Alwaki Area Lake Trout

[Hodgey1]

Great in put from all.

If pulling in a Laker from depth, isn't a death sentence for the fish, then I might give it a try next year. LimaChar article from NY was interesting, I could see myself squeezing some excess air and letting the fish stabilize, then giving it the head first dump, but I'm completely out on the fizzing.

I'm right now just fantasizing and dreaming "already" about next year.  I have always loved trout fishing, but only from the stand point of a ultra light tackle in a stream or fly fishing. I may take a extra pole/reel next year and spend a few hours some day jigging for a Laker. 

[Canuckbass]

I'm with you, I'd rather slice my eyeballs then troll.
I don't go to target lakers, I find them to easy... find a hole around central lake, drift or cruise over, see them on sonar mark a waypoint and return and drop down with 1/2oz white tube jig and hold on.

Most guys have sonars/ gps and trolling motor on front. Using them all together increases your catch rate.

I caught them in 40 FOW of water recently, not always super deep. Opening few weeks you catch them shallow just trolling or casting minnow hardbaits.

[SgtCrabby]

We've caught several lakers, almost always on a jig when we were looking for walleye.
Only once on a lure.

I prefer the taste of walleye, so I don't target lakers. But if I snag one that doesn't swim away, I'll keep it.  My wife likes their flavor, so it's ok.

[SgtCrabby]

@RHYBAK , it is good to see you on the board again. 
Welcome back from me.

[smitty55]

Interesting. I'm going to come at this from a different viewpoint. Of all the times I/we/gang visited Kipawa ever since the 80's Lakers were always the primary fish for us to catch. Pickerel were in most waters around here so they weren't a priority at all, specially the first years. For instance one year I won the largest Pickerel of the week between 8 of us by casting off the main dock after dark on our last night there lol. Some worms in a ziplock and a few jigs, a lawnchair, a couple of beers and I was laughing. The flood lights were on still and I could see lots of minnows in the water. So I kept 3 between 14 and 17" and made $35 lol.  Over the many years except for evenings and into dark easily 85% of my daytime fishing on the water has been spent trolling a #1 or perhaps a #77 on the other line big hammer gang troll on copper or leadcore with a live or dead minnow on a leader behind it. We often had decent fishing, sometimes real good, getting close to double digits. Even the downrigger guys would drag gang trolls. I did try a pink lady one year and caught one using a mooselook.  I sure don't find trolling boring at all, as I love to explore and learn the waters, that's how you find the most productive runs on certain days, and there are certainly no end to them that's for sure. That's also how to find those small bits of structure that you'd never know were there, then come back and try an evening fish closer to shore.
I'm sure some of you remember that 22lb laker Carl had on the wall in the main lodge at Alwaki. He caught that dragging a large Canoe spoon right off the end of the island in 50 fow. There is just so much beauty structure for lakers in that central area between Beauvin and Edward's narrows that you never have to travel far to find them. The first run I learned way back was the cliff face just before Corbeau as you come out of the shortcut. No sonar back then. The rule was 8 colors out and far enough off shore that you just couldn't read the wooden sign that was part way up the cliff. Damned if I remember the name on that sign though. Anyone else here know? Then you could continue and troll the hub itself and keep right down the mainland or cut across and troll the side of Corbeau island. Great runs.

As for the Lake trout air sac deep water discussion, it's never really been been an issue ever for me when reeling in a 5 ft long, 7 blade gang troll and a fish too, while maintaining a steady trolling speed for the other line in the water. It's not a fast process, specially with 10+ colours out or over 225ft of copper. I won't say I never heard the odd burp, but it's rare in the summer. I always figured that the gradual depth change over the reeling in time helped them from having problems with their bladder. Of course many would be released and they always swam straight down so I'm happy with that. If they're small and not to be kept then I'll just try a boatside release and they're gone. Even ice fishing in deeper waters it's usually not a quick process either, which I think does give them more time to acclimatize if you don't rush it.

Canuckbass I really chuckled with your trolling comment. lol  It's a good thing there are so many different methods of catching the same fish, no matter what the species. Folks have their favorites and that's a good thing, it sure would be boring if everyone fished the same.

Hodgey if you want to try  for Greys you should check out the fish seeker by davis instruments. http://www.davisnet.com/product/fish-seeker-clear/  You can troll spoons, spinners or stickbaits(not deep divers) for lakers or walleye at the depth you choose, all with mono/flouro and a casting rig. Basspro carry them.

Cheers

[Hodgey1]

Hodgey if you want to try  for Greys you should check out the fish seeker by davis instruments. http://www.davisnet.com/product/fish-seeker-clear/  You can troll spoons, spinners or stickbaits(not deep divers) for lakers or walleye at the depth you choose, all with mono/flouro and a casting rig. Basspro carry them.

I enjoyed reading that, very interesting.

I looked at the "Fish Seeker" it appears to be like a dippsy diver type of device? When you mention "225' of copper" Is the Fish seeker attached to a copper line, then your regular fishing line attached to a release? For give me if this is a stupid question.

[smitty55]

Hodgey if you want to try  for Greys you should check out the fish seeker by davis instruments. http://www.davisnet.com/product/fish-seeker-clear/  You can troll spoons, spinners or stickbaits(not deep divers) for lakers or walleye at the depth you choose, all with mono/flouro and a casting rig. Basspro carry them.

I enjoyed reading that, very interesting.

I looked at the "Fish Seeker" it appears to be like a dippsy diver type of device? When you mention "225' of copper" Is the Fish seeker attached to a copper line, then your regular fishing line attached to a release? For give me if this is a stupid question.

The fish seeker is just used with mono and a single lure behind. All the settings on the chart for depth control is based on 10lb test line. The copper I spoke of is just a substitute for leadcore to get down deeper with the gang troll.

Cheers

[Canuckbass]

@smitty55 I agree!!
I know one day I'll love trolling but not right now. I'm a structure/ pattern type of guy. I won't even drop a line if I don't see a fish on the sonar, rather keep searching... basically just like hunting.

[smitty55]

Hodgey here's the chart that comes with the Fish Seeker. One thing you would need though is either a line counter reel or one of those line counters that mounts on the rod. Or I guess you could measure out the 80 and 100' lengths and mark your line. For speed it would depend on the lure used to get the best action.



Cheers

[Hodgey1]

Hodgey here's the chart that comes with the Fish Seeker.

Very interesting, I guess I've been out of fishing too long. That's a pretty cool device, I think years ago, I used a dipsy diver, this looks way better. If I recall, the dipsy would trip, once a fish was hooked?