Lake Trout Tips & Tricks
5 Great Tips for Catching Lake Trout
Use a good quality depth finder.
The best way to catch a big Lake Trout is to use a good quality depth finder to find a reef where the trout are suspended. Lake trout require a water temperature around 10°C or 53°F, so you need to know where the thermocline is to find the majority of the trout.
Known when and where to fish.
Look for large drop offs on both sides large troughs. The trout cruise these trenches and feed on the bait fish on the reefs. On northern lakes the best trout fishing is generally the first three weeks of June when the trout are between 30 and 60 feet deep.
Use a good quality bait caster reel and a medium heavy rod.
To catch a 50 pound lake trout you must do certain things. Use a good quality bait caster reel and a medium heavy rod with 15 pound test monofilament fishing line with a swivel and not a leader. A leader makes it harder to feel the trout and they can see the line if isn’t monofilament.
Choose the right bait.
Many people use sucker meat for bait. This is hooked onto a one ounce lead jig. Some people watch the depth finder and move the jig up and down to whatever depth they see a trout, while some people suspend their hook about a foot off bottom. Put your hook on the bottom and hold your rod with the line just tight enough to feel the weight of the hook without moving it. The next trick is to throw out lots of chum in order to trigger a feeding frenzy. A Lake trout will usually hit very softly. It will pick your bait off the bottom to eat it so you must watch and feel the rod tip because sometimes the only indication you have that a trout is on is that your line has gone slack. At other times your first indication that you have a trout is when it drops the bait and you feel the hook hit the end of the line. The first response is to jerk the hook, but since the trout has dropped the bait, nothing is there and you’ll scare the fish off. As long as you do not react, the trout will continue to work the bait so you have time to stand up and brace yourself for it to return. When you feel the trout, set the hook as hard as you can and crank nonstop for surface. If you give it any slack you will lose the trout as they have a very hard mouth. Trolling still has its place in trout fishing right after the ice is off or in the fall after the spawn, but for large numbers of fish and larger fish, jigging is the way to go.
Get away from the rope.
If you have a very large trout you need to get away from your anchor rope – the trout will tangle in the rope as it comes upwards in large circles. Most good trout fishermen will have an anchor ball so that they can get away from the rope as fast as possible. Some of the time you have to follow the trout as it swims away and it can take 40 minutes to land a really large trout.
