Jigging for the big Lakers

[Fish Monger]

I can't seem to jig a huge Lake trout to save my soul. Last year on Sebago Lake I moved all over the place, used every lure and technique I ever heard of, and I still couldn't land one. Anything other species is fine, but trout and especially the big ones just don't seem to like what I've got.
At this point I have given up on jigging for them, traps seem to be the only way to go for me.
Any suggestions?
 

[Fish Monger]

There are not that many lakes in York county that are populated with Cusk, but do have Lakers. A couple of lakes I have fished for a while now I am quite familair with. I have depth maps and have pretty well confirmed everything using my fish finder during open water. I have primarily been fishing spots the change dramatically in depth, from 3 to 60 feet. I just don't seem to do anything while jigging. I don't have a problem with Crappies and the like when I am out for those, just large trout. I am begining to thing I need to be completely mobile and not fish a particular area for the entire day.

[bigfish57]

If you are catching crappie on your touge jig perhaps your jig is too small. are you tiping it with cut bait?

[Fish Monger]

No I didn't mean I was catching Crappie while jigging for Trout, I just meant I don't stink at jigging in general. When I go jigging for Crappies I catch Crappies. When I go jiggin for Trout I catch.... well ususally nothing.

[Big Dawg]

what size/knid of jigs do u use and do u tip em with anything?  in NH, we use either 1ounce bucktails or swedish pimples from size 4-9 and both tipped with a peice of sucker meat. hope this helps.
Dave

[grumpymoe]

if you have lake trout, there are 2 good methods that WILL  produce fish. one is rip-jigging a chrome buzzbomb. if you're not sure what rip-jigging is, you quickly lift 4-5 feet and drop you rod tip fast enough to cause slack line on the jig. lake trout will almost always hit when the buzzbomb drops on slack line. the other is big tube jigs, and the color most often used is white. steady jigging will induce hits. lol grumpymoe

[Big Dawg]

what exactly is a buzzbomb?  and who makes em? thanx
Dave

[Fish Monger]

I've used the 1 oz. Bucktail jigs with no success. I have a vast array of Swedish Pimples that don't seem to work. I picked up a couple of Airplane jigs to try this year (haven't fished where I would need them yet).

Thanks for the technique tip grumpymoe, but I would have to ask as well, what the heck is a buzzbomb?
I am assuming tube jigs are the large jig heads that are cased in a "tube" of rubber, some have feathers and bucktail comming out the end around the hook, like the kind they sell to go saltwater fishing with. I haven't had any luck with them.

I can jig some small ones, but never that monster I would consider having mounted.

[Fish Monger]

Well I found out what a Buzzbomb is. You really think that will work huh? Have you ever seen them sold by local bait shops or do I have to order one?

[grumpymoe]

i am lucky enough to have them locally.. i'll take a look when i get home and get you the manufacturer and hopefully remember to post tomorrow morning...they work extremely well for lakers and other species of fish..the ripjigging technique is abit tiring after awhile, but it makes it worthwhile..just a little tip..they are made in other colors, but the chrome seems to work the best..(back to the water clarity/light penetration)  grumpymoe   oh--about the sucker meat--make sure you take the skin off. for some reason, trout will feed on live sucker, but sucker meat is a turn-off if not scaled or skinned..

[Jim_C.]

Andrew, there have been a lot of good points made by other posters. I think it comes down largely to location and timing rather than what you're using.  If you're on a spot that is producing small and medium size fish regularly, I say....stick with it, the big ones will show up.  As far as jig size and so forth, I got my only big laker last year (26") on a size 10 panfish jig tipped with a small shiner tail on a UL jig stick.  The UL jig stick aided in strike detection, which was previously mentioned as a problem. I've been doing OK on Maranacook lately, but jigging has been slow.  Most fish coming on tip-ups.  The fiish don't seem very aggressive....they want a small live bait hanging in front of their noses.

Jim C.

[Fish Monger]

I am going to try and head to Sebago this weekend. Hopefully it will be the day!!!!

[grumpymoe]

here's the info on the buzzbomb.. man, its sure nice to have the site up and running again. its http://buzzbombzzinger.com and they are based in Courtney, B.C. Canada (2 1/2 inchers work best overall)  grumpymoe

[grumpymoe]

a hot little tip from our friend trapperdirk in ontario. (posted on a different site). "i like to add an alkaseltzer tablet inside my tube jig along with a little scent). if that doesn't stimulate a fish, what the heck would??? grumpymoe

[Fish Monger]

Hmmmmm interesting.

[fishermanjake]

if you have lake trout, there are 2 good methods that WILL  produce fish. one is rip-jigging a chrome buzzbomb. if you're not sure what rip-jigging is, you quickly lift 4-5 feet and drop you rod tip fast enough to cause slack line on the jig. lake trout will almost always hit when the buzzbomb drops on slack line. the other is big tube jigs, and the color most often used is white. steady jigging will induce hits. lol grumpymoe

How big of tube jig do you use,  I could use some 8-12 ichers for lakers, arctic char, pike, and burbot.  Haven't found a place that sells them that size yet.

[maine-ly backward]

Andrew, once you get beyond the basics, the main factor in determining your chances of catching a large fish of any species, and particularly those that take a long time to reach sizeable proportions (like Togue), is location. While it's true that you occassionaly hear of the rare, outsized, fish coming from heavily fished waters like Sebago and such, your odds are greatly increased by fishing waters bearing less fishing pressure and which, by virtue of available feed and genetics, are capable of producing large fish. The only other factor (in my experience and in my humble opinion) is keeping your hook in the water. Nobody catches anything sittin on the sofa or ,pleasurable as it is, peckin on the keyboard.
;l.,,,,,,. Good Luck to ya!   

[Fish Monger]

I agree. The worst thing is that I'm a Saturday - Sunday fisherman. I get up for work at 5 AM Monday thru Friday and don't get home any earlier than 4:30 PM. Most nights it's later than that. With the laws in Maine there are only a couple of small ponds in Southern Maine that allow "night fishing" and none contain large Lakers. My opporunity is narrow.

[grumpymoe]

tube jigs around 5-6 inches are plenty..white works well, but don't be afraid to try other colors. smoke color works well also.--trapperdirk with his alkaseltzer and scent in/on the tubejig is something i never thought of or tried. lol grumpy

[maine-ly backward]

Andrew, I can sympathize with you more than you can know. My interest was peaked when my great uncle took me out ice fishing for white perch, oh, about thirty years ago. Since then I have made many personal sacrifices to pursue this sickness called fishing (somebody help me please). I have used family funds which might otherwise have been used to send the kids to Harvard or Yale, bought the Taurus instead of the Hummer, yes and even lived in a mobile home to save money to squander on my fishing pursuits. But oh what fishing I have enjoyed! Trips all over the great State O Maine and then north to the province of Quebec where my greatest triumpths to date have been an eight pound brook trout and a twenty three pound laker. Maybe the Good Lord will one day punish me for the choises I have made, but to date, I am one happy fisherman!

[Reelinrolly]

that trapper always being innovative....lol....i wonder where he gets his ideas frome...ive heard of liquid courage...but liquid smarts...hmmm....lol.. .jk

[grumpymoe]

only one word comes to mind when new ideas pop up. INNOVATIVE. grumpy

[fishermanjake]

i still want bigger tube jigs, and glow in the dark, i'll grab some if i ever find them

[grumpymoe]

fishermanjake  your proximity to saltwater should make it easy to pick up some squid. the thought just crossed my mind when reading the last post about bigger. i honestly think they would make great tube jigs, and the scent??? i would love to try it.  grumpymoe

[LoveIce]

cabelas salt water area on there site has them

[wyojoe]

fishermajake, check out www.finestkind.net for some big baits that might work for you.

[grumpymoe]

speaking of innovative..has anyone tried berkleys tube jigs with bubble scent??? tried on the weekend for the fish derby, but not one single burbot caught..the tablet thats inserted inside the tube produces fairly well timed bubbles, but will be trying alkaseltzer tabs for lakers. will post on how i do...grump

[TroutFishingBear]

Why would somebody want bigger tube jigs? If anything, smaller is better. 3" is premium size and here in colorado, although I have never come close to catching one this big, 40+ pounders are caught daily in some of our lakes, esp. one of them. ( I don't want to say which one) All of these people use 3" tube jigs mostly. You want not just white, but salt and pepper, and chartreuse too. I've had many, many days where white wouldn't buy a hit, but chartreuse would mop them up. Tip it with a teeny 1-2" sucker (dead) through the back or tip it with an anchovy head. You don't want to tip it too much. Also, focus on depths in the 20-60 ft. range. Lake trout are found on the bottom, or in close proximity to the bottom, 95% of the time. Lots of times you might be jigging waaaaay to aggressively. They like pauses and twitches too, but always draw them to the lure by jigging it. You also may not be detecting the hit. Lake trout hit so much lighter than crappie it isn't even funny. Most of the time, you won't even feel the hit. Especially on the big fish. You just start to lift and the added weight is there. Drive the hook home and be ready! A sonar helps too, to know when a laker is looking at your jig, because they don't like it if it is moving too much.

[iceintheveins]

I would start out with tube jigs around 3" long. I like white and chartreuse, with white being the all around best often. Always tip your tubes with a small piece of sucker meat or anchovy meat if you can't find FRESH suckers.
Ask yourself first, what type of baitfish are in the lake? If there are shad, alewives, ciscoes, or whitefish, lake trout will use all parts of th water column and and will be found mostly in 20 - 50 feet of water. Jig for a few minutes right on the bottom, and then spend a minute or two jigging the rest of the water column in 5 - 10 foot increments.
Here in Colorado, we don't have any wandering baitfish. The forage is usually suckers or freshwater shrimp. If your lake lacks the other types of baitfish, lakers will be almost exclusively on the bottom in 30 - 60 feet of water.
Tube jigs seem to always be the ticket. But don't jig too aggressively. One slow lift/fall every 30 seconds is enough. When lakers draw near the jig, jiggling and pausing works really well. Don't overjig. Also, set out tip ups with either live baitfish in the 3 - 7" range, or try bigger baitfish than that if you want just a big one. If live baitfish aren't legal, place the exact same tube jigs you use on your jigging rod on a wind tip up. Tubes always seem to garner more strikes for me on tip ups than plain deadbait or cutbait. I hope this works for you.

Tyler

[Poorboy]

AD, it isn't clear to me from your posts whether you are catching some lakers, even small ones.  Is it just the biggies you don't jig up?  I would love to get more action jigging, but it is a hard sport for me, requiring the same mental effort as sitting while deer hunting.  Twenty minutes of jigging can seem like two hours if I'm constantly thinking "I should be jigging over there" or "I should be using a _____ instead of a pimple". I would love to catch even short togue all day just for the action, but need to hone my skills (and patience).

  My brother and his wife often togue fish without ever setting up traps, they just take the snowmobile and trailer and drill a series of holes at each likely togue spot, jig each one for 15 min, then move to the next desired spot and do likewise.  They end up with as many or more fish than tip-up fishermen. They also stay fired up all day just due to the nature of this type of fishing.