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mackinawfishing.com |  |
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NAMES: Lake trout, Grey trout, Mackinaw trout SCIENTIFIC NAME: Salvelinus namaycush IDENTIFICATION: Lake trout are a medium to dark gray or olive color
with white worm-like wavy marks on their backs and on top of the
head. Occasionally, they have bars or spots along the side mainly
tinged with red. Lake trout also are the only trout in Ohio with a
deeply forked tail. RANGE & HABITAT: Lake trout are native to the Great
Lakes and prefer deep, coldwater lakes throughout North America.
They are usually found offshore in deep, well-oxygenated water. In
Lake Erie, lake trout are usually not found in Ohio waters, but can
be found in low numbers in the East Central and Eastern basins. LIFE HISTORY: Lake trout spawn on offshore shoals and reefs in the
fall. Eggs hatch in the spring and young lake trout usually move to
deeper water after a short time. Adult fish are opportunistic
feeders their diet consisting of aquatic insects, crustaceans, and a
range of fish species, including small lake trout. The lake trout is
a slow growing, long-lived species that does not become sexually
mature until age seven or eight. Lake trout populations have been
greatly reduced over much of their range due to their susceptibility
to parasitism by the sea lamprey. ADULT SIZE: Lake trout average between 20 and 24 inches and 3 to
6 pounds, but are capable of reaching 50 pounds. Ohio's state record
fish weighed 16 pounds and 11 ounces. It takes a bit more skill to catch Lake Trout, especially in the summer-time. For years people have been using trolling rods with thick wire line and lots of weight to fish deep. It's the exact opposite ideology if you want to catch them. Thick heavy line causes more friction with the water, thus it is harder to go deep. Plus heavy trolling rods are not sensitive enough to feel a small fish hit your lure when you are fishing 60 feet deep. You need a light action rod with six pound test line. You also need three-way swivels and a 2 oz weight for fishing down to 50 feet or a 3 oz weight for fishing down to 80 feet. Below is
a diagram showing the setup:
Trolling Slow: You only want to move just fast enough for your lure to work and no faster. If your boat is moving too fast, it will be very hard to find the bottom of the lake. If you are using a boat with a bigger motor and it's hard to keep slow, try back trolling. Finding the bottom: The most important aspect of Lake Trout fishing is letting out line to get to the bottom. DO NOT JUST LET YOUR LINE OUT UNTIL IT HITS BOTTOM. Hold the rod in one hand with the bail open. Let the line run through the palm of your other hand and grip the line. Once the boat starts moving and you have a good straight troll going, open your hand with the line then close it again. This way you can let out a foot or two of line at a time. Get a rhythm going. Open, close, open, close. Your rod tip will bounce up and down as you release little bits of line at a time. The rhythm of your rod tip bouncing will be disrupted when your weight hits the bottom of the lake. When this happens, reel up a foot or two. The purpose of this procedure is to keep your three way swivel setup from getting tangled. Trout are funny when it comes to hitting your lure. Small ones will hit and then take off so you know you have a fish on. The really big trout will hit the lure and slowly swim away. They are so big they don't know they're hooked. So if you get a snag, make sure it's not a fish before you start toughing on your line. If it's a big trout, loosen the drag on your reel because they will go nuts and strip a 100 yards of line off your reel before you can turn them. Weather: In the summer time, Lake Trout hit best in the morning between first light and 10:30 AM. They will hit better if the surface of the water is dead calm and it's a clear sky with high pressure. Any other conditions will cause them to slow down. If it's early spring, the trout seem to feed in other parts of the day, thus they are easier to catch. In some lakes the trout feed before dark. Structure and wind: Take a close look at the structure of the shoreline and try to extend the elevation patterns into the lake. If you see a cliff, odds are the water is deep at it's face. If you see a string of islands, odds are there is a shallow shoal that runs between them. Trout like drop-offs so you would want to troll parallel to the string of shoals and not over them. When you drop your line to the bottom, count how many times you let out line. You can get a good estimate of the depth. Try to stay in 40 to 60 feet of water. If you come across a spot and catch a trout, odds are there are more of them there. The wind is very important when trout fishing. Traditionally for warm water fish like Walleye or Musky, you would fish on the side of the lake were the wind is blowing. The logic being that the fish follow the surface food that is being blown in. With trout it is the exact opposite. The wind also blows the warm surface water which does not hold enough oxygen for the trout. Thus fish the side of the lake where the wind is coming from. Depth: In the Spring, the Lake Trout will be right up to the surface. As the water starts to warm up with the changing weather, the trout start to go deeper. Here is the approximate depth for different times of year. This is not true for all lakes. Some smaller spring fed lakes will have Lake Trout shallow all year. Just
after ice-out --> Between 10 feet and the surface Depth Finder: It's
good to have a depth finder so you can map the schools of bait fish
that are suspended. When you do come across a school, troll around
the outside of the school. The Lake Trout sit right underneath the
school waiting for weak or injured fish to venture outside the
school. Out in the middle of the lake, you will find these schools
of bait fish in the 40 to 60 foot range. It's different on most
lakes but this is a good place to start.
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By using light
line, the line has less friction with the water and slices
through so that your line goes down to the bottom without
having lots of line out. Tie two 4 foot pieces of line to
your three-way swivel. Use a 2 oz. weight on one line and a
light lure on the other.
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