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Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:28 pm
by JimW
A busy first weekend out in my boat.

Saturday up at 3 am.... make a coffee... load the boat and off to Lake Awesome!! Arrive at the launch shortly after 6 am already a line up... get the boat in the water and off to our first fishing spot.

After trolling around for awhile with no luck and then making a turn too shallow and snagging bottom and tangling some leadcore lines and downriggers lines, we decide to try a new spot a few miles away.

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Getting the lines in within 5 minutes.... FISH ON!!! Finally and after a nice battle we land our first lake trout of the day.

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We continue with good action catching fish and losing a few over the next couple hours.

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Then the bite dies off and the winds start to pick up, so we decide to do a bit of scouting in a new location that should be sheltered a bit from the wind... we mark a few fish but no action. We call it a day in the early afternoon and head home. It took us a bit to find the fish but a good day on the water once we found some active fish.

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Sunday morning... since the boat is already loaded... I sleep in... up at 3:20 am.... get dressed, make a coffee and hit the road. Today I was the first boat at the launch, we quickly get the boat ready and dump it in the lake.

We decided to start the day where we had success the day before, with high hopes of some awesome lake trout action. Unfortunately the fish did not have the same idea and the spot was dead.

To top it off the 1.5 foot waves we went through on the way out have now built to 3 to 4 footers, some waves crashing over the bow of the boat.
So we decide to make a slow "run" to a sheltered area crashing through the waves on the way there.

Shortly after we are set up trolling we troll past another boat who decides to make a turn to cross behind my boat.... a few seconds later.... one of the leadcore rods goes off.... FISH ON!!!! Nope!! The other boat's downrigger cable caught out lure on our leadcore and is now pulling out our line as the boat drives away... we wave and yell... but nothing... we then see the other boat grab their one rod like the have a fish but then realize they have snagged our line. By this time we have turned around and are driving towards them.... in the end your unhook our lure and all is good. We continue trolling but no action.

Now it looks like the waves have died down a bit, so we decide to run back out 6 miles or so and fish where we started earlier in the day. Not long after we set up...FISH ON!!! And we land a nice lake trout after a short battle.

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The fish have finally started to feed for the next little while we land a few lake trout and loose a few as well. Then the bite dies and we decide to pack it in in the early afternoon. Not a great day on the water, but we finished with some decent fish in the boat!!

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Back out next weekend.... chasing something.... somewhere... maybe New York State Brown Trout. Anyone want to go cross border fishing?

Re: Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:03 pm
by Corvus Lacus
Thanks for posting Jim.

Any hints on depths, speed, lures, colors ?

Also...curious what percentage of the Lakers are you finding with Lamprey scars ? I've heard the population of these parasites is on the increase again in Lake O..They're becoming immune to the Lampricide.

Re: Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:52 pm
by JimW
Corvus Lacus wrote: Mon Apr 04, 2022 9:03 pm Thanks for posting Jim.

Any hints on depths, speed, lures, colors ?

Also...curious what percentage of the Lakers are you finding with Lamprey scars ? I've heard the population of these parasites is on the increase again in Lake O. They're becoming immune to the Lampricide.
At this time of year we are trolling usually 50 to 70 feet of water, we start around 1.5 to 1.7 miles per hour. We are using large spoons of several different shapes, colours seem to vary depending on the day... greens, orange, gold, purple, black. We also run a couple other lures. We run off downriggers, and leadcore mainly.

Re: Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:42 pm
by Corvus Lacus
Appreciate the info...thanks !
I think I'll trying slowing down. On the inland trout lakes that I fish at ice out, I'm usually trying to keep it around 2mph...mainly because the lures I'm dragging seem to have the best action at that speed. But maybe cold water trout are more lethargic than I think..

Re: Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2022 9:10 pm
by JimW
Corvus Lacus wrote: Tue Apr 05, 2022 1:42 pm Appreciate the info...thanks !
I think I'll trying slowing down. On the inland trout lakes that I fish at ice out, I'm usually trying to keep it around 2mph...mainly because the lures I'm dragging seem to have the best action at that speed. But maybe cold water trout are more lethargic than I think..
Ya they can be lethargic and picky. I have numerous video clips of the lake trout following your lures for several minutes and then just swimming away. lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtdE9AWNhAI

Re: Spring Lake Trout!!!

Posted: Wed Apr 27, 2022 12:45 pm
by sofidar
Interesting topic! Bookmarked.