Top Five Laker Lures? (for inland ice)

[grousehunter]

Just wondering what some good lakers lures to look into would be. I can't give my top five since i have never fished for them. Planning on fishing them all this weekend though so need to buy some. Also what is your favorite thing to tip the lures with if you tip them? Thanks,

Blake

[Northlander]

White Tube Jig with Bubble Up

Jigging Raps

Nils Jiggin Shads

Gulp 5" Smelt on a Lindy Flyer

Slender Spoons or Tinglers

[caseymcq]

Big Airplane Jig with the fur and stinger hook

Black/Purple Slender Spoon

Big Blue/Silver Jigin' Rapla

Kastmaster

Little Cleo

Lindy Ratl'R Spoon

Northland Buckshot Jiggin' Spoon

Jig-A-Whopper Hawger Spoon with the Rattle built in (these are fairly new)

Chubby Darter

Cicada

Oops, I got a little carried away and went over five

I usually use a minnow head with the spoons. The Darter and Rapala I don't use anything. The Airplane Jig usually gets a whole minnow (shiner or rainbow).

[hanson]

1- Northland Buckshot Spoon

2- Swedish Pimple (Silver w/ Glow Stripe)

3- Jigging Rap (Glow White/Yellow)

4- Bucktail Jig (White)

5- White Tube Jig

Shoot... I can't stop at 5.

A guy needs some fluttery spoons as well like an Angel Eye Jr or Sr, CJ&S Slender Spoon, etc.

I think the Smelt Berkley Power Minnows have a place as well but I haven't been able to try them yet.

[Casaloma]

Fer what its worth, I've got a few to the TopSide...

1) Cheq Bay Bombing Beetle & Meat

2) Whistler Jig ( as big as you need it to bump bottom & run up sraight )Double Tail Plastic & Meat.

3)Kastmaster Size 4 & minnow pieces- Jiggle & rip.

4) Don't fear the Airplane.

5) Feel'in'em.

-Modify for inland lake.

Later, -Loma

[Quickstrike]

For inland Lakers I would have to say

Heddon Sonars

Jigging Raps

Slender Spoons

Chubby Darters

Swedish Pimple Do-Jiggers

There are a lot of other lures that work well, those are just the one's I've had the best luck on.

[Surface Tension]

5 X 2

Jigging Rap WGL 7

#6-7 Pimples

1/4 oz Go Devils

Cicada/Sonar

Slender Spoons/Tinglers

Airplanes

Flyers/stinger/cut cisco

Erie Derrie/cut cisco

Mooch rig

Rattling Varmints

[Berky]

Yellow Silver Pimp

Buckshot

Tube

Jiggin Rap

Looper Bug

[Steve Foss]

Hey Berky, welcome to FM. Great to have you in here!

Mine are, in no particular order:

1. No. 9 glow/green jigging Rap with front/back hooks cut off and longer treble added.

2. Slender spoon in largest size, black/purple

3. Large chubby darter in glow/black/orange

4. 1/4 or 1/8 oz go devil for days when smaller is better

5. 3/8 oz white or glow bucktail jig with meat or small Berkley power minnow/tube

[Casaloma]

All time big lake rig... I hope the Cheeze Head Gathering folks can spend some time in the Islands!

[Steve Foss]

Dude! Great Lake Superior rig! Bit large for some inland laker applications, though.

Like the morels in your avatar, too.

[grousehunter]

Well i went and picked up some lures and a pak shack and will be hitting burntside all day tommorow. I went out for a little bit tonight just to try out some of the new toys and i think i saw some fish on the vex, they were nice big red bars, but didnt chase my lures really. I played with one for a while the others i think might have been smelt. It still was pretty fun! I went to red rock and they didnt have a lot of the lures you guys suggested, but i got an airplane jig with bucktail on it and a stinger hook. Jiggin rapala, chubby darter, sweedish pimple(only size 4 and 5 though so might be to small.)spro bucktail jig. white tubes. I also picked up a len jensen crippled herring smash flash...looks like a pretty cool lure. I'll be in a blue s-10 and pak shack and hand auger, so feel free to stop by and show me how to actually fish for lakers or drill me some nice power auger holes Thanks for the advice on lures!

Blake

[Steve Foss]

Blake, the lures you got are good. Many, many a laker has been caught on most of them. Don't worry that your pimples are too small. Burntside is well known as a fishery that sometimes rewards smaller lures.

If you want a bait shop that can talk with intelligence about lakers and laker lures in Ely, stop in at Great Outdoors or Babe's Bait and Tackle. Both know what they're doing and have laker sized lures.

Set your Vex so your lure is a green to green/yellow band at rest. And jig aggressively. When a red band appears under your lure, it may be smelt, but may be something bigger. What tells the tale is if that band comes steadily and quickly up to your lure. If it does, it's likely a laker, and if it comes right up but doesn't hit, keep pulling the lure away a couple feet at a time and hope the fish gets mad enough to hit.

Good luck.

If you see an old rusty slate blue Toyota 4Runner and purple Otter out there tomorrow, it'll be me. But don't tell anyone what I drive. I'm trying to keep a low profile.

[Surface Tension]

casaloma. I have a jigging hoop in the garage somewhere, all I can say is Thank God for Superbraids. Nice shrooms BTW. If you want that auger back you should tell me where you found them.

Here are some I found but not from around here.

About the sounder. Like Steve said adjust that gain to just pickup your lure. Vex=green...MarCum-Yellow. Smelt will appear the same color. Anything that comes in as you second color Vex=yellow..MarCum=Green is not a smelt... When it turns red its on you. That little warning is your clue to make that lure flee just like the smelt did, your the slow poke that always gets caught.

[Steve Foss]

Hey S.T., I don't think those shrooms comply with the "dead morel" pic policy of HSO/FM! Joke!

Sometimes on my Vex, even if it's tuned so my lure is only green, I've had smelt show up red if they're dead center in the cone. I know this because I've seen it happen and then felt them bite and pulled them up. Happens now and then, but not often.

[Surface Tension]

Yeah but your the only guy in MN thats still using a FL-8 SLT.

Really though. if those smelt come in high, above your lure they'll mark hotter.

[Steve Foss]

True, and true.

[caseymcq]

 Originally Posted By: Surface Tension

Yeah but your the only guy in MN thats still using a FL-8 SLT...

I had to laugh when I read this. My brother is still using FL-8 (so old it isn't a SLT or and SE, no additional letters in the name at all).

But if some one was to be using a FL-8 SE they're OK, right?

 Originally Posted By: stfcatfish

If you want a bait shop that can talk with intelligence about lakers and laker lures in Ely, stop in at Great Outdoors...

That's probably the nicest thing you have ever said about Maki.

[Steve Foss]

Casey, remember I said a person can talk intelligently about lakers there, not necessarily HEAR anything intelligent about lakers.

[caseymcq]

 Originally Posted By: stfcatfish

Casey, remember I said a person can talk intelligently about lakers there, not necessarily HEAR anything intelligent about lakers.

... and you did limit the topic to lakers, nothing more

[caseymcq]

 Originally Posted By: Surface Tension

casaloma. I have a jigging hoop in the garage somewhere, all I can say is Thank God for Superbraids. Nice shrooms BTW. If you want that auger back you should tell me where you found them.

Here are some I found but not from around here.

About the sounder. Like Steve said adjust that gain to just pickup your lure. Vex=green...MarCum-Yellow. Smelt will appear the same color. Anything that comes in as you second color Vex=yellow..MarCum=Green is not a smelt... When it turns red its on you. That little warning is your clue to make that lure flee just like the smelt did, your the slow poke that always gets caught.

That's a lot of 'shrooms. DEA is probably looking into ST now.

Where do you find those? And by that I don't mean exact location, more like site conditions. Old Forest? Young Forest? Swamp? Lowland? Upland? Basement in Buhl?

I have to chuckle, as I am typing this and reading the subject line they are totally unrealated. It is kind of like Saturday Sports Talk on KSTP with Soucheray and Reusse, they talk about sports very little and everything else a lot.

What a group

[Surface Tension]

Casey, those were found in mid May during a turkey hunting trip.

Full canopy and not a lot of under brush. Gradual slopping hillside facing North. Look for standing dead Elms.

[Steve Foss]

We find them near our lake cabin close to Bemidji the same way Frank does.

Elms are all long dead and rotted away there, but you can find morels in the same types of locations he mentioned, and basswood, birch and aspen tree stumps that have rotted away so there's just a mossy hump left seem to work well, too.

We've had our best luck in early May.

I suppose we're either going to have to return this to its original topic or edit the topic to read (+ morel tips.)

[Silver Scale]

Hey I've got an FL 8 -SE and it works just fine for the way I fish. Favorite laker lures through the ice:

Home made airplanes that sail way out and return slow, unlike store bought ones that swim in small circles.

Red / White tube jigs.

Piggy back jig with a ciscoe attached.

I carry some spoons and other jigs but the above three is all I ever use and I very seldom get skunked. LOL

[GoggleEye]

Don't worry Steve, I still use the FL-8 and it works just fine for me. So you are NOT the only guy in Minnesota still using one!! I am more of a camera guy though, I love watching the fish and how they react to certain baits and jigging motions. It just makes the day more entertaining and fun (especially on those lockjaw days!!) Granted you have to contend with keeping the fish out of the camera cord, but I have never lost a fish yet because of the cord (knock on wood).

GE

[overdalimit]

I didn't see anybody mention a doctor spoon 9I think that is what they are called)?

[Steve Foss]

over, I use doctor spoons for summer trolling and like them a lot for that.

[fishgutz77]

1.Chartruese and moon glow buckshot rattlin spoon big as they get

2.Airplane w/ hair and stinger

3. large Michigan stinger with meat

4. the Chubby

5. 4" willams whitefish gold and silver

all proven performers for me

Steves right about size on Bside small can work great I just choose to go big just in case.

Steve, my pix of smallies through the ice where all unsendable due to metro's camera being set on movie mode with either of us catching it. they all turned out really dark and about 4 seconds long. I thought somthing was up when I looked at the screen and I said this sure looks dark. He said it was due to sun at the time. I'm bummin, those were some great fish. I could send you a wierd 4 seconcd clip.

[FearNoFish]

I only have 3 Buzzbomb, tubejig, and flutter spoons

[JBMasterAngler]

SILVER SCALE & GOGGLE EYE, another guy with the FL-8 right here! Works for me I use it on my boat in the summer time also.