Introduction & Spring Laker Fishing

[JamieM]

Hello all, I've been reading this site for awhile now and thought it is about time I introduce myself. My home water is the Grand River south of Caledonia (york/cayuga), for which I mostly try to fish for walleye and smallmouth bass.

 

I have to lend thanks to anyone who has posted info about Algonquin. Lures that I was successful with in the park I found from info. on this site. And I would not necessarily have known to use them otherwise. So Thank you.

 

After fishing Algonquin, all I want to fish for is brook trout/lake trout. I have had some decent success fishing for brook trout the last few years, but I have yet to catch a lake trout.

 

I am camping at Silent Lake Provincial Park this weekend and my inexperience at chasing these fish has me second guessing myself on what techniques to use. I have done a fairly extensive research on this site and on google and I have read several varying opinions on what depth to chase them at. I will be bringing a portable depthfinder so this should help out a bit. My main question is what depth zone should I be targeting at this time of year?

 

I have heard the bottom huggers aren't active (or suckers) so would I be wasting my time trolling areas where these fish are present?

 

I have read that a three-way system is the best choice for light line to get to a depth (I will be in a canoe). Should I bother with this or just flat line with a bit of weight?

 

The lures that I currently have for lakers are sutton 44s, thinfish, J-11 Rapalas, shad raps, variety of little cleos and wabblers, some len thomsons and tonnes of spinners....and of course tube jigs. I'm not necessarily looking for the best spots at Silent Lake, but more of a depth to search for them at. Any and all help would be much appreciated.

 

 

Cheers,

Jamie (tubejigger)

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

at this time of year, you may or may not require a 3 way rig.

 

once the water warms i will generally fish a bottom rig in around 45 or 50 fow, but this time of year i have often just used spoons trolled behind the canoe. troll the shorelines first before you go deep.

[JamieM]

I'll give that a go. The lake isn't very big so I should narrow it down with a little luck.

[Nemo]

Toss a Mepps or a Rapala into the wood along the shoreline on Silent. I have seen a couple nice trout come out of it.

[[email protected]]

I've fished the lake a couple of times...only managed a Laker once on a white tube....the lake is small but the cover changes quickly..goes from real weedy to real rocky real fast...The one we hooked was in around 10 feet of water in the bay right across from the camp sites and canoe launch...The lake has kinda been emptied out due to a fishing contest that the campsite ran a couple of years ago.. It is currently in the restoring phase right now...

Hope you hook into some nice lunkers..

 

Tightlines!

F

[jimmer]

Try a white twister tail in 10-25' along the bottom. Not the best lake trout lake in my opinion. You should be happy if you catch one.

[chris.brock]

I'm pretty sure you won't find any lakers flat line trolling. I've fished Haliburton for lakers every weekend since ice out, the water is likely around 60 degrees (surface), so here's my tip

 

use your fishfinder, look in the 50 to 80 foot range and vertical jig a spoon when you find some fish, (hopefully it's not too windy/ choppy), 3 inch mepps cyclops would be a good choice, stay close to bottom

[jayess]

i'd say flatline a flat-finished gold and silver williams wabler. my go-to lure for any lake and it never seems to fail me.

[JamieM]

Thanks for you advice. I'll let you know if I was able entice a few. I will definitely try the vertical jigging. The winds are forecasted to be low so it shouldnt cause me much trouble. I figured the temps would be that high. They were 55f in southern Algonquin 2 weeks ago

Edited May 21, 2010 by TubeJigger

[limeyangler]

I'm pretty sure you won't find any lakers flat line trolling. I've fished Haliburton for lakers every weekend since ice out, the water is likely around 60 degrees (surface), so here's my tip

 

use your fishfinder, look in the 50 to 80 foot range and vertical jig a spoon when you find some fish, (hopefully it's not too windy/ choppy), 3 inch mepps cyclops would be a good choice, stay close to bottom

 

Absolutely agree with this advice, i gave up downrigging for trout and have a big heavy anchor with 100' of line attached. I watch the fishfinder very carefully...when i see bait fish i anchor up and straight jig. obviously in a canoe an anchor may be a problem...but if its not too windy try dropping the lure by the transducer...you can watch the jig and see the trout hit...same as ice fishing...great fun. This also allows you to see which lures/bait they are not going for/going for.

[JamieM]

Absolutely agree with this advice, i gave up downrigging for trout and have a big heavy anchor with 100' of line attached. I watch the fishfinder very carefully...when i see bait fish i anchor up and straight jig. obviously in a canoe an anchor may be a problem...but if its not too windy try dropping the lure by the transducer...you can watch the jig and see the trout hit...same as ice fishing...great fun. This also allows you to see which lures/bait they are not going for/going for.

 

 

This park was excellent from a camping perspective, but sadly not much to report on the fishing end. A lone OOS smallmouth. Marked fish off shoals on 30-40'. Jigged white tubes and grubs, spoons...not even a sniff.

 

Fishing aside, it was a great weekend.

[Paudash]

go across the street to Paudash, much bigger lake way more fish and way less people

last week the surface temp was 72 and the lakers were 25-40 down

White grubs work well