Laker fishing reports

[Surface Tension]

Thanks for the report Matt.

Chris, I'll be hangin with the Catfish then head out and fish after everyone breaks up or gathers up.

[Steve Foss]

Matts, welcome to FM. Great to have you here, and thanks for the report.

Frank, I got a new spot I've hit a couple times in summer with good success and wonder how well it produces in winter. Haven't fished it hard water yet. It'd be a bit of an experiment, and it's also a bit of a drive from Van Vac.

[jigman]

hay jigman here as far as finders witch would you guys recommend vexlair or marcum.its 18 below here in ottertail ill bet its maken ice up ther. also what kind of portable do you guys think is a good one thanks good fishen the jigman

[Surface Tension]

jigman.

Either MarCum or Vex will get the job done. I prefer the MarCum LX5. While Laker fishing often times your going to be marking bait fish. So you'll be marking your lure, bait fish and Lake trout when they come in. All those bait fish are like what chaff is to heat seeking missiles. You want to know the bait fish are around but you don't want them interfering with the ability to know when a Laker comes in. So you'll adjust your gain so your lure and bait fish mark as yellow(green for Vex). At no time should they mark any hotter then your weak color. Now when a Laker trout comes in the bait fish scatter. That time when the laker enters your cone angle to the time its mark green then red is quick. Just like the bait fish scatter, you'll want that time to make the lake trout react by taking away the lure by lifting up. The trout is all ready interested by coming around, taking that lure away is a natural chain of events that triggers lake trout to strike. Anyway that fine tuning gives you a better idea of whats going on. To add to that you have the Super Fine Line, Narrow Beam Transducer, Adjustable Zoom window, and an Interference Reduction system that flat out knocks out interference.

Now I wouldn't zoom that mid water column for lake trout but I would zoom the bottom 20' if and when the bait fish hung there.

The NBT is useful in getting rid of that dead zone on steep breaks or when large boulders are present. Granted I usually jig 3-5' of the bottom but if you watch your sounders bottom line of small depth or color changes you get a leg up on detecting those incoming lakers.

At any rate, what ever sounder your using turn that gain down and you'll be getting more out of your sounder. Its the subtle things that make a big difference.

Otter shelters are what I use. Toughest sled on the market and the covers are durable also. With my son and I out laker fishing the Otter Lodge is what I take. The Otter cabin is a two man but too small for two guys fishing lake trout out of.

By myself there plenty of room.

[Steve Foss]

I use an Otter and a Vex.

I just converted from Fish Trap to Otter and the Cottage Pro I got is totally great. Tough construction and easy to put up and take down.

I have absolutely no problems fishing lakers in the middle of smelt with my 10-year-old Vexilar FL8-SLT, but will be switching to Marcum when the Vex wears out. I've tested the newest models from both companies, and they both are excellent, but I just like the tight, quiet look of the signal on the Marcum better.

[Surface Tension]

Steve, I rattled on about the sounders and Otter and forgot to respond about that untested spot. I'm up for guinea pigging it.

[Jim Almquist]

Steve your vex with proper maintenance might last longer then you All it takes is one great shot and it will pay for a LX5 All kidding aside that was one of the biggest reasons that I got my Marcum was the noise of my vex plus my MR Heater would drown people talking next to me and I hated that aspect so I got the Marcum and Big Buddy now I only hate the Big Buddy but I will call the factory and see if they will resolve this. Love the Marcum cause it is nice that you can see if you have jigged off your bait from your spoon with the great amount of detail showing separation of the spoon and hook on the flasher. Super Fine Line is my Favorite mode

[Steve Foss]

I hear you, Jim. I baby that Vex. And when I sell a good photo, since I'm in business for myself now, I have to put the money into the business. Or the house payment. Or the propane bill. Or the utilities. Or the . . . . you know.

Frank, if we can get everyone sent off in nice fashion Friday morning, you and I will make the couple-mile hop and check it out.

[Steve Foss]

Walked out at 8:30 this morning from Van Vac landing on Burntside into 50 FOW and set up. Saw decent smelt numbers but only one trout, which wouldn't hit.

When the crowds started showing up about 10:30, including a couple shelters that set up 30 feet away, I pulled stakes and headed east about 300 yards, a good 200 yards from the nearest angler, and set up again in 45 FOW.

Saw six trout from 10:30 to about 2:30, but very few were excited by what I was doing. I started downsizing and got one light hit on a 1/4 oz go devil with a minnow head, and it felt like a fairly big fish but got off after 10 seconds. Then I put on a blue/chrome Chubby Darter (untipped with cisco to preserve the tight wiggle action on the upsweep).

Had one fish immediately on the darter. About a 3 lber with no clipped fins, so likely a native fish. The rest of the day I couldn't get a single fish to go, but that's OK.

[Mike Stark]

thanks for the report stfcatfish.

[Catfishunter]

hey thats my spot . Downsizing works, I bring them in with the biger rod and then toss the small stuff at them.

[Steve Foss]

I know, Joel. You are the all-time champ at using light line and bitty jigs to catch lakers. I just didn't have any ultralight gear, sunfish jigs and waxies along today.