Lake Trout Lure Fishing Techniques
© - 2006 LuredToFishing.com



Defined Tag: Trout Lures.
It takes a a lot more skill to catch Lake Trout, especially in the summer-time. It's not just about knowing which lake trout lure to use either. For many years people have been using trolling rods with thick wire line or downriggers to fish deep. It's the exact opposite ideology if you want to catch lots of lake trout. Thick heavy line causes more friction in the water, thus it is harder to get your lure deep. Thick line is also too visible and downriggers make a tremendous amount of noise in the water spooking the fish, Also, heavy trolling rods are not sensitive enough to feel a small fish hit your lure when you are fishing at depths of 60 feet of more.

You need a very light action rod with six pound test line. You will also need three-way swivels and 2 or 3 oz. weight. Using light fishing line creates less friction with the water so that your line goes down to the bottom without having ot have lots of line out. Tie two 4 foot pieces of line to your three-way swivel. Use a 2 or 3 oz. weight on one line and a light lure on the other. Lake Trout like small lures. Try to use #1 or #0 Mepps or Blue Foxes. The absolute best for Lake Trout Lure is the Sutton Silver Spoon. Try to find a 2 inch weightless. Your local tackle store will likely have to order them for you.

Trolling:
Try to move just fast enough to allow your trout lure to work but no faster. If your boat is moving too fast, it will be very hard to find the bottom of the lake. Sometimes back trolling is the best option, especially if you have a large motor and find it difficult to go slow enough.

Find the bottom:
One of the most important aspects of lake trout fishing is letting out enough line to get to the bottom. Don't just let your line out quickly until it hits bottom. Hold the rod in one hand with the bail open and let the line run through the palm of your other hand lightly gripping the line to control the speed. Once the boat starts moving and you have a good straight troll going, open your hand with the line then close it again. This way you can let out a foot or two of line at a time. Your rod tip will bounce up and down as you release little bits of line at a time. The rhythm of your rod tip bouncing will be disrupted when your weight hits the bottom of the lake. When this happens you should reel up a foot or two. The purpose of this procedure is to keep your three way swivel setup from getting tangled in itself.

Trout are sometimes odd when it comes to hitting your lure. Small lake trout will hit your lure and immediately take off with it so you know you have a fish on. The really big lake trout will hit the lure and slowly swim away making it difficutlt to know you have them on. They are so big they don't know they're hooked, So if you have a snag make sure it's not a fish before you start yanking on your line. If it's a big trout, loosen the drag on your reel because they can be very aggressive and strip 100 yards of line off your reel before you can turn them.

Weather patterns:
In the summer time, lake trout hit the best in the early morning between daylight and 10:30 AM. They will hit better if the surface of the water is very calm and it's a clear sky with high pressure. Any other conditions will cause the activity to slow down. If it's early spring, the trout seem to feed in other parts of the day, thus they are easier to catch. In some lakes the trout will also feed just before dark.

Wind and structure:
Take a close look at the structure of the shoreline and try to extend the elevation patterns into the lake. If you see a cliff, odds are the water is deep at it's face. If you see a string of islands, it is likely there is a shallow shoal that runs between them. Trout like drop-offs so you would want to troll parallel to the string of shoals and not over them. If you don't have a depth finder try count how many times you let out line. You can get a good estimate of the depth. Try to stay in 40 to 60 feet of water. If you come across a spot and catch a trout, chances are there are more of trout there. The wind is very important when trout fishing. Traditionally for warm water fish like Walleye or Musky, you would fish on the side of the lake were the wind is blowing. The logic being that the fish follow the surface food that is being blown in. With trout it is the exact opposite. The wind also blows the warm surface water which does not hold enough oxygen for the trout. Instead, fish the side of the lake where the wind is coming from.

Depth:
In the Spring, the Lake Trout will be very near the surface. As the water starts to warm up with the changing weather the trout start to go deeper. Here is the approximate depth for different times of year. This is not true for all lakes. Some smaller spring fed lakes will have Lake Trout shallow all year.

• Just after ice-out --> Between 10 feet and the surface

• Mid Spring --> About 35 to 45 feet deep

• Late Spring --> About 50 to 65 feet deep

• Summer is the tricky part. Many believe that the Lake Trout go to the deepest part of the lake and stay dormant. In actual fact, the Lake Trout stay suspended in 53° thermal layers. Why are they there? That's where all the bait fish are. Lake Trout feed on White Fish and Suckers which they find suspended in schools. There will be trout on the bottom but they are not feeding. When they do feed, they come shallower to feed on suspended bait fish.

© - 2006 LuredToFishing.com