Jigging For Lakers

[4x4bassin]

Hey everyone here's the story, we fish a fairly large secluded lake every year and we are pretty successful flatlinning spoons for the "greys" but I would like to refine my approach. I have read and heard that jigging these guys is the way to go, I have tried it but no luck. I am looking for some ideas on jig types and areas in the lake to start. I do have a finder so should I be looking for humps and points ? Last year I looked for the "hooks" on the screen stopped and dropped out the jig and started jigging but no fish,maybe i'm using the wrong jig (white tube)

Hopefully someone here has been successful jigging for lakers and can help me out and point me in the right direction !

Our trip is planned for next week.

Cheers

[Bob]

I like a big white bucktail walleye type jig tipped with a good sized minnow. Williams whitefish or sidewinder with some flavour added also has worked for me. Lots of lake trout water in this area.

[fishboy]

if you're jigging in deeper water, give a buzz bomb a try

[Fudd]

To be honest i have never been overly successful with jigging for lakers in the spring, summer and fall yes. In the spring they are in the shallows , or are more suspended and seldom in the deeper jigging waters. If you still want to have a crack with the jig i suggest using the old faithful Swedish Pimple with a bit of sucker on it. I have also had moderate success with a plastic called the Slug-o ... i don't know if you can buy these in Canada yet i used to get them imported.

[brkygetr]

Jiggin Lakers is easy if you have bait fish... Not sure of the time, size or depth of lake you fish....but if you have a graph and find the baitfish shut down the motor, drift and jig. Drop down till your at the depth and jig eratically...white tube is all I use, white Bucktail (2 onz) if its windy and you want a straight drop.

 

The fish will find you at that point.

[Viscount]

I was going to try jigging up some lakers too. I was just going to fish in the same places (humps, points etc) that I fish through the ice, and use the same lures.

 

Is this the right idea?

[4x4bassin]

Thanks guys , i'm going to try finding the baitfish on the graph, stopping, then start jigging.

I'm not too sure if the fish are going to be up shallow still, but possibly , funny spring weather wise !!

The trip is planned for early next week so hopefully the temps. stay some what cool , last year we went it was hot,sunny and calm , not good laker weather!!!

Any more laker tips ???

[Raf]

continue with what works! if you make a few passes over the same area trolling and pick up fish, by all means, drop a jig down.

Edited May 6, 2009 by Raf

[chris.brock]

I'm not an expert, but have had some success.

I like a shore or point that drops fairly steadily deeper, but isn't a straight vertical wall. It's better if there's rocks and boulders on the way down.

I look for "hooks" too, but it doesn't always work. I wonder if I'm marking whitefish or cisco alot of the time.

I like white tubes, williams spoons, even a white curly tail jig (Mr Twister). When I'm bring the tube back to the boat, I reel pretty slow all the way up, I've caught a few bigger lakers on the retrieve in the middle of the water column. I try to not have too much slack in the line when jigging the tube. It's a pretty light, floaty bait when down 60 + feet.

good luck

[troutologist]

As stated I havent had any success jigging in the spring. I like to cast points, humps and little sand bays. I find the bucktail type jigs are the best for this, storm swim shads are also effective. Also heavier bucktails "snap jigged" are deadly. If you find these schools of bait try running through there with a 2-3oz white bucktail ripping it along.

 

 

In the spring I find it neccessary to troll and cover water to find cooperative fish. Body baits like the Deep Xrap and J11,J13 and the smaller HJs will produce. My best success come over sandy bottoms at the mouth of bays. Water temp dictates where you will be fishing. If all the water is in the 30's find a protected area on the north side of a lake and look for 41-43. Once things hit 45-50, even a little higher they really start to get active.

 

If the temps are just hitting the 40's you will be surpised how shallow you will catch fish.

[solopaddler]

I've had great success jigging for lakers in the summer when they're concentrated in the deeper parts of the lake.

You must use a graph to find the fish, many times they're suspended over deep water.

No wind is the best. If there is wind you really need a bow mount electric to stay right on top of the fish.

You want to jig as precisely as possible which means as verticle as possible.

If the fish are suspended I'll oftentimes still drop the jig right to the bottom then sweep it up quickly through the zone where the fish are.

Most times I'm using the graph to pinpoint the fish then jigging very precisely at the depth they're holding.

With the sensitivity pumped up on your graph you can see your lure clearly and where it's at.

Most times I use a fairly aggresive jigging motion, dropping the rod tip to the water, sweeping it up quickly to about the 10 oclock position then dropping it on a tight line....always a controlled drop.

Many times fish will hit on the downswing, if it's not a controlled drop you'll miss fish.

 

As far as tackle goes I like a med/heavy baitcaster with 30lb Power Pro. It's gotta be braid of some kind or you won't feel the hits and setting the hook is near impossible as well.

 

As far as jigs go I only use one. 1-3oz mostly white bucktail jigs with a stinger hook. The jig is tipped with a thin piece of belly meat from usually a sucker or perhaps a small pike..

 

Here's my personal favourite jig:

 

 

I prefer to fish aggresively and precisely and the lighter tubes and such just don't cut it (at least for me).

 

Good luck

[Fang]

I'll throw my 2 cents in. Great comments to get started so far. I've spent a few years up on Temagami and as a bass guy first I'm limited to jigging the lake if I want to catch any lakers. We do alright but I've learned a few things up there. You need structure to jig on. Find deep shoals, bluff cliffs with broken rock or rocky deep points and watch the finder for bait and fish. I tend to target 70-100 FOW in the summer months and will always use a marker when bait or fish show up on the finder. Lakers on flats or humps seem to wander but on deep fast structure they hang around. Let the trolling guys plow the deep water flats, it's too long between hits for jigging

 

Standard baits like crippled herrings, white tubes, williams have all worked. Last year I experimented and caught some nice trout on Gulp minnows either on drop shot rigs or tipped on the back end of a bad boy type lure.

[Bob]

This time of year in this area, I stick to trolling. I run the shorelines in close enough that I can just see the bottom disappearing under the boat. I've had great success with body baits rather than spoons, original floating rapalas, bomber long As and the like. Floating body baits that resemble the shape of a smelt work much better than spoons in this area.

[walleyemaster]

i have used crippled harrings (silver and blue 1 oz) i found that jigging for lakers has always worked for me during the summer months.. i usually follow my sonar untill i find bait fish or large hooks on the bottom...i drop an anchor line on each end of the boat so i dont drift.. i like to be still so i need a very calm day on the water, this keeps my jig straight.. i drop my jig down and jig it very fast and with very high strokes...if i see a suspended fish i bring my jig on top of him...many times when they hit you the fish are taking a big run at your jig hitting it from the bottom and they can travel about 30 feet up with your jig... at this point if you dont reel in all the slack line quickly you will loose that fish...lakers always hit from the bottom upi have yet seen one go down after my jig which was under him...hope this helps

[River Rat]

I normally fish up around Haliburton this weekend every year for ice out lakers...this year I'll wait a week.

 

I hate trolling just cause it's boring and you can get them easy casting and jigging. I'll troll to find them and them jig and cast them. Hair jigs and tubes on sand bars 8 to 12 feet of water if you are ahead of the aglea bloom and you can see them crush it and miss it. Work it slow at first, if they come in for a look a leave, get it moving or pick up a crank bait. I like basic colors, silver and gold for body baits and black, yellow, white for jigs and tubes. I will troll over 15-40 feet of water too but for the most part, this time of year you can get them real shallow and it's fun watching them zoom across the sand bar and smack it...

 

PLEASE......watch out for those huge pre spawn smallies if you are running live bait. They are PIGS this time of year....that is the main reason I don't run ANY live bait in the lakes right now. You can't avoid hitting smallies this time of year so if you MUST run live bait for walleyes and pike etc, please fish it with a small circle type hook that is easy to remove, and doesn't do much damage if swallowed. I hate to see a 6lb smallie gut hooked on a minnow anytime but especially when she was so close to restocking our lakes with her big PIG genes!

 

RR

[siwash]

I've had great success jigging for lakers in the summer when they're concentrated in the deeper parts of the lake.

You must use a graph to find the fish, many times they're suspended over deep water.

No wind is the best. If there is wind you really need a bow mount electric to stay right on top of the fish.

You want to jig as precisely as possible which means as verticle as possible.

If the fish are suspended I'll oftentimes still drop the jig right to the bottom then sweep it up quickly through the zone where the fish are.

Most times I'm using the graph to pinpoint the fish then jigging very precisely at the depth they're holding.

With the sensitivity pumped up on your graph you can see your lure clearly and where it's at.

Most times I use a fairly aggresive jigging motion, dropping the rod tip to the water, sweeping it up quickly to about the 10 oclock position then dropping it on a tight line....always a controlled drop.

Many times fish will hit on the downswing, if it's not a controlled drop you'll miss fish.

 

As far as tackle goes I like a med/heavy baitcaster with 30lb Power Pro. It's gotta be braid of some kind or you won't feel the hits and setting the hook is near impossible as well.

 

As far as jigs go I only use one. 1-3oz mostly white bucktail jigs with a stinger hook. The jig is tipped with a thin piece of belly meat from usually a sucker or perhaps a small pike..

 

Here's my personal favourite jig:

 

 

I prefer to fish aggresively and precisely and the lighter tubes and such just don't cut it (at least for me).

 

Good luck

 

Just a "FYI" I don't think you can use pike as bait.

[irishfield]

You can use parts and scraps from any fish. You just can't use whole "game" fish as bait.