Lakers- The calm before the storm....

[Bassboy1645]

It was Saturday feb 9th 2008. My buddies and I decided to hit snowbank in the am and make a day out of fishing lake trout. The story starts the night before with heavy partying...ya know the usual college life. My roomate and friend decided to go and camp out there this weekend. needless to say by morning they were not in good condition and decided to go home ealry with only one flag by 1130am.

My other friend and I in better condition hit the lake and their campsite at 930am. it was overcast with a light breeze and a few flurries. after an hour [PoorWordUsage] session aorund the fire we grabbed the auger and got in the truck to drive down the lake.

We set up on the boundry of the bwca and punched about 15-25 holes from 47-48 feet of water off the ledge into 75-80 fow. We placed a tip up for me and a deadstick for jarvis. The first fish didnt take long to show. A laker swiped at my minnow as I was lowering it on the tip up. I saw this on my vexillar. It missed and never came back.

by this time its about 11 ish 11 15ish. we had been fishing maybe a half an hour. I glanced behind me and noticed a wall of white coming fast from the south. I looked back at my vex just in time to watch a red flash shoot off bottom and crush my rapala. I missed. 2 flashes joined that flash and the action was on! Jarvis launched into a laker his rod doubling over..as i reached his hole the trout fell off. blast! i ran back to mine and grabbed the rod. both of us had 2-3 fish down there at any given time. they would sit there for a few seconds and fly off bottom as fast as you could reel but they wouldnt bite! I dropeed back down and they chased down! this went on for both of us three or four times and we eached proceeeded to miss another one.

All of this occured in about 4-5 mins. The wind felt like a punch in the back and the lake went white. we couldnt see the shore 60 yards away or the rest of the lake. I was jarvis and I, the auger, and one visible tip up by the truck. thats it!! we fished the duration of the storm for about three hours. finally the sun ppeked through with only one fish to be seen in that time.

The sky cleared and the temp started dropping fast. we knew the front was cold was coming. I watched in another five mins shallower this time as 2 fish flew off bottom and crushed my rap. Fish one doubled my rod over as jarvis ran for the video camera. On walleye tackle you cant just horse a lake trout. thats exactly what I did and the fish just fell off. Fish two came up and yo yoed twice before smashing my bait. I just plain missed.....

An hour later without a fish to be seen we called it quits at 3ooish as we were gettign cold. needless to say we just plain blew our chances. But I forgot how fun trout are. I was shaking and my heart was pumping good when I hooked into that second laker!!!

I missed three jarvis missed 2. we saw several fish and had a great time!!!All fish hit on our rods and reels and for the most part left the dead bait alone. my fish hit on jigging rapalas and jarvis had one on the rapala and an airplane jig. that is my story from a saturday of chasing lakers...hope you enjoyed it!

[Steve Foss]

Bassboy, that's a great story. Thanks for sharing it with us. You sure were in the right place when the frenzy time started!

[fishgutz77]

too much fun! that jigging rap is notorious for fish just getting off. I just stopped using them for lakers. great bait but I think I might over size the treble and then cut off the front hook, just a thought. Has anybody done this?

[Steve Foss]

gutz, I use jigging raps for lakers all the time. I usually upsize the treble one size on the No. 9 Raps, but larger Raps have big enough trebles. I don't, however, care for the short-shank trebles on those bigger ones and often go with a longer shank treble of the same gap size. I cut off the nose and butt hooks on all my Raps regardless of size.

Lakers can be pretty casual about biting, and it's not uncommon to hook and then lose fish, but I haven't lost more fish on raps than on the other lures I use (spoons, chubby darters, etc). Hook sharpness is one issue. I almost always touch up my hook points a bit, unless I'm using replacement trebles that are already wicked sharp. Can't penetrate well if they're dull.

I have three rods rigged for lakers on a typical outing. One will have a No. 9 or larger jigging rap, one a chubby darter and one a jigging spoon. They offer three very distinct actions. The rap is the straight swimming lure without vibration, the darter a combination swimming/vibrating lure and the spoon a total flash/thump lure. I often tip raps and spoons but never tip the darter, because the darter's action is trashed when it's tipped.

[Bassboy1645]

GUTZ- I almost exclusively use jigging rapalas...I dont lose many fish. A lil trick to make them more effective is to take a pliers and slighty outbend the front and back hooks. widen the gap so to speak. then take a lighter and burn the plastic of the rear treble. when they put the glossy stuffon the rap they must dip them beacsue if you look close you can see what im talkign about on a brand new rap. Donno why this work but it definetely does! And thyre are just a select one or 2 raps out of a dozen that are louzy fish hookers....throw them away. but on a side note Most fish hit a hjigging rap hard enough to want to inhale it. Yet another legendary lure by rapala....

[Bassboy1645]

woops! rear hook I meant on the burning! sorry

[Steve Foss]

I forgot to mention that I have a specific triggering technique that only works with the heavy lead-body swimming lures like jigging Raps and Master Shads.

Doesn't work all the time. Nothing works all the time, but you gotta see it on the Vex/Marcum to believe it.

[Surface Tension]

Great story Bassboy. Thanks!

[fishgutz77]

Hey, thanks for the tips I gotta try em, I got about 2 lbs of raps just waiting to be modified. what size are you guys using? maybe I should up size to get a better set. One of my triggering methods is to make them chase for 20-30 ft then drop all the way to the bottom while watching the fish on the vex and pound the bottom once or twice and then real up at a steady pace and then just stop half way in the water column, when they hit they just freight train the thing.

[Steve Foss]

Gutz, No. 9 and up.

[Fred_Bear]

Steve, would you mind sharing this "specific triggering tequnique"? I started fishing jigging shads almost exclusively about 2 years ago because there's so many different ways to fish them, and they can be effective on aggressive and negative fish.

I guess you would probably have to call them my "confidence" lure.

[Steve Foss]

Fred, fishgutz is fairly close, though I do things a bit differently.

Sorry to be a tease. Considering all the info we give out on typical locations, tactics and tackle for so many species, gotta hold a few things back now and then, you know?

[Fred_Bear]

Oh i totally know where you're coming from. I was actually asking in a teasing manner not really expecting you to give an answer... I know I wouldn't anyway!

[Steve Foss]

So we're BOTH teases! Yikes, don't let my ex-wives hear that!