Ice out lakers, what's the secret?

[Knuguy]

My buddy and I were at lake Joe near Pt Carling today. We marked lots---and I do mean lots---of fish, presumably lake trout suspended at 10-20 ft deep. We mostly slow trolled lures such as fairly big Little Cleos and deep crankbaits with nary a bite. I think the lures were runnig deep enough as we both hooked bottom once or twice in maybe 15 ft of water. We also did a very slow drift with sinkers and worms over an area where we were marking fish i.e. ice fishing technique. again---nada. The water temp on my FF showed as zero. What gives??? Does the water need to warm a bit?

We had never tried for ice-out lakers before.

[Dbfish]

Slipfloat!!! Lmao. I have never tried Harold in the spring, it sounds to me like you guys were doing everything right, except catching. Maybe just one of those days!!

[smc2200]

I've read quite a bit on this. I heard that once the water "flips" (warm/cold) the lakers move up.
I believe that a lot of it has to do with timing, conditions, and water temp (like any good fishing day) I'm heading back up north myself this weekend to try again - skunked last.

[lastpass]

These lakers are not hungry, you need to throw loud rattle hard baits and make them move erratically through the water and quickly, they will hit out of aggression.

Try rapalas

[Knuguy]

Really? I thought that after a long winter they'd be hungry?

[cottagebum]

I usually try to find an inflow, and cast Krocodile spoons and X-Raps. Nothing like catching Lakers in skinny water. My shallowest Laker came out of 2 ft of water on Gull Lake a few years back. Green and silver X-Rap with a white feather on the rear hook. Awesome fish. That was real early though. There was still ice floating around the main lake. I launched in Deep Bay, but couldn't get into Miners because of the ice.

[RHYBAK]

I spring troll on Joe using Reef Runners.

Just a hint.
A lot of the fish you are marking are suckers moving in to spawn.
Whitefish are just behind them ready to eat the loose spawn.

[Knuguy]

I assumed that suckers had already gone up the creeks to spawn, but I'm not very familiar with their habits.

Have you tried catching whitefish at that time? Do you thing roe bags would work?

Why Reef Runners instead of other crankbaits? It looks like you have to order then online whereas there are lots of other brands in stores.

thx

[RHYBAK]

I don't know where you shop but Bas Pro has them, JP Fishing Depot has them, Cabela's has them,Shortwave Electronics, SAIL etc,etc.

Other than that, I'm just telling you what I use.
I'm sure any bait going past them will attract their attention.

[Knuguy]

Thx for that. I made a bad assumption----when I saw something about from basement to garage I assumed they were still a small outfit doing sales online. But, like you say, it shouldn't matter exactly what you put in front of them------at least if they are in the biting mood, which they certainly did not seem to be when we went last week.

We plan to give those dang fish 1 more chance to bite later this week. We are hoping that slightly warmer water will put them in a feeding mood. I think the temp function on my FF was on the fritz but the water felt very cold. I'm guessing 4-6 deg..

[RHYBAK]

I catch them with the surface rods right up to late June.
As long as the thermocline isn't to deep to fast.
Mid June the thermocline is at 20 feet .
Those diving Reef Runners get me down 25 feet which is perfect.
If I have the bodies on the boat, I will set two riggers and two surface lines.

[Longshank]

X 2 on the Reff runners.

On our lake at ice out we fish no more than 5 feet down and sometimes even on the surface with anything that makes noise...that's morning and evening.

Long leads is also a factor.

[Knuguy]

Thx for the tips, guys. I am hoping to give it another kick on Fri.. Now that the water temps are a bit warmer, any changes in tactics that you might suggest?

[Dbfish]

Prayers Harold, lol!!

[RHYBAK]

I'm hoping to get my boat in the water but I will likely be downrigging 30 feet down