Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

New to Lake Trout Fishing. Please Help!


Recommended Posts

Hey all, I am new to Lake Trout Fishing and would like to give it a try this spring. I just have a few questions that I need help on before I give it a shot. What are the best inland lakes to go after lakers? What are some tried and true baits to use and also methods? I am willing to hike into the boundary waters with the canoe if that is where the best fishing is, but I would also like to take my big boat out in search of some lakers this spring, summer, and fall. Also, when does the season run? Any help or tips you can give me would be much appreciated. Thanks.

GoggleEye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well if your in the grand marais area then greenwood lake is the best for lakers...has some big brook trout too! From the opener through mid june they'll be in the shallows, sometimes you can look over your boat and see them suspended about 15 to 20 ft down, it's pretty cool.

I like to drift along the shoreline and cast spoons out towards the main lake, I let the spoon sink for about 10 or 12 seconds before I reel in. Also, you can just let a frozen cisco sit on the bottom, I'd start at about 30 ft, then gradually move deeper until you find fish.

Greenwood is a very pretty and scenic lake, about 2000 acres, and most likely you'll be the only boat out there. And if the trout aren't biting, it's loaded with smallmouths! Mostly small ones, but I've gotten my share of 2 and 3 pounders.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 'we have more fun' FishingMN Creators

Lets talk inland trout. Its been a few years since I've went after Spring lakers, darn walleye fishing gets in the way. You'll be fishing shallow with much the same gear you'd use for eyes. Sure you can go bigger but that makes fishing them clumsy. How shallow depends on water temps. Could be a few feet of water or could be on the deep side.

When they are shallow nothing beats a canoe, even in 10-15' of water. I'm convinced motors spook or at least turn them off when lake trout at those depths. Lures,

theres no reason the Lake Superior spoons and stick baits won't work on inland lake trout cause they can. Just keep in mind you have to get them to run properly at the depth your fishing. That can pose a problem when your under paddle power. My favorite spoon for inland lake trout is a Little Cleo tipped with a fathead chub. Why because it has enough weight and to get to my depths and still runs good under paddle power without adding weight! I also like and have caught many a lake trout with the Chippewa Guide Lure tipped with a fathead chub. Its a large bladed spinner actually and again perfect for trolling under paddle power.

If your if your trolling from a canoe you have to match your lures to the speed in which your willing to maintain.

Secondly, when your paddling into a head wind theres going to be times when you stuff rests on bottom. Having that fathead on is going to get you strikes when that happens. I can't tell you how many times I've snagged bottom, turn around to retrieve my spoon and a laker picked it up. Which brings up another lure, jigging. Get some 1/4-5/8 oz jigs and you guesses it, tip them with a fathead.

When you get on a reef holding lake trout start pitching jigs. You can drift a shoreline for that matter bouncing jigs along the way.

Lakes, Tucarora, Gillis, Thomas, Frost, North, South, yada, yada, yada. You'll work a little to a lot to get into them but If you can't catch a Lake trout in them you won't catch one anywhere else.

Sitting around camp, a smelt will be your best friend. Drag it out with a canoe till you get to a depth the lake trout are hanging. This will also help you figure out what depths to troll without expending any energy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you don't mind a mile and a quarter portage Tuscarora is a fine spring lake for lakers. Drifting or sitting with cisco/smelt rigs and trolling Cleos and Crocs is an effective way to find a laker. If you would rather take the easy way and not have to deal with cold weather, canoes and camping, head to Canada and try either Essox / Manitou Lakes about 75 miles north of I-Falls, or Crow near Nestor Falls. Manitou has a couple of resorts, I think Camp Manitou is a sponsor of the Canada fourm. Crow has several resorts on the west shoreline. Most of the trout we catch on these lakes are on flashy spoons trolled about 3 mph.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Going to canada is pretty spendy though, grand marais makes the most economic sense. But as I said, greenwood is your best best (especially if you like solitude), and the best part is you can always get out of the wind if the weather is bad. A frozen cisco on the bottom is the best method, but they do like shiners or nightcrawlers too. If your casting a spoon, I prefer silver w/ silver prizm or silver & blue krocodile spoons. Yeah, in the spring they're pretty easy to catch. You'll have some fun.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for all the advice guys. I am going to give it my best shot if I can find time around my walleye fishing. I have also heard that Burnside (spelling??) lake is good for trout too. Any truth to this?? So I am getting the impression that the first lakes I should try are greenwood and tuscarora??? Thanks to all.

GoggleEye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Goggle, Burntside is excellent trout water, winter or summer, as many here can attest to. It's where we put on the annual FM Burntside Bash in late January each year, and using the search feature to search this board and including the words lake trout and Burntside should put you into a ton of threads with great info. Burntside also requires no struggle to get to, since there are public landings for drive-to access.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When the trout are up in the spring I've had really good luck trolling a #5 Mepps tipped with either a strip of sucker meat or a live minnow. when you have to weight it, I use a bead chain sinker about 3 feet up the line. Everybody likes to use silver which does work but I've had my best luck on chartreuse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would just book a charter and fish lake superior. grin.gif

Burntside holds fish but you are limited to one rod. When trolling it's always nice to have options.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

I would just book a charter and fish lake superior.
grin.gif


You must have money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I already mentioned greenwood, but if you are in the grand marais/gunflint trail area...Loon lake is a good option also, especially if you like trolling. It's the perfect lake to troll! The shorelines drop down very fast...it's literally like looking into the water and seeing a wall falling into the depths. Anyway, it has good numbers of lakers, and HUGE northern pike!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I really don't want to hire a charter and go out on Lake Superior. That's not really the experience I am looking for. I want to do it myself, work hard, and hopefully have a few fish to show for it. If I don't, no big deal, at least I will have had a good time camping and exploring some of these beautiful lakes everyone has recommended to me. Can anyone give me an approximate time frame in the spring when it is best to find some of these lakers in the shallows feeding heavy? Thanks for all the help guys.

GoggleEye

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm always up in the grand marais area in mid june and they're still in the shallows. Cloudy days are the best. So I would say you have from the opener until at least mid june.

I've caught them while fishing for smallies along the shoreline, but you'll want to concentrate on drop offs. Lakers treat them like highways. I prefer casting in and around structure, but trolling inbetween spots will find them too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • leech~~
      Nope not me.  May want to go nextdoor and ask around?  
    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.