Lake Tofte Trout?

[pikehunter78]

Hey guys,

A buddy of mine told me he's nailed the rainbows on Tofte in about 20 feet of water with a simple slip bobber rig & minnow. It was the first time I'd really heard of the lake. I was thinking of giving it a try one evening next week. Is it worth my time? Anyone else have luck out there?

[Steve Foss]

Well, if he's using a minnow, hadn't it better be a dead/salted minnow? I believe live minnows are prohibited on designated trout lakes.

Aside from that, I have used the same rig with great success for rainbows and brookies on Miners Lake in Ely, and I see no reason it can't work just as well on Tofte. My bait was a little lead jig and a one-inch chunk of crawler.

[pikehunter78]

Whoops!

I double-checked with my buddy and it was crawlers he was using. But thank you for bringing that up. I don't trout fish very often and when I do, it's in streams with crawlers or spinners. In all honesty, I probably wouldn't even think to check the regs before I went. So thanks for that tip!

[ripstick]

The lake is good for a lot of small rainbows but really good for splake. They do get big in that lake.

[Steve Foss]

Yep, big splake in Tofte. Tofte alternated with one other lake in northern Minnesota for the state record splake for a few years. One year, Tofte held it, next time, the other lake, next time, Tofte, and so on.

[pikehunter78]

Same Technique for the Splake? are they right along side the rainbows?

[Great Outdoors]

Stevo,

Tofte only held it for 24 hours (or less.) A lake in the Effie/Grand Rapids area beat it later. The reason I remember that is my son's friend caught a Splake just shy of 10 pounds the same day in Tofte, we had it in the freezer at the shop for a few days.

If anyone was fishing Tofte that day, or a few days earlier, using a pink ant with blacks legs and had their line broken, this was your fish. It had the ant still stuck in his jaw with about 3 feet of line hanging out.

(a little salt in the wound )

[caseymcq]

Quote:

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Stevo,

Tofte only held it for 24 hours (or less.) A lake in the Effie/Grand Rapids area beat it later...

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Yup, Larson Lake by Effie.

[Steve Foss]

I knew it was something like that, but all my mind could come up with was Johnson.

[zappy]

I've had good luck as well on Tofte using the crawler and slip bobber technique to catch rainbow trout. My kids love it because the action is pretty steady. However, I'm also curious as to what works for catching splake. I've never caught one and would like to expand my "species caught" list. Any tips? Thanks!