lakers now?

[wishinfishin]

I see some guys are hitting the brown trout taking advantage of the weather, my question is since im still relatively new to lake o trolling,

can you target and be in the game for lake trout this time of yeart????

 

Using same techniques, lures, speed???

[TileMan Dan]

I believe they are out of season right now but I could be wrong.

[wishinfishin]

just looked thru the regs book again.

for Lake O , St lawrence, and tribs , it says Jan 1 thru Sept 30

[pvelyk]

As per NY state regs the season reopened January 1st on the great lakes and tribs.  Check special regs for size depending where you fish..

 

http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/31423.html

[wishinfishin]

do they usually stay in the same band of water ???

[GAMBLER]

This time of year they can show up anywhere. They will still be found on the bottom in the usual areas but not nearly as big of numbers. We found them in late Feb. one year in 180' on the bottom. We also caught some fishing Browns in 10-15' the same day.

[wishinfishin]

thanks Brian , I ve  been waiting for you to respond . Appreciate the input.

 

Is it a temp preference still and is the temp all over in the winter months ??? No one really posts temps in the winter aside from what I seen from the brown troutguys recently.

[GAMBLER]

Temp is usually colder in top and slightly warmer on the bottom.

[Sk8man]

After many years of fishing them in the Finger Lakes right through the winter (Seneca mainly) there may be something of relevance to the question IF it is transferable to Lake O. Although there can be small pockets of variable water temps during the winter after the water temps come down most of the warmer water is at or toward the bottom at about 39 degrees. During the late Fall after spawning the lakers seem to largely go deeper after the bait which mainly locates near bottom (you don't tend to see much suspended as at other times of the year). When you use bottom oriented techniques such as wire with cowbells and a cheater  a few feet above it in 90-180 ft of water you can hammer the lakers which seem desperate for a meal at that time of the year. Usually however the fish tend to be small to medium sized with an occasional large one in the mix. The real big ones often seem to follow a different pattern... they frequently cruise the shallows and can be caught on toplines or riggers and at least on Seneca they may be mixed in with very large northern pike at this time of the year and caught by some shore fishermen as well casting spoons or fishing live bait with slip sinkers from docks or breakwalls. These big boys if kept and their stomach contents are examined are often empty or they may have small perch or sunfish or other uncommon food in them undigested suggesting they may have come in to the shallows scavenging and unlike small er fish they aren't worried about the pike getting after them as food. My hunch is that their behavior is not related to temperature as this water is colder than the water out in the depths at the bottom. I have also seen a number of them caught by ice fishermen around me in less than 15 ft of water while ice fishing perch on Canandaigua and Skaneateles and they have all been big ones.

Edited January 4, 2016 by Sk8man

[wishinfishin]

Interesting read Mr. Sk8man , i understand what you are saying thanks for the info

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