More so than any other fish it seems, landing Lake Trout consistently requires super-sharp hooks. Barbs or barb-less ironically, doesn't seem to matter. 80% of the time I have a Lake Trout in the net, the lure falls out on its own. Lake Trout mouths seem to consist of cartilage-like tissue which seem to bore open when a hook is buried. When a fish is fighting hard, a barb just seems to bore a larger hole, which doesn't do much good. In fact, I find that having a large protruding barb just makes the hookset procedure that much more difficult. As a result, I go barbless when fishing for Lakers. Makes my hookset easier, and hurts the fish less. - Just make sure to keep the tension on (but not so much that the hook bends straight).
I've been experimenting with some other lures lately: Rapala Deep Diver (dives to 30 feet), Perch pattern. - This was an interesting lure, in that I don't need extra weights to get deep to where the trout are. Unfortunately - I didn't get anything on this lure. (Mind you, it's a #11 so it's 4 inches long). Not sure if Trout each perch either so the paint on the lure could also be off. I also tried a green and silver Little Cleo and caught - absolutely nothing. Not even a hit. I also tried using whole nightcrawlers... Nada. I'll keep experimenting.
Sandra the BassMaster:
Sandra and I took some time to go Smallmouth Bass fishing this weekend. We got some worms from Canadian Tire and went out at around 4pm on Saturday. Sandra quickly got tired of catching small ones and went with a chartreuse + green Berkley Gulp! 3" Minnow. She caught a 1+ lb'er which she "bassmastered" into the boat - right into my lap!
The tally this week: 8 Lake Trout landed.
So we're 3 away from getting to 100. I caught a small one (in the 1st photo). This little guy is probably no older than 3 and less than a pound. That's a good sign that the trout are reproducing in the lake successfully. (Our lake was over-fished years ago - like many lakes in the area - anglers kept too many of these slow growing fish). The last fish in these photos was hooked before. I found about 4 feet of 4'lb Test monofiliment hanging out of its mouth. It appeared to have swallowed a hook, most likely live bait. Someone was probably going for smallmouth bass and hooked him by accident and the line snapped. I couldn't get at the hook, but trimmed the mono down so it wasn't hanging outside the fishes body.
2 comments:
Bass are for kids.
Cadman,
The deep diving rapala you're talking about sounds like a TD11 tail dancer. I'm sure a laker would hit it but wouldn't be a great choice I don't think. We use them a lot on the bay of Quinte for big fall walleye. The perch pattern on the other hand should work fine. In our lake the splake feed heavily on perch in the fall and spring when they're up shallow.
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