Lake trout line choice

[Pasquatch]

In those waters they tend to eat dead or dying kokanee. The primary forage though are slow moving, bottom oriented baitfish like suckers, and also mysis shrimp.

Tyler

Sculpins too, I bet! We've got them in Lake George !

[bigredonice]

the lakers definetly eat sculpins in lake george...so do the big perch

[iceintheveins]

We have mottled sculpin that are common in the rivers and are a forage for browns and rainbows, though more so browns because browns like the rocky, swiftwater habitat more than rainbows, which is where sculpins frequent. Rainbows seem to be more in deep, slow and soft bottom holes, and suckers are the most common baitfish to be found in their stomachs.
I'm not sure how common the mottled sculpin are in the lakes around here. Never seen them in the lakes though, but since the rivers have them I'm sure they must be present in some degree.
The lakers might be pretty lethargic, but the big ones still fight like mad. The monster I hooked last year on my tip up took line like I had hooked the end of the tip up line to an amtrak.

Tyler

[bigredonice]

we also have mottled sculpins in our streams, but we also have slimy sculpins in our lakes, which does make up a percentage of our laker's diets, but other fish also target the slimy sculpins, like big perch in deeper water.

[toguebuster]

terry what lake are you fishing would love to go! i take a trip every winter!would love the cance to lose a 20lb fish never mind a 30

[TGF]

I live in northern BC, Canada. I want to catch that 94lber the Fisheries caught and released a few years back.

[Pasquatch]

we also have mottled sculpins in our streams, but we also have slimy sculpins in our lakes, which does make up a percentage of our laker's diets, but other fish also target the slimy sculpins, like big perch in deeper water.

I had a perch from up in Hague coughing them up...uggghh....
BigRed, Imagine if we had 94lbers! Holy Crap! It would be just about impossible to catch...

[toguebuster]

how much for a non resident alien license? i always hated that word

[bigredonice]

BigRed, Imagine if we had 94lbers! Holy Crap! It would be just about impossible to catch...

it would be crazy...i get all excited when i hook and lose a mear 20lber...good god - a 90lb lake trout ?? i couldnt even fathom it .   Could you imagine how old that beast would be?? probably 80+ years old...

[Pasquatch]

BigRed, Imagine if we had 94lbers! Holy Crap! It would be just about impossible to catch...

it would be crazy...i get all excited when i hook and lose a mear 20lber...good god - a 90lb lake trout ?? i couldnt even fathom it .   Could you imagine how old that beast would be?? probably 80+ years old...

Mere 20 lber, heck catching a five pounder is exhilirating...
Maybe older..
Imagine that 90 pounder hooked in the tail! It takes 5 minutes to get a six pounder hooked like that to get to the hole! It would be amazing if we could keep it from spooling us!

[bigredonice]

Imagine that 90 pounder hooked in the tail!

Fishing rod...BROKEN??

[TroutFishingBear]

I could probably catch an 8 lb. laker on 1 lb. test. They have very little pull to them. You guys talking about hard-hitting lakers makes anybody from around here laugh like crazy when I tell them.

[camo_fish]

I could probably catch an 8 lb. laker on 1 lb. test. They have very little pull to them. You guys talking about hard-hitting lakers makes anybody from around here laugh like crazy when I tell them.

You have no idea, you'll need to plan a trip to NY sometime and the guys around here could hook you up on some out-of-this-world George laker fishing trip. Hard hitting, suspended and some massive numbers of lakers on the ice.  It would a heck of a learning trip. the laker bite on George is just crazy at times. My first year targeting them with a jig pole and second time out I put 35 on the ice from 9a-1245p, all hard hitting aggressive lakers, with about 5 over the 23" legal size.  8)
yea I wouldn't believe it either, but BigRed was there. 

[Pasquatch]

I don't know if we could catch a 2  pound laker on 1lb test! Our fish are crazy! Well I could, cause I got skills!

[TroutFishingBear]

Here I can get anywhere from 10-20 lakers in a hard day of fishing. Probably about 3 or 4 at about 23" or over. All of them lighthitting, bottom dwelling lakers. A lot of you need to come experience real lakers, aka "mountain chub".

[Pasquatch]

Here I can get anywhere from 10-20 lakers in a hard day of fishing. Probably about 3 or 4 at about 23" or over. All of them lighthitting, bottom dwelling lakers. A lot of you need to come experience real lakers, aka "mountain chub".

Easy day of fishing with MY NEW VEX will see me catching a few million Jk
I think WE have the real lakers, TFB

[camo_fish]

Here I can get anywhere from 10-20 lakers in a hard day of fishing. Probably about 3 or 4 at about 23" or over. All of them lighthitting, bottom dwelling lakers. A lot of you need to come experience real lakers, aka "mountain chub".

Easy day of fishing with MY NEW VEX will see me catching a few million Jk
I think WE have the real lakers, TFB

ain't that the truth, but I'm sure it is awesome out there too. 

[toguebuster]

i dont know ,i think my vote is for terry gone fishing,95 lb lakers, if i would be jiiging in that lake i think i would be trembling all day with anticipation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Pasquatch]

That would be amazing, but there's no way you are  going to catch it if it fights like ours! That's a broken arm waiting to happen. Better hope that hog fights like it is from Colorado and is skinny like an eel, cause there is no way it going through the hole otherwise...

[TroutFishingBear]

That would be amazing, but there's no way you are  going to catch it if it fights like ours! That's a broken arm waiting to happen. Better hope that hog fights like it is from Colorado and is skinny like an eel, cause there is no way it going through the hole otherwise...

Now a 95 rainbow would pull you in through the hole. A 95 pound laker would scream drag... maybe equivalent to a 30 pound rainbow? Maybe our lakers fight weak because they are fatter than yours and slow?

[Pasquatch]

That would be amazing, but there's no way you are  going to catch it if it fights like ours! That's a broken arm waiting to happen. Better hope that hog fights like it is from Colorado and is skinny like an eel, cause there is no way it going through the hole otherwise...

Now a 95 rainbow would pull you in through the hole. A 95 pound laker would scream drag... maybe equivalent to a 30 pound rainbow? Maybe our lakers fight weak because they are fatter than yours and slow?

We have some pretty fat lakers, the fatter they are the harder they fight. Pound for pound through the ice, lakers fight harder than bows. Although I've never caught rainbows around 29" and 8 pounds...maybe they fight that hard...

[TroutFishingBear]

Hook even a 16" 2 lb. bow here and he takes line for almost a minute straight before you can turn him. A 24" cuttbow like I caught this year on my deadstick worm rod fought about 8 minutes or so, with many runs of spooling 20-30 yards of line. A 29" rainbow (probably about 9-10 lbs. here, our bows are obese) would scream line from the drag, would probably almost take all the line off. The almost 8 lber I caught once took nearly 80 yards of line before I moved him. A laker only begins to spool when about 6 lbs. The fatter our lakers are, the slower they move and the less they fight. You hook one (a good fish isn't usually felt until you start to lift up to jig again and your jig is a bit heavier) and it moves like slowly, just faster than a snag. Then, when you turn it, you just crank it up. The 6.5 lber I got this year, I got his head out of the water (head like a 10 lb. fish) and then he spooled line to the bottom (45 fow) then I got him back up with no fight. The 16 lber mack caught fought nice though, maybe like a 7 pound bow. (2 years ago I believe)

You northeasterners wanna trade lakers? Yours are cool; they fight hard, they hit hard, they suspend and move around... ours suck,  the don't hit, they fight like weaklings, they are right on the bottom almost all of the time, and they don't move much! Who cares if we have bigger ones if they aren't as fun to catch?

[Pasquatch]

Maybe we'll ship a few over if we can get those juiced up rainbows and cutbows!

[TroutFishingBear]

Maybe we'll ship a few over if we can get those juiced up rainbows and cutbows!

DEAL! maybe our rainbows and cuttbows are like lakers to you guys: they suspend (although in 8-12 ft. of water over 20) and hit so hard they almost jerk the rod out of your hand. (that is if they are 16"+, the smaller ones just tap it). Who's going to pay for shipping

[Pasquatch]

The lakers are heavier, they cost more to ship! lol
16", 1 1/2-2lb rainbows that I find, (not too common) fight like weaklings, through the ice atleast. Open water, trout are the best! (Along with bass, pike, bluegills, pickerel, catfish, and all the other fish out here! Lakers are just boots from deep water in the summer,,,uggggghhh  
The hardest fighting fish of all time? Hook up with a 30" bowfin in Black Lake! That is honestly, terrifying. I've never been actually scared while fishing, except for that time. The thing attacked a 9" perch I had on my line (freelining a weedbed) and stripped off 100 yards of 20 pound test before it broke, yes broke, a brand new #2 Gamakatsu Octopus hook.  

[toguebuster]

trout maybe you oughta tighten your drag,or fish something heavier than 2lb test lol just kidding,i hear ya our lakers do fight great in the northeast but ill take a bow on a fly anyday!!!!

[TroutFishingBear]

The lakers are heavier, they cost more to ship! lol
16", 1 1/2-2lb rainbows that I find, (not too common) fight like weaklings, through the ice atleast. Open water, trout are the best! (Along with bass, pike, bluegills, pickerel, catfish, and all the other fish out here! Lakers are just boots from deep water in the summer,,,uggggghhh 
The hardest fighting fish of all time? Hook up with a 30" bowfin in Black Lake! That is honestly, terrifying. I've never been actually scared while fishing, except for that time. The thing attacked a 9" perch I had on my line (freelining a weedbed) and stripped off 100 yards of 20 pound test before it broke, yes broke, a brand new #2 Gamakatsu Octopus hook. 

LOL! I hope you had a gun!

Most of your rainbows are stocked right? Those aren't as good as pure, wild breed cuttbows and rainbows.

This winter open water on the colorado river, I have been using 3-5" curly tails. I hooked a fish that bit off the curly tail. The next cast drifting a nightcrawler, I landed a 20" 4 lb cuttbow that bent my hook in a crazy horseshoe.

On the gunny gorge on the gunnison river in the summer, we get a few browns and rainbows in the midteens (lbs). 100+ trout days are the norm (although most are 6-20" browns): we use 6" curly tails and #12 and #15 panther martins because the small browns are overpopulated. You still get 6" browns on the 5 and 6" and even 7" curly tails though. One time last year I was reeling in a 5" brown that hit a #12 panther martin, and a big rainbow came out from the depths, at least a 36" fish, and he hit that brown so hard my rod broke and my line popped! Then imagine getting back in your pontoon boat with your legs hanging in the water, now that is scary! On the gunny gorge we have a problem with huge fish (10+ pounders) busting poles and breaking line, but we've tried heavier line and the fish laugh at it? I guess it's a similar dilemma to Terrygonefishing's. Fireline is the next option for me, 17 lb stuff too and a 10 lb. floro leader may be the ticket. Pasquatch, we are very young now. Imagine what stories we will have when we are 80 years old and can't go out fishing anymore! Maybe then I will have a worthy mackinaw story to tell...no such tale yet.

Terry, have you settled down those 95 lb macks yet If you hook one I hope you are harnessed to your truck or something heavy. LOL

[iceintheveins]

I second this TFB. The lakers around here fight about like walleyes of the same size. They act like walleyes too. Hanging about on the bottom and almost never suspending, and being most active during cloudy weather, sunrise, or sunset.
I use 6 - 10 pound test fluoroclear and a medium heavy action rod for lakers. Fro rainbows I use six pound test. A 2 pound jackinaw (my nickname for little lakers)
puts a decent bend in the pole, spins and twirls a bit, and if you keep him from spitting the hook, he's on ice. A 2 pound rainbow on the same setup runs line like you wouldn't believe. Tighten your drag, and he'll bust you off or saw you off with his teeth. A five pound rainbow can run off 40 yards of six pound test mono in 10 seconds, with the scream of your drag echoing off the mountains. A five pound bow takes about 5 minutes to land. A five pound mack, maybe 2 at best.
The 16 pound mack I caught fought about like the 5 pound rainbows I get through the ice. I know that there are 10 and even 15 pound rainbows where I fish, so if I hook one I better nail my cleats into the ice or he might drag me into the hole.
I still love lakers. They are gorgeously colored trout, like big brookies though much duller in color. The chance for a monster keeps me going out (as the 25 - 30 pounder I hooked last year fought like I snagged a dumptruck doing 100 down red mountain pass). But you guys seem to have better numbers of 5 - 10 pounders. Seems all we have are 1 - 3 pounders or 10 plus pounders, very little in between. I might trade with you guys, and I would send you a few rainbows if you threw just one good pike and walleye lake for ice fishing.
 
Tyler

[Pasquatch]

I've caught plenty of both stockies and natives, but neither fight like lakers...browns fight better than rainbows, especially 19-20" ers from streams, which is big for a New York stream like the upper Catskill.
Our lakers are alot of fun, and there are some big'uns in George, but catching them, ecspecially in winter, is almost impossible...
Your lakers, well, what can I say.. it must be an altitude thing... Oh wait, your rainbows are insane...hmmm...
Yeah we got alot of time to fish, man, it'll be fun, I'll hunt down that bowfin, but this time I'll have a .45 instead of whatever that reel is...

[TroutFishingBear]

it must be an altitude thing...

Ya know, I've thought the same thing. Since we have lower dissolved oxygen levels in our lakes then you guys do, maybe our fish are less active. It could go the same way with why pike are so difficult to catch in colorado reservoirs and lakes during the winter. But overall with the lake trout, I think its a lack of any kind of baitfish in all our lakes that do this, I mean we do have all sorts of small rainbows, but a 6" rainbow could kick a 20" lakers a$$.