Shallow Lakers, Recent trip.

Great descrition of your day, beautiful scenery, fantastic fish pics. Thanks for sharing, very interesting stuff.

nice fish


I'm a big believer in shallow laker fishing both winter and summer 14 to 35 feet being my favourite depths

We're all ears---tell us more! Many of us could learn from an expert

On Lake Manitou in the Spring, I have trolled slowly in 10fow, casting towards shore and catching lakers in 3fow.

Manitou has a rocky bottom and the lakers are in feeding on crayfish.

SDC

That's a bit surprising, Ralph. I thought crays just became active in quite warm water. Maybe the trout know better. I guess it depends on how well the crays are hiding.

I'm no expert on shield laker fishing, but i do believe in experimenting and that is what i have done for the past decade

I normally see fish hugging bottom in deep water just like many, but these are not usually active, so began to try much shallower and it's been quite consistent for me

only 2 months of the year, i fish down to maybe 50 fow


troll with small spoons like scorpian size and some body baits

jig with swammers, tubes and vibratos


haven't used minnows in 12 years


lastly, you have to get to know the lake and where they hold, move and feed

I completely agree Longshank. Have to experiment beyond what we already know.

I also happen to agree that you never need minnows for lakers.

I completely agree Longshank. Have to experiment beyond what we already know.

I also happen to agree that you never need minnows for lakers.

I concur. Although I still use live bait for my dead stick and actively jig with a jig and minnow, laker fishing is more about fooling an aggressive predator. You will get more aggressive strikes pulling your lure away as fast as you can away from the the fish than you ever will just jigging in the same spot. You need to provoke the predator instinct in the laker by making them chase. The problem is lakers have really good eye sight and as soon as your not pulling your lure away fast enough and they realize that your lure is not thier natural forage, they turn away. So in short, you don't need live bait. I'm sure you could use a timbit and if you pull it away fast enough, you will catch that laker.

I completely agree Longshank. Have to experiment beyond what we already know.

I also happen to agree that you never need minnows for lakers.

Ok---so here is the situation: There are plenty of fish being marked bear the bottom but very few elsewhere in the water column. The fish at the bottom don't seem interested in minnows, a small jig or a Simcoe bug. I did not try many different jigs or spoons. I guess I just needed to keep switching until something worked. But what?/ What strategy/options work for you and others? thx

I completely agree Longshank. Have to experiment beyond what we already know.

I also happen to agree that you never need minnows for lakers.

Ok---so here is the situation: There are plenty of fish being marked bear the bottom but very few elsewhere in the water column. The fish at the bottom don't seem interested in minnows, a small jig or a Simcoe bug. I did not try many different jigs or spoons. I guess I just needed to keep switching until something worked. But what?/ What strategy/options work for you and others? thx

I rarely even pay attention to fish on the bottom when fishing for lakers if they linger around. So many things those marks could be other than lakers. If they won’t chase I ignore them for the most part. I fish at least 10’ or more off bottom all the way to the top and keep working on he whole water column. Often in deep water I rarely get within 15’ of the bottom. Occasionally I drop straight to bottom and pound the bottom three times making sure to never lay my bait still on bottom. The after the third pound I reel up steady for a minimum half the water column. Sometime I repeat this if I get a lazy chaser.

You have to keep them chasing and never getting a good stare at you bait IMO.

Ok, but what if there are practically no fish swimming any significant dist above the bottom. If they are not there you cannot catch them Or do you try to bring them in with a big flasher spoon?

My only contribution to this is that fish higher up in the column tend not to be seen as easily as fish nearer the bottom because of the cone of the sonar. You will almost never see a laker that is cruising just below the ice. I have seen and caught lakers cruise just under the ice when I use to go with an operator (those large square hole are great to see such fish come in to check out your bait or the chum (that we use to be able to use) thrown down. Never did any one of these high cruisers show up on the sonar (but some were caught, others lost and some just knew better to bite our baits). Very much worth fishing the entire water column, esp. later in the ice season.

try a swammer............drop to bottom , flip 3 times and reel up to 10-15 feet off bottom ...sooner or later one will follow and rocket up...........start reeling and do not stop

try a swammer............drop to bottom , flip 3 times and reel up to 10-15 feet off bottom ...sooner or later one will follow and rocket up...........start reeling and do not stop

Great advise.

I might add if you see nothing moving after awhile just pack up and move.
I have moved many Kilometres in a day just to hit a spot that’s on fire. Other days many moves results in exercise only.

Thx for the suggestions, guys.

LS----so your tactic would be to tease and taunt the bottom dwellers to chase your bait/lure as opposed to looking for lakers swimming by further up the water column? I was also thinking of tapping the bottom a few times with a Little Cleo of similar spoon.

Disco D----You and I have fished together. You must know that, unlike you, I'm an old geezer. Most of my 'get up and go' has got up and gone'. Sometimes I can move reasonably if there is not seep snow or slush as it is right now.