IceShanty.com's Ice Fishing Community
Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Trout => Topic started by: iceintheveins on Dec 08, 2003, 05:44 PM
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I am an avid lake trout fisherman and I catch my share of smaller lakers here in Colorado. I have always noticed that lake trout are the most light striking fish through the ice, not much harder or about the same as a crappie. I catch plenty of them, but most times when they strike you barely feel a tick if anything at all, usually your line goes slack or your rodtip nudges just a tad. For big fish they bite ridiculously light. Is this the same for you guys?
Tyler
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depends what you use. i use big jigs, so when they hit it they hammer it. but when i fished skilak lake they would tend to hit our eggs(not jigged) pretty light, but they would take a bobber down. we missed a buch on account of their hard mouths.
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I TOOK A 17LB LAKER 2YRS AGO,IJUST LIFTED THE POLE AND HE WAS ON.GUTTED THE HOOK AND NEVER FELT A THING BUT BOY WHEN THAT HOOK PLANTED HOME I HAD A 20 MIN FIGHT ON MY HANDS BEFORE I LANDED HIM! IKNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOUR TALKING ABOUT.
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very hard hitters when jigging but otherwise they can be light lippers with a tendency to drop the bait--try some tube jigs and see if there is a difference lol :'(
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Here's a story about light hitting lakers. About a dozen years ago I was on a skiing vacation .We were staying in Leadville, so I talked my brother into fishing Turquoise Lake. Had a windlass set with a light jig, and a schooley jigging pole with a spring bobber, both tipped with sucker meat. The tip-up must have gone off ten times, and the spring bobber would move about .25 0f in. and no more. We were shooting the breeze, not paying too much attention to our rigs when a loud scraping sound was heard. Looked over in time to see the butt end of the pole go down the hole! Had a spare pole, and we landed 4-5 small fish all14-18". Must have missed well over a dozen strikes in four hours. All fish hooked feeling for bottom with airplane jig/sucker meat. My brother passed on that same year; but I still smile whenever I look at that picture of him proudly holding his first lake trout on Turquoise Lake.
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It's not so much they are light strikers, but when jigging for them, often,they grab the jig on the drop so you really don't feel the hit,if you are jigging and not paying attention to your line 100% of the time, you are missing at least 75% of the hits.
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Trout (browns and rainbows) mostly in these parts, do love to grab it on the way down. Last year, got a nice rainbow when I saw my Swedish Pimple going sideways, insead of down on the drop. As suggested above, never felt a thing. Had it happen dropping minnows down as well. Staying attentive when jigging definately improves your chances.
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I was very surprised at how many responded and said that by their experience they found laketrout to be light biters .
I have rarely found this to be true in my area . They slam a minnow deadsticked or on a tip up . Then they just run like hell with it . Reminds me of pike only they will spool you where a pike only runs so far .
One thing I have seen them do before , is slap at a minnow because at times I have caught them this way in the tail . Then they come back and pick up the bait and run .
As far as jigging them , we all seem to agree they slam a bait .
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All I can say is here in Colorado whether you are jigging or using tip ups, lakers are light biters, lighter than walleyes or even crappies. Half of your strikes will be ticks and the other half won't even be that. The bigger the lake trout, often the lighter the bite.
We fished up at Taylor Reservoir last week and between the three of us landed 20 lake trout in the 16 - 22" range. Only two hit like normal fish, the rest barely nudged it or were just added weight. It must be different here in Colorado, because everyone says they hit very light and never hard. Colorado is also a state that has plenty of pike in many lakes, though they are extremely hard to catch through the ice. So we live in a weird state, but you can still catch plenty of nice lakers, rainbows, brookies, browns, cutthroats, walleyes, crappies, perch, and bluegills.
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I catch tons of lakers, and I've only ever had one hit hard in my life. Most of the time they are just added weight or they just tap it. I jig, I use big jigs, I use all methods that some people are saying they slam it, and for me, they dont. I guess it depends on what kind of minnows are in the lake because i am the fourth person that is from Colorado that has posted on this, and in all my years of laker fishing I've NEVER talked to anyone that said that lakers hit hard, it surprises me that some people think they do, but my baitfish theory could be the reason.
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I agree with the baitfish theory. In Lake Superior when the lakers are feeding on smelt and herring the hits can wake you up in a hurry. I've caught the nibblers as well and they often had small stickleback inside. These stickleback don't move as fast as the bigger bait and don't have to chased as hard. My opinion. 8)
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I don't think I have ever seen one take bait or a jig light, I can not count how many times the flag has gone off and by the time I get to it, it's spooled.. We troll streamers for them ice out and in the fall and they absoulutely hammer them.. How big do you usually catch them? Lake trout under 24" usually are not as agressive as the fish bigger than 24"..It could be, it is just how they act in colorado.. I have been told that they stun bait espesialy when swimming through schools of bait fish, it could be this is what is happening...
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I agree with the minnows maybe moving slow and the lakers not having to chase them.
I have caught tons of giant lakers, and they hit just as light or lighter
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Never seen a lightly striking laker. Well, maybe the smaller guys
below 20'. I used to use superlines for my jigging and I had a lot
of jigs and spoons simply ripped off my line by the lakers' strikes.
I switched back to the mono - it stretches and seems to help to survive the strike.
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Lakers in NH always hit hard for me.
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I never did lakers through the ice, but I have fished ice out in upstate N.Y. Spent my time casting a silver little cleo out to the middle of the lake( o.k., not the middle, but as far as I could). Let it sink to the bottom, wait 20 seconds, then reel. I think I got slamed 5 out of 6 times, caught up to 35 in one hour. And they SLAMED it! :D
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Almost all the ones I have caught ice fishing have hit light, except when using tube jigs they have hit the bait a lot more aggressively. I have also caught lakers in open water trolling which have also hit hard.
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I catch plenty of lakers and some big ones on tube jigs. I think it's just the way they act here in Colorado. Most of the forage they feed on in the winter (suckers, freshwater shrimp) move slowly. On sonar they often will reject a lure 4 or 5 times in a row before taking. The take is often as light or lighter than a crappie bite. And I am using a very sensitive rod and six pound mono. You feel the hit a little better on fireline, but fireline freezes too much and slows down your jig too much. They definately want the bait moving a little bit though, as jigging usually outproduces my tip ups 4 to 1. The bite of a 16" laker feels the same as a 16 pounder. They hit harder in open water. No one here in Colorado has ever said lakers hit hard. It just doesn't happen here. Probably just the area.
Tyler
Tyler
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Most lakers here are light strikers. Taking the jig as it drops. Lot of times your line just goes slack. Sometimes it seems the bigger they are the lighter they hit.
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hey guys ....I think you are both sides are right....
I almost exclusively fish for lakers...and have for many years.....
Part of it has to do with the types of forage some lakes contain...lite biters generally will forage tight to the bottom and in lakes where there is an absence of bait fish
the lakers will primarily feed on crustacians ans insect larva etc...
In these cases the lakers primary food source dosent try to escape capture....and they feed at will and slowly across the bottom....these are generally your lite biting type of trout....
another bite affecting factor can be weather....
high pressure and sunny conditions have a tendancy to keep the trout biting lite and feeding slowly and deeply , tight to the bottom....big or small will bite lite from time to time....
now here once the lakes flip over temp wise you can start to fish for trout cruising off the bottom....
usually your more mature trout.....these trout will slam your bait....
in a lot of cases the bigger trout are crusing just under the ice for the easy meal of plankton.... but they wont pass up on a minnow that happens to appear in front of them.... these trout will absolutely slam your bait....
I have watched through my hole in a darkened hut as a 30lb laker passes my minnow and turns around rises about a foot and then dives from above onto my helpless minnow....oh ya the fish smashed it and broke my line....
so here both cases can be true....
I have also seen a few rods disappear into the depths owned by sober fisherman standing 5 feet away from them...
I have learned how to catch the lite biters....from lots of practice....but there is nothing more exciting than a rod slamming the ice and having to run to get it...
gotta like lakers
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Good points, but I do not agree with the high pressure/sunny day = light strikes and deeper fish.. I fished this past weekend with a high pressure sunny day scenerio both days and the lake trout were in a frenzy 5-8ft below the ice ALL DAY LONG...Don't get me wrong I see your logic, but sometimes you can't use logic when fishing for lakers...I started out with 3 tipups set 15-20 ft under the ice and 2 about 5 ft below...When the 2 that were 5 ft under the ice gave up 3 nice fish in an hour and a half, I chose to set the other 3 the same and started jigging just under the ice... Let me just say I chose wisely...I feel its all where the bait fish are running if the smelt (in my case) are just under the ice so are the lake trout if they are feeding...The same goes if the smelt are on the bottom...But then they throw A, we are hitting nothing but jigs day at you just when you think you figured them out...
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I continue to have no trouble catching lakers here in Colorado. This has been a good year, though no big ones. I lost probably the biggest one of my life last trip. I am sure he was 20 - 30 pounds. The tip up went off and he took about 30 yards before I set the hook. I fought him and several times he ran the tip up almost bare. And this is 25 pound tip up line and 25 pound fluorocarbon. I fought him for 20 minutes before the jig hook popped out 10 feet below the hole after I got him to go directly below the hole once again.
Jigging though the hit is extremely slight. And this is using tube jigs. Rainbows, browns, and other trout hit way harder than macks.
Here in Colorado like I have said they eat slow moving forage like suckers and freshwater shrimp. This may be the reason for the light hits. I have found no difference in any lakes in Colorado, or any difference in the strike from time of day, weather, how active the fish are, and time of year. They just hit light. Period.
Tyler
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I fish Colorado for lakers, used to fish the smaller trout then finally got the laker bug and it's way more fun. I fished for lakers when I was young with my dad but all the lakes close to where we lived only had bows Browns and brooks. We always fished with small jigs and bobbers for strikes was easier to watch 2 poles. Then the laker buzz started some of them big jigs and spoons we used needed a big bobber to hold it suspended a little bit and you rarely saw a hit. We have set jawjackers for lakers with no luck. Finally I set a ratso down the hole for rainbows at the Granby tourney and ended up with a decent 20" laker off it. If we are holding a rod dead sticking it's hard to feel the lakers hit so any tap we set the hook and usually have good luck if there's nothing there we set it back and wait again figuring it was a tail slap. But we have had fish slam jigs this is mostly when we're jigging up or reeling up watchin a fish on the flasher. When we finally get them to chase they will a lot of times slam the jig. Otherwise it seems like they just let it fall into their mouth on the down jig. So we have had all kinds of hits from lakers but more times than not its light light bites. And a good rod is the key or having the wire strike indicators on the tip of the rod is a help but with a heavier jig it just bends them over anyways so I don't use them. We helped a guy land a 32" laker last year at the tourney and he said he was just dead sticking his bigger rod when he hit and almost stole his pole. So when I do dead stick a rod I like putting it in the jawjackers just as a rod holder so I don't lose a rod haha
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I remember 4 years ago when I caught my first laker while casting in open water before the ice season. I think I ended up catching 4 that year and everyone that hit would try to rip my rod out of my hand. I had 1 hit so hard that it put teeth marks on my spoon. In December of 2014 I was able to catch my first laker through the ice. They also would hit pretty hard. On 2 separate occasions I was able to get a laker to hit more than once because I wasn't able to get a good hook set. I also was able to catch my first steelhead through the ice that year and that fish also hit hard. The lakers out here were mostly feeding on shad and averaged around 10lbs. Not sure if that makes a difference as to why they hit hard here.
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My buddies and I catch small lakers. One of them showed me a trick that really seems to work------use a slip float. Fishing by sight rather than feel you are not pulling the bait from their mouth when they just nibble. Watch the float dip up and down slightly but when the float goes under completely, set the hook.
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Think it depends how you are fishing for them. Locally when we are jigging them when we mark them we will rip the jig away from them and reel as fast as we can, when they chase and start catching up I'll slow down a touch and jig a little while still reeling and they usually slam it. Couple I could only get to chase a few feet then stop I would drop back down and try jigging with out ripping away then dead stick. Many times when I they hit them it can be a light take.