Catching the big laker thread

[addicted2fishin]

So guys real quick need some advice. Went out this morning with my little brother an got onto a nice school of lakers in 70 FOW an suspended @ 50. We caught a nice mess of them around 16-21"
Long. My question is though do the big ones hang out with these guys or do they run solo? Looking to qualify this year for the tourny thanks guys

[surflizard]

The big lakers here don't seem interested in the average sized baits, I had better luck teasing in the bigger lakers with 5 inch bass tubes in white and metalic colors, they do hang with the smaller lakers sometime for an easy meal, Big Lakers are Wicked Cannibals ! 

[bigredonice]

Yes and no.   My biggest lake trout have come while catching all sizes of lake trout on a really good lake trout spot.   

Then again I have some locations where the only lakers I catch are between 12" and 20" yet 1/2 mile away, same depth, they average 18"-27".  Other spots I've caught only trout over 25".   

Usually on a day when the big fish are around, the lakers are running a little bigger than average that day.   But then again, the biggest trout I've ever personally seen landed came right after a 12" fish and was followed up by a 14" trout.

[stevek]

With most species of predatory fish you don't find the real big ones with the eaters (legal but not huge). Not saying you can't catch one there, but your better off moving if you want a bigger fish. You also need to realize that as size goes up quantity goes down, so you won't have as much action with all things being equal. Bigger fish are usually on the best realstate. If you want to eat some, hit the smaller ones first and then start looking.

[yukon_guy]

I have 11 lakers this season, 8 at 27 to 40 inches, all caught in 3 to 5 fow. Three, 21 to 25 inches, caught in 70 to 120 feet and about 20 off bottom. Was the same last year. Mostly on 6 inch spoons (all the small ones), but a couple of the large ones on 3 1/2 inch spoons. Never caught one with bait but have tried. Buddy with bait won't give it up but only has one this year. I've been out more but I've caught three with him right next to me. And three others at the same spot and day but our times only overlapped by 1/2 hour. All this fishing in the same lake spread over a mile or two. Actually 90 percent is less than 1/4 mile from my door and 50 to 300 yards out on the ice.

Anyone else recognize this pattern?

[surflizard]

My biggest laker last season also came out of skinny water too, 28" of water while I was fishing shallow for Rainbows ?