for salmon.  It's like any kind of fishing, you have to put your time in, but in my experienced opinion, they are tough lakes to fish.  If you can jig up smelt, (which is easy), save them for bait and use them.  My 2 cents.

[Gillpill]

Thank you, I've heard they can be difficult but I'm going to fish it hard.

[SizeMatters]

WHen Fishing Lakers its a game with them to take a lure.  Tube jigs or those swim tails are a great choice to start or a locating lure.  Electronics are a must when jigging. I fish in a hut that has heat so for inside I go with a braided line because it will not stretch when fishing 90 ft of water. I put a small swivel not snap swivel just swivel at end of the braid and tie on about 5 to 10 ft Floro leader off that. then attach lure. Make sure that swivel goes through the tip top  weight of leader and mainline is depending on average fish in the lake.. I am not fishing 30lb leader for 5 lb lakers.  nor wil I fish 6 lb leader for 30 lb Lakers although that would be a challenge.   Outside of the shanty when you move around find a low stretch line that doesn't freeze.  Lakers love to chase lures and they never are in one specific location in the water Column So you need to fish it all.. Drop the lure to the bottom. Work it hard to attract fish bang the bottom what have you. Now start reeling that lure up and twtich it as you go up like 20 slow pause and twitch then reel up 20 twitch than swim it up to withing 10 ft of surface and drop it back down start over again.  WHen you see a fish come at the lure on the locator Swim that lure up and watch the fish It will follow right on the back of the lure Dont stop reeling keep it going like a minnow escaping that prey fish If the Trout drops off Drop that lure back to the fish  and work him over again. Tease that fish to attack again and start reeling once it goes into that attack mode  Try speeding it up this time.  The idea here is to tick that fish off into a reaction strike. Those fish swim fast you almost can not reel fast enough.   When it hits its not going to rip the rod out of your hand but any tap  Nail it. .  If you see two fish on your lure .You will get a hit for sure so pay attention.  If you get short hit all the time. tie on a trailer hook or small treble like a 10   When fishing a spoon a little meat helps too. ..
 

  In my limited experience, this is GREAT advice for lakers on Canadice.  Don't over think it, if you're not seeing fish, move.

[perryt]

Jig , Jig , Jig if you get a looker start reeling up as fast as you can and hold on  ..................... they will come up like a rocket and smash your BLADE BAIT ( SONAR ) ! That's the technique that can get you in the double figures on Keuka ( Laker water freezes occasionally )
Most guys won't even fish Hemlock or Canadice due to the difficult bite as stated by others ! If your lucky Wiggum Sr. will see this and add some info ....................he's the Laker master 

[Garufi518]

I was literally just telling my buddy 5 mins ago that I wanted to learn how to jig lakers...this thread is awesome props to you guys for sharing knowledge 👍🏻 Thank you

[gmuddle]

 Many Thanks for all of the good advice from you guys who contributed. Looking forward to trying Otsego for the first time this year, safe ice permitting, and trying some of your techniques.

[Garufi518]

How big of a rod do u use

[cold_feet]

Med to med Heavy to heavy
Does that make sense to you?  I got 3 or 4 heavy rods I use for Pike and trout.  Most are home made rods but they have some action not a broom handle but not wimpy either.  You got to remember you are fishing deep water like 90 ft or better. You also might just hang into a 30 lb laker.  Dont go with a rod thats made for walleye because that thing is a wimp jigging heavy lures. And when you do hook a fish you want to be able to turn its head into the hole.  Ive lost fish that rub themselves on the ice snagging a hook into the ice and they come off. Lakers are no dummies they humble ya real quick if you dont pay attention to them.. MAny lakes you might just be lucky to get one on a day. many times you get skunked Other lakes you might get 10 fish a day. Go well prepared with rods.  Youll find one you really like.. One of my favorite rods I used for near everything I had it blow up in my hand on a fish. Damn thing broke in 4 places through the strain of the runs. I got a couple rods now that split the duty. I keep switching rods to switch out lures  and thats all on the weight of the lure too.. Preferance to start though is a 36" Med heavy  if your hut can take the length then go up from their to 40" Heavy.  Youll Like that long sweep for hook sets trust me on that/

[Gillpill]

Thank you everyone who shared advice on here, I look forward to hopefully being able to use it next year.

[captin bill]

3/4 ounce blue n silver cleo with naked lady on the blade tied to fireline crystal

[bigredonice]

I used spoons and flukes for many years, but in the last 6 years, everywhere Ive fished from the finger lakes to the adirondacks, its been all about swimbaits.   Keitechs, Big Hammers, Ripple Shads, Sassy Shads.   I try to make my offering close in shape and color to what the fish are eating.   I will cut the belly right off the plastic and use a narrow jighead to imitate smelt, or use full size to imitate alewives.   When the fish are very aggressive, color and shape don't matter, just get your lure down there!  Jigheads with eyes definetly make a big difference at times, and the single hook of a jighead does almost no damage compared to the big trebles that were on the old buckshot spoons I used to use.

I use mono if I am fishing less than 20 feet of water, everything else its 6lb fireline with either an 8lb or 12lb flouro leader.   

I've fished canadice, and those fish certainly are tricky.  It seems like for them its more about when they decide to start feeding or chasing, not being on right spot or pattern, just gotta be in an area with fish.

[slipbob]

C'mon bigred you know those plastics don't trigger bites for lakers or walleyes in the fall.  You still need big spoons and a bucket of $8 a dozen emeralds to jig lakers

[bigredonice]

C'mon bigred you know those plastics don't trigger bites for lakers or walleyes in the fall.  You still need big spoons and a bucket of $8 a dozen emeralds to jig lakers

    i wonder how i got on the swimbait kick...hmm....who was it now that showed me that when i was struggling to catch one day Must have been a pretty cool guy    thanks Slip! 

PS: I just realized, you were also the one that showed me the storm swimbaits for eyes WAY back in the day.   

[slipbob]

Right back at ya   We learn things from each other and it all adds up to make us better fisherman and figure out the puzzle of finding and making fish bite more often  

[captin bill]

Well for anglers just learning nothing beats a jig thats easy to understand . Tite lines n practice cpr!

[youngmook500]

Can never go wrong with a blue and silver laker taker

[lowaccord66]

I do what bigredonice and slipbob do.  Listening to them pays nice dividends!  Modifying plastics is a new addiction....