Getting then to commit

[nixstyx]

Had a rough weekend targeting lakers. Skunked both days. But, I did see a few on the flasher. The problem is, they wouldn't bite.


I'm wondering if there are any good tactics I don't know about to make hesitant fish commit and bite. I tried dead sticking, but they seemed to want action (they disappeared after a minute or two of no movement). I also tried pulling it away from them. They followed 30 feet up, but then stopped. Anything else you would have tried? Was using a bucktail tipped with a dead smelt.

[snoprojoe]

That's just how Lakers are they will chase and chase. One thing I do that seem to help is have an second rod tied up and ready to go with a different lure. Normally its a jigging rap , small tube jig or fuzzy grub with a minnow.

[appleye]

Tube bait as well. If they follow up play keep away they will either hit of leave. Lakers got love em

[Cub]

Try leaving the jig on the bottom. Just make the jig quiver on the bottom. Don't lift it more than half an inch.. I have good results doing this when they are not very aggressive.

[nixstyx]

Try leaving the jig on the bottom. Just make the jig quiver on the bottom. Don't lift it more than half an inch.. I have good results doing this when they are not very aggressive.

Interesting idea. Had the same thing happen today. Wish I saw this and tried it. Will give it a shot -- and a tube jig -- next time

[tswoboda]

Try leaving the jig on the bottom. Just make the jig quiver on the bottom. Don't lift it more than half an inch.. I have good results doing this when they are not very aggressive.

I've caught a couple doing this exact approach.  It's always after I've made one chase but it didn't eat and then disappeared.  I'll drop down to the bottom and then just quiver the tube while laying on the bottom.  Nice surprise when you lift up and there's a fish on.

[striperman]

I played the chase and leave game for quite awhile on lake george the other day.I changed over to a reins bubbling shaker worm 3" with a 1/32 jighead.This was the ultra glow.When I would see one chasing on the vexilar I would lift it away from them and just as they were getting near it I would let it drop until it reached them ,then lift it away again slowly.They smacked the heck out of it most of the time I did this.

[Cub]

Interesting idea. Had the same thing happen today. Wish I saw this and tried it. Will give it a shot -- and a tube jig -- next time

I would also not be afraid to down size either.. A 2.5" tube jig is a Laker killer.

[Cub]

I would also not be afraid to down size either.. A 2.5" tube jig is a Laker killer.

I also like to throw weird jigs at them.. Sometimes something weird works great!!

[lefty2053]

After looking into this subject I have found 2 different way's that a lot of people use.
1. Jiggle it on the bottom or in the fishes face. This is just lightly twitching the line and not really jigging. 
2. Drop it to the bottom and bounce it off the bottom a few times and them reel up to about 15-20 fow and drop it again. Keeping an eye of the graph to see if you have a chaser. But this requires constant reeling and not stopping when something is chasing.

I will be going again on Wednesday and trying these methods out.

[Homewrecker]

Play cat and mouse as i call it . Do not let him have it!
You need to piss them off !   
 As soon as they start chasing it up.  drop it quick  before they get to it  and swim the other way.
then back up again ,then back down.

Doing  this will trigger other lakers to come.
When you get more than two  ,one will try and get it before the other two will !

[Iron Chef]

sometimes I set a trap rig on a second line, about 2/3 of the way down, like a marabou jig, when they chase your presentation and come up on the dead stick, boom bro, always a lighter rig than what attracted them , good luck

[striperman]

Has anyone tried tying a hook with a shiner on the line and tying something like a Swedish pimple about 8 to 10 ft below that on the bottom of the line?Seems it would be like jigging a pimple when the shiner gets active and swims around and should attract some lakers.Just a thought worth trying.

[Reel_Force]

Saw a vid on YouTube of a guy in Canada fishing for monster Lakers. He had a 4" flasher/dodger with a 3-4' leader with a lure below it.

[TwoLightsKid]

Another thought in addition to the tactics mentioned above: if possible, split the screen of your fishfinder so part is zoomed in on the bottom 20' or so, and part shows the entire water column.  I've had several days where I marked a lot of fish on the bottom but had a hard time getting them to bite, but the rarer fish that would cruise by from time to time higher up in the water column seemed to be much more active.  If you see a laker mark up from the bottom, reel up the and past it for at least another 20 or 30 feet.  Often these fish are actively chasing suspended bait and are much quicker to chase and hit a jig than the ones just lying on the bottom.

[mtnhillbilly]

still trying to conquer the lack of commitment as well but have been getting more hookups by having two holes one with a 3' tube jig and another with a 1-2" jig either tube or the other day a white maribou jig was working well.... so probably a bucktail gig as well... i did find it was harder to hook them with the smaller 1/8 maribou jig so im gonna break out my fly tying stuff and tie upe bucktails and maribou with larger jig heads...

I also took a 2.5" berkely power tube and lopped of some of the skirt and moved it over the jig head ...1 to get  it to lay horizontal... 2 decrease the amount of jig for them to bight.... seems like they are hitting and im missing and i tend to think its too much skirt??? and i seem to get more hook ups that day..

note on the smaller maribou jig.... 1 to 2 inches on the jigging motion seems to work better than full on jigging

[Eaglecrg]

hillbilly:  some folks like to put one or two sizeable split shot sinkers in the head of the tube jig before sliding the jig head on.  That makes it lie more horizontal in the water, plus would move the hook point further back into the tail.

[SirCranksalot]

sometimes they hit better on a deadstick than on a lure or bait that is being jigged. For the picky eaters I use a slip bobber.

[Homewrecker]

 There are many reasons why they don't bite.

1) Laker not hungry  because they are full.
a)  You need to down size your tube jig

2) Not the right  bait.
a)  If using minnows,  Find a minnows that are full of eggs . (bellies look heavy and full )  I normally get a 100 % faster hook up on  Lakers with these minnows.
b) change colour of tube jig.

3) You have to play with  the trout.
 a)   Play dead !   If you feel the Laker nippling and not bitting , what he is doing is smacking it with his tail .You must  let it drop . He will bite it on the way down or pick it up  from  the bottom  because its dead.
 b)   Play cat and mouse.  (must have a sonar) Just before he gets to the bait let it drop ,then back up .And so on. Don't let him get to close to the bait  or  he can smell it .  Faster he starts swimming the better.  He will swim faster than you can drop it then he will hit it like a shark !  Its a lot more fun when you have two or more lakers after it .

Hope fully these tips will help.
If any one has more tips please add on .