Leaderboard

Well after a four year absence in our club's (Stelco Fishing Club) annual awards night due to Covid we were finally able to host the event again last evening. The attendance fell far short of our pre Covid numbers but the evening was over all a success with approximately 140/150 people in attendance. I don't have many pictures as yet from the evening, I will share more when I have some. On behalf of the membership, the executive and myself, we all send our gratitude and thanks to Mr David Chong for making the trip to the Hammer to talk about our mutual passion, fishing! Good to see you again David, cheers and best wishes for the upcoming open water fishing season.

I'm cheap! LOL!

BTW, if you really want to take your trolling presentation to the next level...run your deep diver cranks or leadcore (or snap weights) off in-line planer boards.

The issues with tying on in-line weights like you describe are two-fold...a. since you're limited to tying them on no more than 6 to 7 ft in front of the lure, it impedes the rise/fall action...b. it's not very stealthy. Get some snap weight clips/releases for those torpedo weights . You let out your lure with about 50 ft of line, then clip on the weight and let out another 100 to 200 ft. When you reel in, simply remove the weight once it's within arms reach, and continue reeling in (or fighting the fish). https://www.sail.ca/en/off-shore-snap-weight-clip-429894-2837000001 I like Seaguar or Sunline fluorocarbon....10 to 12lb for this application. "Purple Rain" is usually the first colour I tie on with the Hyper Rattle. Use a very small snap (but no swivel) for maximum action. "holy cow, is it expensive" Hmm...$12.99...I see you haven't purchased many Musky baits...Lol

very cool, enjoy the day. I would say good luck but the lures are going to just fly out of the buckets. Art

ALL SET UP

Yes, with deep divers no additional weight. I prefer running braid mainline with a 15 to 20 ft long 10lb FC leader. With shallow running body-baits like the J-11, I'll have maybe 150 ft of braid out, which is tied to 2 to 3 colours of leadcore, then 50 ft of FC leader to the lure. You can also use snap weights 50 ft or so in front of the lure instead of the leadcore. It's all about getting that rise/fall action...I don't like any weight too close to the front of the lure. I like my lures to be somewhere in that 15 to 35 ft zone in early spring... it's just a program I have confidence in..

Here's a video on fishing the Hyper Rattle...yes, it's a great Walleye bait too..

Everything is boxed up and ready to go. It,s go time . Going to have a special fisher girl guest helping me out . Hope to see some of ya,s at the show . Stop by and say howdy . Blow out prices are set .

Ice out Lakers on smaller lakes can be found all over the place...since they're not restricted by water temp at that time of year. Much easier to locate them in summer once the thermocline sets up. Fishing for them in early spring really depends on finding bait. Assuming surface temps are in the low 50's F or lower...if the main forage in the lake is Ciscos (fall spawners), Lakers tend to stay deeper...25 to 40 fow. If Shiners (spring spawners) are the primary food source, then the Trout will be shallower (15 to 30 fow). Keep in mind, that Lakers never really like to go too shallow...they feel most comfortable with some water on top of them. I usually like to start with trolling diving cranks like Tail Dancers, DD Husky Jerks, Bandits...since most Trout lakes have clear water, I like natural colours like silver/blue/green/purple. It's search mode fishing...covering as much water as possible, making S turns from shallow to deep...floating cranks (as opposed to spoons) have that nice rise and fall that covers more of the water column and triggers bites. Keep the speed around the 2mph mark. Once I find fish, I mark them and often cast or vertically fish soft plastic swimbaits or tubes...same colours as above, but pearl is also often a go to. However, a bait that really works well once you're on top of them is a jigging Rapala or an Acme Hyper Rattle (killer lure). Like you, I find them a lot more fun on light tackle, however I usually have one rod rigged up with just 2 or 3 colours of leadcore and then a 50ft FluoroCarbon leader...I usually fish this with a J-11 Rapala silver/ blue...a personal favorite. Save the downriggers for June and beyond. The other bonus of fishing inland lakes is that the Trout from them are great on the smoker...greasers from Lake O, not so much. Best of luck !