How to rig spoons for lake trout

[Xxfitzy12xx]

I have fished lake trout for years in the summer using the old fashioned leadcore line-in-hand jigging method while drifting. I learned the most deadly weapon for this technique is a very thin light spoon and this is now the only lure I put on my line. The last few years I have gotten into ice fishing and like to target lake trout but have struggled with consistently catching them like we do during the summer. I have tried using this spoon through the ice and it attracts them in very often but only when I first drop it in and it’s fluttering on its way down. It’s too thin and too light to be able to vertical jig it through the ice. Has anyone ever successfully rigged a spoon of this nature so that it can be fished through the ice? Sinker maybe? Different line? Would appreciate a trick for ice fishing with spoons this light and thin. Thanks

[wolfpak3770]

Try a 3"-4" white tube jig.

[Raquettedacker]

Try a 3"-4" white tube jig.

  X2..     

[Brochet]

Try a 3"-4" white tube jig.

X3

Im intrigued  by your summer method, Im used to trolling with leadcore but never jigged  with it.

What length and kind of leader do you use ?  I assume you need it long enough so fish arent spooked by the lead but short enough the light spoon drops right ?

[kpd145]

Try a 3"-4" white tube jig.

x5

when all else fails, I go to a white tube jig.

[Xxfitzy12xx]

Brochet. I use 6-8ft leader. 20lb mono or fluoro but if fluoro then it needs to be changed often due to the constant rubbing on the bottom. You want to be just barely nicking the bottom without being on it too much. Your drift speed is everything and we never jig vertically without movement...always moving which is why the spoon gets the action it needs. I’m trying to figure out a way to vertically jig the same spoon through the ice.

[Brochet]

Brochet. I use 6-8ft leader. 20lb mono or fluoro but if fluoro then it needs to be changed often due to the constant rubbing on the bottom. You want to be just barely nicking the bottom without being on it too much. Your drift speed is everything and we never jig vertically without movement...always moving which is why the spoon gets the action it needs. I’m trying to figure out a way to vertically jig the same spoon through the ice.

thanks !  I'll give that a try in open water season (which is still happening now here on Lake Champlain the way this winter is going...)

[Mr.Seaguar]

I've only eaten one lake trout, so take this with a grain of salt. The best thing you do when going lake trout fishing is cut the hooks off so you aren't tempted to keep any more of them.

[slipperybob]

Why not try a casting spoon?  They have more weight and will be easier to jig.  For example Mepps Syclops spoons comes in both a trolling fluttering version and the standard casting version. 

You can always sandwich two fluttering spoons together if they will they're stamped spoons and will align perfectly. 

[Xxfitzy12xx]

Slipperybob. I’ve tried casting spoons like that and you are correct they are much easier to jig and have a lot of action but they just don’t catch the attention of the lakers the same way. I went to a lake with plenty of lakers in it and set up in about 8 feet of clear water in a place I knew the Lakers were. Cut a troth so I could see well. I then tested different spoons and tubes and whatever I had. I tried everything to see what got the lakers to dart by the hole, what got their attention, what they hit or didn’t even come to. I took some line out of my reel and held my spoon above the hole and dropped it and let it free fall fluttering to the bottom and almost every time a laker would come by and take a swipe at it or at least check it out. Problem is if they didn’t get it on the flutter down then they wouldn’t get it at all because I wasn’t able to jig well enough since it’s so light and thin. I’m thinking a slide sinker on my leader with a stopper a Couple feet above the lure. Idk how else I could fish the spoon. Interesting idea putting the two together. Thanks for the reply.