Lake Trout Advice

[jdm130]

Im going out to fish a local lake this weekend for lakers. Ive fished it for years but never nailed anything big. Most of the lakers are cookie cut at about 20" or so. There are some good ones but few and far between. I normally troll at 2mph or even less pulling spoons off my riggers. What do you guys reccommend trying to entice something bigger? When you guys fish for lakers at LO what is your favorite bait? I was thinking of trying F/F combo's and maybe a meat rig. Can anyone give me some tips on catching Lakers? I have tried alot of different things but hopefully someone has something that I havent tried yet.

Thanks!

[GAMBLER]

A cowbell followed by a spin n glow along the bottom trolled at 1.0 - 1.7 mph. is the #1 combo in my boat for lakers.

[jdm130]

I have a few and will definitly give it a try. Years ago I used cowbells with those peanuts and did alright. Im hoping to show these fish something they havent seen before to try to entice something better then what we normally catch. Seems we have to catch close to a hundred lakers i the 20-24" range before boating a ten pounder. My best laker from this lake was 18 pouds and that fish took me ten years to catch and it may be another ten years before getting another one like that here. IME, the best results Ive had are spoons, but this weekend Im going to try a meat rig with spin dr. and see if that works, I got a nice laker last year at LO with that rig. Ive tried huge magnum spoons to discourage the smaller lakers and it still doesnt work, these fish eat spoos 1/3 the size of their whole body.. Many many times I end up dragging a small laker around for who knows how long. I did the rubber band trick last season and it really helped showing those small bites. Thanks for the input. I'll let you know how it works

[BullGator]

Bounce the rigger ball off the bottom once in a while. You didn't mention what lake you are fishing, but it works for Ontario.

[bottom-feeder]

dont be afraid to drop down a flasher fly combo.... the ones i showed you up here last fall should work

[irishbailey86]

sutton 88 hammerred with single or fixed single hook...big bait profile...big hits.

drag a ball just above bottom with some galv. chain zip tied to ur ball....itll stir up the bottom as it slides across it and if it snags the zip ties break and ur gear goes home that night!...TRY THAT TO PISS EM OFF.

[jdm130]

Thanks for the info guys... Its a lake here in NJ called round valley. Its pristine water and the lake is about 100' deep with a trench that is 160'. There are some good lakers in there but you have to catch a ton of cookie cut fish before hooking into a good one. Thats why I wanna try something that maybe they havent seen before. Around here nobody talks to help other anglers. Years ago when I fished it alot, I used to troll with live herring cause thats the natural bait fish. I would troll with with two herring on each line. The first I would hook in the mouth, the second I hooked in the mouth right behing the first ones tail and it has a small trebble in its back. They looked great trolling at slow speeds. I would put the small cow bells in front of the herring. We would knock the hell out of the browns and bows. Guys would yell to us asking how we caught so many fish and I would tell them. Nobody says a word about how they catch fish in this place, but I live in NJ and thats pretty much the norm around here. Thats why when I found this site I couldnt belive how willing people are to help a total stranger. This site is awesome and Im not use to people that actually want to help others. Hopefully tomorrow I can post pics of a good one Gonne be a great weekend, good luck to anyone heading out!