How To Jig For Lakers?

[mooseslayer]

IM A VETERAN TIP UP FISHERMAN BUT NEVER HAD ANY LUCK JIGGING.I MAINLY TARGET BIG LAKERS AND WILD BROOKIES.I KNOW WHAT LURES TO USE BUT STILL NOT HAVING ANY LUCK.IM IN THE RIGHT LOCATION BECAUSE IM GETTING UM ON TIP UPS.ANYONE GOT ANY PARTICULAR JIGGING TECHNIQUES THAT THEY USE TO GET THESE FISH?

[Trevor]

I like to fish big 1-1/2 or 2 oz airplane jigs or my own hand tied bucktail jigs tipped with a strip of sucker meat.  I drench the hair with scent and drop it down the hole and start pumping aggressively just below the ice.  I swim it in circles with intermittent pauses.  After about 30 secs I drop it down another ten feet and jig aggressively at that level for another half minute.  I keep dropping it down in ten foot increments, fishing at each level until I reach bottom where I'll jig for about five minutes.  I then start working it back up in ten foot increments, again fishing each level until I'm back up to just below the ice.  Keep a close eye on the electronics throughout the entire process.  I usually repeat the whole process twice before moving to a new hole and starting all over.  The beauty is that while you're doing this the tip up or tip ups, depending on your regs, are working for you the whole time.

Lakers will tend to utilize the entire water column so watch for schools of baitfish on the electronics.  Whatever level you see them is a good chance you'll find lakers at that level as well.

By fishing this method while using your tip ups you cover a lot more water, and really improve your odds...

Hope this helps...

Trevor

[fishinnut]

Try rabbit hare jigs.

[grumpymoe]

large white tube jigs for normal jigging and chrome buzzbombs for rip jigging-gotta produce  

[Pasquatch]

On Lake George, we use large #7 gold Swedish Pimple, jigging it right on the bottom.

[DipLip]

All of the above tips are good, and Trevor's point re: combing the water top to bottom is one of THE most key tips, it the the most key of them all!

In March on Georgian Bay, the smelts really start to ball up and move. You can actually see them right under the shack some days. And the laker bite can be incredible with fish to 20 pounds.

Best tip I can give you is to move both horizontally as well as vertically. When we get the trucks on the ice, we'll often cover a lot of miles tagging 3 fish here, 1 fish there, 5 fish here etc. Biggest mistake I see guys make is hole-sitting day after day. On hot spots this can work, but moving around puts you over top of new fish that seem like they haven't eaten in months! Nothing more rewarding than rolling up on a new spot and having a big laker unload on you jig right away!

Our best baits:
-Williams Whitefish, Wobbler or Bully
-3" hammered finish Little Cleos (blue/silver is #1)
-2"-4" Swedish Pimple
-Blue Fox Tingler
-Hopkins Smoothie
-Mr. Champ/Kastmaster
-Luhr Jensen Crippled Herring
-Hair jigs with meat.
The later in the season it gets (more into March/April) the more and more chartreuse dominates as a colour. Don't ask me why! Gold, silver, copper, blue, pearl and white are all no-fail colours.

[Jack Magnum]

For L.G. lakers I like #7 Swedish pimples in various colors. I like golden hammered and paint a few blue.
 I also like maribou jigs in yellow and white,vary size depending on water depth.
 One of my favorites is a weighted Berkley power tube in white.
 Tip each with a number of offerings,I like a wedge of sucker or perch.
 What I normally due if I have two jig rods is set the power tube on a bobber setup.
 I put the tube on the bottom,cut a notch in a wine cork,let it sit in the hole at a angle and pick it up and shake it once in a while. When the cork lies horizontal you know he has picked it up and you set the hook.