July 2019 Alwaki area Trout fishing

[Hodgey1]

I really enjoyed trout fishing last July while at Kipawa. We didn’t do great, but we typically were picking up 2 fish per outing. We’d skip some early morning walleye outings and opt for a trout troll at 9:00am until lunch time.

I found trying to fish the structures a challenge with the sometimes dramatic depth changes cause anxiety attacks. I had a great first mate in my son-in-law Chad, so we never snagged a ball or lost tackle, but after a week at Kipawa, I looked close at my rigger balls and noticed they were beat up bad from apparently banging structure.

Until I can upgrade my navigation to have background maps, I think I’m going to skip trolling for lakers or at least so close to structures. I won’t have my first mate this year so I’ll be breaking in a newbie and would hate to snag a rigger ball on the bottom. I’m primarily there for walleyes, but like the change up a few days, which brings me to my question.

I stay at Alwaki and know that area fairly well. Can trolling more open waters in July be productive for lakers? I’m contemplating purchasing a Fishawk water temperature device to get my depth right. Any tips are greatly appreciated.

[Hodgey1]

As a side note and amendment of my post, I have gotten tremendous help here from the board with maps and tips on targeting trout in regards to structure. My question currently is more about open water trolling and within reason avoiding structure for the most part.

If I stayed primarily in the deeper more open parts of the lake, am I going to have any luck or am I wasting time and gas? We typically would make laps in a triangle pattern just to the west and outside the tip of Corbeau. We had decent luck but as mentioned, at times it was stressful hugging structure particularly when making runs along the east side heading North toward Red Roof cabins. There's a monster devils backbone there that comes up beyond quick.

I see looking at the depth maps just to the west of Corbeau that the water in that large portion of the Lake is consistently 150-200' deep, also Hunter looks like the entire length of the lake in the middle is over 80' deep.

Please don't label me a structure Pu__y   , but my crew is new and I want it to be a more relaxing troll. On the flip side, if i'd have the same luck casting from shore in catching trout, then I may rethink trolling for Lakers this year.

[Jay Thomas]

Hi Hodgey1,

I'm no expert lake trout fisherman so take my input with a grain of salt. Like you, although I primarily go on fishing trips to fish walleye, I enjoy spending a few hours each day trying for some lake trout. And besides, I enjoy eating lake trout too.

If you can't mark lake trout somewhere in the water column on your electronics - move to a different area.
If you want to target bottom hugging lake trout in deep water without losing a downrigger ball - try vertically jigging them instead. I'll be using some Shimano butterfly jigs this year to do exactly that. Here's a video of how a local guide jigs lake trout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trvRif8sq4s
Much of the time, lake trout will move into the thermocline to feed. Typically in the summer months on Lake Kipawa, the thermocline is somewhere between 25 and 35 feet. Consequently, you can safely use your downriggers to troll at that depth over deeper water. However, one must always experiment. Some years, we enjoyed modest success trolling a Williams Sutton #71 spoon 20 feet behind our downrigger balls in 50 FOW over 90 FOW.
I sold my downrigger gear a few years ago. Now, when I want to troll for lake trout mid summer, I troll with Magnum Dipsy Divers. Although I troll various spoons off my Dipsy Diver, I also plan to troll some Spin N Glo lures as well as some Worden Wobble Glo lures.

Good luck lake trout fishing this summer.

Jay

[crackers42]

I always rely on my sonar which shows me the distinct thermocline no different then fishing Lake Erie and no need to fish structure

You need a good sonar setup to achieve this

[smitty55]

Chris you can still fish with your riggers close to structure without having to worry about hitting bottom, just don't go to close. Like Jay mentioned the thermocline generally sets up in 25-35ft so set your riggers to that and just make sure to stay in water over 50ft. Plus if you can find baitfish schools in open water by all means go for the open water troll.
One thing confuses me. You said the rigger ball looks beat up like it was hitting bottom. I don't understand how you wouldn't have noticed that while you were trolling, you should have been able to hear, feel and see it if it did bang bottom.

Cheers

[Captain Hali]

Hodgey 1, What I look for is bait balls, or fish deeper than what you would expect walleye to be at typically over 75 to 200 FOW. If you are marking big schools of fish, they are probably Whitefish. My daughter who has caught more Lakers than my son and I combined drags a Deep Sixer followed by a gang troll ( 48" behind ) followed by a Williams Wabler ( 30/36" behind, silver or gold depending on sun or cloud )   We've had good success in the narrows @ Corbeau Island. stay in the middle or to the North side when you get to the point along the cliff wall, cause that shoal comes up out of nowhere. Also want to try the approach to Alwaki Lodge, when coming fro Corbeau, starting approx a mile before and troll right to the end of the Island staying in the middle, there's 80 to 100 FOW. Tight lines.

[Rico]

We have done really well catching lake trout in July near Alwaki. We jig near structure in 35 to 40 ft of water that drops down to 80 to 100 ft. Our go to jig is a Heddon sonar blade bait in firetiger. If you want to troll over deep water try Hunter lake. I've caught lake trout there also. Hot n Tots work well. Good luck and have fun.

[Hodgey1]

. Here's a video of how a local guide jigs lake trout https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trvRif8sq4s

Thanks, All great info Jay and enjoyed the video, maybe I will have to give Jigging for trout a try.

[Hodgey1]

You need a good sonar setup to achieve this

Maybe that what my wife should get me for Father’s Day! People have told me I should be able to pickup the thermocline on my finder. I’ve had no luck on my current Garmin

[Hodgey1]

Like Jay mentioned the thermocline generally sets up in 25-35ft so set your riggers to that and just make sure to stay in water over 50ft.

So the thermocline is a good depth to target Lakers? Maybe we were running too deep, I think 58’-70’, I think I’m going to buy a fishawk to find the right temp/depth

One thing confuses me. You said the rigger ball looks beat up like it was hitting bottom. I don't understand how you wouldn't have noticed that while you were trolling, you should have been able to hear, feel and see it if it did bang bottom.

If memory is correct, we were fishing in 90’ of water and running our Riggers at about 70 feet.  There were multiple occasions when the water depth came up so dramatically causing us to hit the up button on the downrigger‘s very quickly. There were occasions when the lines would  trip from the release and another time when we actually had the clutch engage and dragline out on the downrigger‘s. Had to stop and pull in all lines. Thankful no snags on either lines or riggers......

Being fairly new to all of this it created times of stress and aggravation when I feel it should be more relaxing.  I really want to be able to switch it up now and again and troll for lake trout. I just want to do it in a way that I don’t have to rely on having to pay such close attention to the depth and react to those changes. It’s probably a smart move to replace my finder with a chart plotter/finder.

[Hodgey1]

. My daughter who has caught more Lakers than my son and I combined drags a Deep Sixer followed by a gang troll ( 48" behind ) followed by a Williams Wabler ( 30/36" behind, silver or gold depending on sun or cloud)

That is basically the setup Smitty has suggested to me. I have the Gangs, but have not put them to use yet. This July I will.

[Hodgey1]

We have done really well catching lake trout in July near Alwaki. We jig near structure in 35 to 40 ft of water that drops down to 80 to 100 ft. Our go to jig is a Heddon sonic blade bait in firetiger. If you want to troll over deep water try Hunter lake. I've caught lake trout there also. Hot n Tots work well. Good luck and have fun.

Great info, thanks Rico. I plan on giving hunters a try this year.

[Greg]

Ive done well in Hunters also Hodgey - lots of good advice here - as you may remember, I use lead core line and troll putting anywhere from 120 to 220 feet out depending on depth and if I am headed into the wind or with the wind (speed adjusts the angle the lead core goes out at). 

Yes, along side Corbeau is very popular - I've caught my largest there and funny that everybody mentions that same shoal!!  YIKES WE ARE AT 36 FEET!!! IT WAS 85 or 90 A SECOND AGO!!!

Also right down the middle of Dead Bear bay and on both sides of Thompson island (Alwaki) - right down the middle (as others have mentioned).

Fishing should never be stressful or anxiety inducing... don't put yourself through that - move to deeper and try different depths - when you get a laker, zero in on that depth - plus or minus 10 feet - see if you get another one!  If you do, you know your on to something.

Looking forward to trying for a laker again!

Greg

[smitty55]

Hodgey as you know, like Greg I pretty well dragged lead core or copper for all of my many years fishing for Greys up in Kipawa and even before. In my case it was always a #1 or sometimes #77  Big Hammer 7 blade gang troll. Maybe smaller stuff early season.  Bottom line for me, they call fish in from a distance that small ones just can't.  When I first started going in the early 80's we could buy and use live minnows that were purchased on the lake. That was nice to say the least, , just make sure to keep the receipt safe and in the boat hehe .
All of the other guys in our "gang" learned Lake trout fishing the same way, but as some of the lads progressed to bigger rides downrigging became their primary technique.  I spent one season in Wayne's rig and we hardly ever had the riggers deeper than 35ft, usually less, and that's what the other boats were running as well.  If you find a good depth, don't wander too much, at least for that part of the day. The one thing that never changed though is that all the guys were still dragging the big gangs trolls just like the old days, go figure. Later on I would bring salted Emerald shiners for the boys that I bought when a wholeseller I know had his best batch of the season, usually feb/mar.

Cheers

[Hodgey1]

What speed should I be targeting? If memory serves me, my boat wont go much below 2 mph. If I was to get a Drift sock for my 18' Lund, how big should I get and  can I use just one or is it best to have two, one off each corner?