Laker tips?

[Locnar]

A buddy and I might be hittin up a small lake in the kawartha highlands next weekend. Figured most kawarthas will be crazy with the walleye opener, we thought we'd try for some lakers. Never caught one, and have only attempted to fish for them in the winter. I hear they are a little more readily available in the early season, but I haven't a clue where to start, or what sort of tackle I should be trying. Anything helps.

 

Thanks

[Joeytier]

Gangtrolls and williams spoon trailing 15-30" behind. Shouldn't need any weight as water will still be cold. There's lots of good articles online

[davey buoy]

Couldn't you bottom jig in the deep water like you would do in the winter and in the summer?.

[Musky or Specks]

MY favourite early season technique is find a deep water reef. 10-20 ft deep surrounded by 50+ depth A saddle would be my second choice and I will troll a little cleo tipped with a salted chubb tail flat lined with a long lead.

[turtle]

Troll and cover a lot of water. Try both shallow and deep water and fish the top 20 feet unless you mark most fish deep. Try the north side of the lake where the shallows should warm up first. Inflows are also worth checking out. Spoons or 3-4 inch natural minnow baits on long leads. Stop the boat and change direction to let the spoons flutter and the minnow baits stop. Medium action rods with 6-8 lb line. .

[4x4bassin]

Turtle hit it bang on , troll as much water as you can in a lazy S pattern . The lake trout will be a bit skitterish of the boat and the different speeds of your lure

with the S pattern troll will trigger hits . We always have luck in the north end of lakes as well because they warm quicker , drawing in baitfish thus bringing in

the lake trout . So start there ! If you have a finder and can spot them in deeper water try jigging with 1 oz bucktails .

 

These setups are tied on 80% of the time when i'm hunting lakers in the spring

 

 

Good luck

[EC1]

Lake trout are one of the most aggressive fish I've ever fished for. I don't like trolling, so I usually prefer to do something similar to ice fishing. Either anchor and fish with the sonar, or drift over deep to shallow transitions & points.

 

Since you are not fishing simcoe, I tend to like a small quarter oz tungsten jig tipped with plastic. Big rips, small jigging actions are all fair game.

[muskymatt]

Troll Mooselook or wablers 3" spoons down 10' around humps and shoreline with planer boards.

[limeyangler]

If you get a calm day, do like ice fishing, anchor up and use your sonar.