Fish-Hawk.Net

Good day all
Hoping to try and hit my first splake lake this Friday.. I have been hitting the bogie area for a few years... Mostly for brookies with mixed sucess...
Figured I would head somewhere with easier access and try for some splake..
Anyone have any tips, bait etc for me..?.
I never get out much these days so I am hoping it's not a skunker

Chartruese Lil Foxee tipped with a White Gulp Fish Fry..............jig right off the bottom

BA you didn't mention chumming with the bird seed.

Small tubes........ natural colours. A small jig head toped with a mini minnow should work as well. Dont get me wrong I'm no trout master but I've seen these techniques work.

All these are good but just keep it simple for splake.....hook and minnow just off bottom in anywhere from 4-16ft of water...usually if you can find a bay, fish it they like to school in for forage a few times a day. You can throw your arsenal at them if you want but I have had amazing success with a simple tip up and hook and minnow. 2-3" max size of minnow though.

almontefisher wrote:All these are good but just keep it simple for splake.....hook and minnow just off bottom in anywhere from 4-16ft of water...usually if you can find a bay, fish it they like to school in for forage a few times a day. You can throw your arsenal at them if you want but I have had amazing success with a simple tip up and hook and minnow. 2-3" max size of minnow though.

I agree with everyone except Peter. lol

Well sorta, not saying don't fish right off bottom, but also don''t be afraid to go as deep as 30 feet, and work the entire water column. A lot of our fish from set lines come halfway down, regardless of the depth.

Ive seen splake come from 30' in 60FOW They are one weird and frustrating fish

fatluke wrote:

almontefisher wrote:All these are good but just keep it simple for splake.....hook and minnow just off bottom in anywhere from 4-16ft of water...usually if you can find a bay, fish it they like to school in for forage a few times a day. You can throw your arsenal at them if you want but I have had amazing success with a simple tip up and hook and minnow. 2-3" max size of minnow though.

I agree with everyone except Peter. lol

Well sorta, not saying don't fish right off bottom, but also don''t be afraid to go as deep as 30 feet, and work the entire water column. A lot of our fish from set lines come halfway down, regardless of the depth.

Had to mention my secret depth huh luke...... Just kidding bud. I have caught some this deep but the majority of mine are in the previous depths. Best thing is to stagger your holes into the deeper water column. Every 5-6ft or so till you find the buggers.

30-40 FOW 5 feet off bottom. Marked 12 of them on the Marcum last weekend.

Here is what didn't work:

• Buckshot Jigging spoon with stinger and small minow
• smaller Buckshot Jigging spoon with minnow head
• Small swedish pimple with minnow head or Gulp trailer
• 1/16 oz jig head and Gulp maggot
• live 2" minnows hooked under dorsal on fluoro line
• baby crappie style jigging spoons untipped

Here is what worked

oh wait, I got skunked

bl8ant wrote:30-40 FOW 5 feet off bottom. Marked 12 of them on the Marcum last weekend.

Here is what didn't work:

• Buckshot Jigging spoon with stinger and small minow
• smaller Buckshot Jigging spoon with minnow head
• Small swedish pimple with minnow head or Gulp trailer
• 1/16 oz jig head and Gulp maggot
• live 2" minnows hooked under dorsal on fluoro line
• baby crappie style jigging spoons untipped

Here is what worked

oh wait, I got skunked

So did you mark splake or perch??... Without catching any it is tough to know if that was the good depth. I have had many a day where you mark the buggers( this is not true as I do not have a flasher ) or even get nibbles but none thru the hole. I have also found any splake lake will have perch for some reason. Hard pressed to find a lake in the bogie area that does not have perch.

Also Bl8tnt...you did drill a hole in the ice right...casting does not work well this time of year

almontefisher wrote:

bl8ant wrote:30-40 FOW 5 feet off bottom. Marked 12 of them on the Marcum last weekend.

Here is what didn't work:

• Buckshot Jigging spoon with stinger and small minow
• smaller Buckshot Jigging spoon with minnow head
• Small swedish pimple with minnow head or Gulp trailer
• 1/16 oz jig head and Gulp maggot
• live 2" minnows hooked under dorsal on fluoro line
• baby crappie style jigging spoons untipped

Here is what worked

oh wait, I got skunked

So did you mark splake or perch??... Without catching any it is tough to know if that was the good depth. I have had many a day where you mark the buggers( this is not true as I do not have a flasher ) or even get nibbles but none thru the hole. I have also found any splake lake will have perch for some reason. Hard pressed to find a lake in the bogie area that does not have perch.

Also Bl8tnt...you did drill a hole in the ice right...casting does not work well this time of year

I have spent a lot of time with my flasher this year and I guarantee you they weren't perch. Perch don't move laterally half as fast as these fish did and even the uninterested ones spend some tim on the bait before swimming off.

That said you make a good point. Was it a good depth? Well, maybe if there were fish shallower they would have been feeding ones. Maybe I was camping over fish that were not feeding. All I know is my buddies got 'em pretty good at that spot and depth 2 weeks earlier.

I am a splake and trout rookie, that was just my experience.

Fish shallow for the most active fish. 5-15 FOW is the most productive for splake in this neck of the woods. We used to catch a pile of em in Otter Lake and Farren Lake as well as some of the smalller lakes at Ompah.

Splake eat perch like they are candy so mimic a perch for best success IMO. I always used spoons like Krocodiles or Little Cleo in perch or fire-tiger colour tipped with a small minnow. We also caught lots on set lines with a 3-4" shiner minnow.

I watched the old-time lake trout anglers (including my Dad ) run all over Otter Lake jigging in 50-60+ FOW and they never caught nearly as many as my crew did in shallow water.

Mouths of bays that hold perch will have splake waiting for a meal. Once you find them stay on them because they are like pack hunters under the ice and will fight each other for the bait. They are very aggressive biters when they are on the feed.

Best of luck and I hope you find them! Let us know how you make out.

The MNR targets splake at lakes with perch quite often I was told, they love 'em. Generally I'd agree with the 10-15ft range, but the closer to deep water the better, just in case they decide to play laker that day . . . you may find them holed up down at the bottom of the drop, in-between shallow feeding runs . . .