Inland Lake Trout Gear & Tactics

[JerkinLips]

Great pictures, eyesonly. Thanks for sharing. Looks like you are a Laker machine.

[chaffmj]

Yes thanks for posting.

[leech~~]

Nice fish pictures. Did you take any of your camp site setup?

Also, what road is that picture of? Looks like there maybe enough snow up there to do some snowmobiling!

[eyesonly]

That road would be the Gunflint trail. Lots of snow in the woods and the trails that ran along the road looked to be in really good shape. Since I cold camped I didn't really take any campsite pics. I just set all my gear up in a small sheltered bay next to my fishing spots. Since i was solo It was nice not having to spend valuable fishing time processing wood for the stove but it was hard making sure my equipment stayed relatively dry. Next time I will definitely be hot tenting . After taking a hike or two after dark I would have loved to be able to sit next to a warm wood stove and do some reading.

[fishin4sum]

You need to now invest in a Nils ice auger. That lazer mag you have is ok if its blades are new, but I guarentee you will be able to cut 4 to 5 times as many holes with the Nils. With only 25% of the effort.

[Mike Stark]

Nice!

[JBMasterAngler]

Very nice report! You are much more motivated than I am! Couple hundred yards of trudging through the snow on bearskin was more than I was willing to deal with. I threw everything, plus the kitchen sink at them, but it appeared that yellow was the color that interested them the most. Just not enough to get them to bite.

[Surface Tension]

Thanks for sharing!

[drewbop]

Man, I will have to do something like that some day. It's fun to live it through other outdoorsmen until then!

[fishwater]

eyesonly - thanks for the report and pictures from your trip - congrats on success at many levels!

So how did you talk your wife into letting you go alone? I've generally got a pretty long leash, but I'm 900% sure my wife wouldn't allow me to do that.

[eyesonly]

eyesonly - thanks for the report and pictures from your trip - congrats on success at many levels!

So how did you talk your wife into letting you go alone? I've generally got a pretty long leash, but I'm 900% sure my wife wouldn't allow me to do that.

You are right. This was a point of contention planning for the trip for my wife. I had to agree to take a SPOT with me if I wanted to go. It made me feel better as well having it with I suppose.

[lispeej]

Nice pics!

[eyesonly]

I have Plans for another Camping trip for the last week of March Weather permitting. Does the Laker Bite Improve at that time of year at all or does time of season really not matter that much ? I think it would be a blast fishing in sunny 40 degree weather as long as the Ice holds up.

[JBMasterAngler]

Up there, temps can still be 40 below zero the last week of march also With that being said, I've never noticed anything all that different when targeting lakers in january vs. march.

[nlayne882]

Went up north this past weekend and did extremely well on "secret lake x" with a buddy of mine. Caught some beautiful splake, and some great eater rainbows. Figured I'd share some pictures!

Also caught some very nice lake trout on snowbank lake in about fifty five feet of water. No pictures of those unfortunately, but there was lots of fish caught on that lake. Plenty of people fishing it right now with a fantastic plowed ice road straight out from smittys. Fishing was hot and heavy most of the time, and the trip up to snowbank is well worth it for anyone who wants to catch lake trout!

[JBMasterAngler]

Nice pics. Were they catching them on the BWCA side, or outside the boundary? I always hear all the good spots are inside the line. I love snowbank, and would love to give it a try in the winter sometime, but I don't do hand augers

[nlayne882]

No we didnt fish over in the BWCA. All the houses were on the regular side of the lake because there was around two feet of ice, which definitely sucks drilling a hand auger haha.

[brrrr]

Nice fish!

[IceIceBaby]

I've gone through the first 10 pages of this topic and I've got lake trout fishing fever! I've never caught one and am aching to get up in the Ely area and give it a try.

My question is about airplane jigs. Do many of you use them, and if so what weight and colors do you like? I've looking at 1/2 oz to 1 oz jigs and am wondering if either weight is good for lakers or if I should stick with more traditional or lighter weight lures.

The first 5 or 6 pages in this thread, there was a lot of discussion about The Bash. Is there still a Bash and can anyone get in on it? I can't find any of my friends who want to go north and laker fish and it would be fun to get in on an event like that.

Thanks!

Al

[trumy]

When reading this thread look for things shared by Mike stark,wanderer,surface tension an a few others I can't seem to think of at the moment.THe bash is open to all and a place where you can pickup pointers and put names to faces of the people who share on the many different threads that are available here and yes laker fishing is a blast

[IceIceBaby]

Thanks for the reply. Yes, there is a wealth of information the ones you've mentioned and many others, including Northlander.

After reading their posts and watching the videos that they advised early in the thread, I got really pumped about buying lures and bought some airplane jigs and in retrospect may have gone overboard in my purchases. Yes, I know it's hard to believe that a fisherman would splurge on lures, but I did. lol

However, I think that I went too big on sizes of them as I bought many 1/2 oz and many 1 oz jigs. My main question is, are those two sizes too big?

And, of equal importance, when is The Bash and how do I find out the particulars about it?

Thanks again,

Al

[monstermoose78]

They are not to big. Airplane jigs work well for pike sometimes as well just add a steel leader. I caught my biggest walleye by length on the big airplane jig it was 33 inches.

[trumy]

The bash is in march when it gets closer there will be info put out on the date and time and the meeting place

[Wanderer]

Ding ding ding da da ding ding ... Ice ice baby ...

No need to go that big on your jigs for inland lakers. Think more 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce. You can think about profiles and actions from there. I haven't stuck with a 1/2 ounce airplane jig long enough to say it won't work but it's well over the norm of what has been proven to work on lakes like Burntside. I might give them more time if I was trying to select for only larger fish but fish in the double digits, pound wise, will hit those smaller baits too.

[leech~~]

Ding ding ding da da ding ding ... Ice ice baby ...

No need to go that big on your jigs for inland lakers. Think more 1/4 ounce and 3/8 ounce. You can think about profiles and actions from there. I haven't stuck with a 1/2 ounce airplane jig long enough to say it won't work but it's well over the norm of what has been proven to work on lakes like Burntside. I might give them more time if I was trying to select for only larger fish but fish in the double digits, pound wise, will hit those smaller baits too.

Plus+ 1, I spent some cash on a few "Laker" jigs like an Airplane which has sat in my box since maybe the first year I bought it. I have also over the last few years spent some good cash on frozen Cisco's and have yet to catch a laker on one in 3 different lakes! My biggest Laker ever was caught on a Walleye jig and now all I use is larger Walleye jigs with a Rainbow chub.

[monstermoose78]

Little baits work on Burntside because of the forage. I always did best with walleye sized gear as well. I bought the big old airplane jig because it looked cool. I used it for lakers and never got a laker on it. Pike liked it and only one walleye. It sits in my tackle box waiting for the day I want pike. I think it would work better in lakes where the fish feed on larger forage.

[IceIceBaby]

Thanks for all of your replies. I've learned a lot reading all of these 20 pages of posts!

I'm really looking forward to getting to the Burntside Bash and other lakes to try laker fishing.

Would those 1/2 oz and 1 oz airplane jigs be ok for Superior trout or overkill for them, too? I'm thinking about keeping the 1/2 oz ones and returning the 1 oz jigs.

Al

[monstermoose78]

Try the big one for pike it is a hoot!!

[Surface Tension]

The 1/2 and 1 oz are on the light side for Superior.

Think weight needed according to depth, keeping fish-ability in mind.

Can you go heavy according to depth. Yes to some degree but the resistance of line out plays in rate of drop. Lures don't fly and flutter like they are intended. Instead they just drop. That is weight, profiles can be big or small and you can have a large profile that fishes in shallow water and you can have a small profile that fishes in deep water.

I've mentioned 10lb mono for inland lake trout. It can handle anything that swims but moreso it can handle any lake trout lure. 1/4 Pimple and Go Devils are some of my favorites but I'm using those in 50' or less. You couldn't use those at any depth with 15 lb mono. Well you could but it should feel painful. They won't drop correctly and your going to have coil.

As far as Airplane jigs on inland lakes, they work but I tend to stay with the smaller and lighter jigs unless I want a large profile. Then I pick a weight that'll handle a whole ciscoe. That works and sometimes too good if you consider the price of ciscoes. Note that the bigger I go the slower I work the lure. Instead of quick rips it a steady pump. The duration of breaks depends on whats happening on the flasher. Of coarse the lure always runs toward the surface when a laker comes into view. How fast, how far, and when to stop for a catch up like my lure is on its last breath depends on how the mark on the flasher reacts. Its why we do it.