How to Catch Lake Trout

Lake Trout — Summer

Where to fish

Summer lake trout live in the thermocline band — the cold layer that still holds oxygen. That's the whole location rule: find the cold, oxygenated water and you're in their world. Where the bottom reaches that layer, the Great Lakes canon fishes them right on or near bottom.

What to tie on

The trolling spread: a Spin-N-Glo behind a herring dodger, a rotating flasher, or a Fish Flash — attractors in use since the early 1950s. Dodger colours: chartreuse and brushed stainless ('trash can'). The No. 2 Spin-N-Glo is the most popular size; Nos. 4, 2 and 0 produce most of the fish. Attractor size follows depth and clarity: 4–6 in attractors in shallow or very clear water, 6–8 in deeper or off-colour.
Vertical jigging works all summer too: the white tube through the column, and jigging spoons of ½–1 oz.

How to fish it

Leader length is the mood dial. Behind a herring dodger: 12–24 in of 20-lb fluorocarbon — 12–18 in gives a violent snap for active fish, toward 24 in a soft, slow target for lethargic ones. Behind a Fish Flash, leaders run 36–72 in. Speeds are specific: the herring dodger fishes at 1.6–2.0 mph and is very speed-sensitive; a rotating flasher at 2.0–2.8; a Fish Flash at 1.6–2.8.
'Skipping bottom' — ball and dodger ticking bottom every few feet — works over silt, sand and gravel; over chunk rock, hold a few feet off. When you change the spread, change spoon colour and pattern first, then brand and size; and treat glow and UV as separate colours in the rotation, not finishes.

If it's still tough

In the afternoon the canon flips: spoons outproduce flashers and flies — except for bottom-oriented lake trout, which stay a dodger fish. If the flashers stop producing by midday, pull them and run clean spoons or plugs.

Lake Trout — Spring

Where to fish

Spring is the shallow season — before the surface warms, lake trout can be caught shallow, and right after turnover the water is one temperature top to bottom (around 39 °F at turnover), so the fish may be anywhere. Enjoy it: by mid-to-late June on classic trout water they're already 70–140 ft down.

What to tie on

The Shield standard is a white or silver tube jig, 3–4 in — it matches their forage: ciscoes, whitefish and suckers, all streamlined, thin, soft-scaled and silvery-white. Scented tubes are the same profile. Where the forage is tiny shiners instead, small flutter spoons match better — lure size follows the forage, always.
Vertical jigging spoons and lead-heads of ½–1 oz in white or chartreuse are the other standard.

How to fish it

Work the tube through the whole column — hopping it, popping it, swimming it, on a ¼- to ⅜-oz head and 8–10 lb line. And learn the chase trigger: when a trout appears on the sonar below your bait, reel rapidly. A fleeing bait makes a lake trout commit.
Snap-jigging works the same nerve: snap hard, pause, let it fall — the hits come on the drop. With a heavy 1-oz head you can pound bottom on humps — dig a hole in it, in the old phrase.

If it's still tough

If shallow spring fish won't go, they may already be deeper than you think. Drop down the first big break and jig the column there — the spring window closes from the top down.

Lake Trout — Fallspawn

Where to fish

Fall is the spawn: rocky reefs and shoals less than 40 ft deep — sometimes a foot deep — the same reefs every year (lake trout build no redd; they broadcast over the rock). And in canoe country, the autumn feeding frenzy around those shoals is famous: a simple jig and twister tail is the premier lure of the season there.

What to tie on

Keep it simple on the shoals: a jig with a twister tail, the white tube, and spoons. The forage-matching rule still holds — silvery-white profiles over the rock.

How to fish it

Work the shoals and their edges through the column. Spawn-season trout are concentrated and findable — the year's best chance to fish them shallow without electronics doing the finding.

If it's still tough

If the shoals are quiet, the fish are staging off them — drop to the first deep edge beside the spawning rock and jig there. They use the deep edge as a hallway to the shoal.

Lake Trout on the ice — Early ice

Where to fish

Follow the food, not a depth — that's the ice rule from the best lake-trout ice angler of his generation, whose best hour ever came over 19 ft of water, and who took a giant over 28 ft. Bottom where the gobies are; mid-column where smelt and ciscoes cruise. Trout hunt in packs of three or four — the fish are where their food is, in groups.

What to tie on

A white tube jig, 3½–5 in, on a ¼- to ⅜-oz head — corkscrew-plummeted down, or rigged swimbait-style with the head outside. Rod: 34–36 in inside a shelter, 36–42 in in the open; 10–12 lb braid with about a metre of 10–12 lb mono.

How to fish it

Work the tube through the column and use the chase trigger — a trout on the sonar gets a rapidly reeled, fleeing bait. And when your partner hooks one, drop down a nearby hole (or the same one) immediately: the pack is there and feeding.
A spoon trick with real scent: run the treble through the head of a freshly snipped sucker minnow. Rattling lipless cranks (Rippin' Rap class) call trout in when they're in a chasing mood.

If it's still tough

The western system is the backup plan: humps topping out at 30–50 ft are the pattern from around Christmas — if the food-following hasn't produced, set up on a deep hump and jig the column there.

Lake Trout on the ice — Mid ice

Where to fish

By mid-January the western pattern shifts from humps to flats and saddles — still in the 30–50 ft band. Food is still the rule; the structure type changes, not the depth.

What to tie on

The white tube still leads — but past 50 ft, the tube gives way to the deep spoon: a Williams Ice Spoon, 2.25 or 3.25 in, half-gold/half-silver, is the proven deep-water bait.

How to fish it

Jig the whole column over the flats and saddles, drop to the spoon when the fish are deeper than 50 ft, and drop a second line the moment anyone hooks up — packs of three or four are still the rule.

If it's still tough

Colour note, honestly regional: the Shield school fishes white, silver and clear-flake; the western school fishes drab green, brown and olive over kokanee forage. Use the school your water belongs to — the books disagree because their lakes do.

Lake Trout on the ice — Late ice

Where to fish

Late ice moves trout shallow — but stay near deep water: a flat of 10–15 ft right beside a 50 ft-plus drop is the classic late-ice setup.

What to tie on

White tube on a ¼- to ⅜-oz head, the deep spoon if they're holding over the drop. Same tackle as mid-winter.

How to fish it

Fish the shallow flat for cruisers and the edge for the pack. Late-ice trout roam more — check the flat first, then the drop, then back.

If it's still tough

Slide shallower before you slide deeper — late-ice trout are travelling toward the shallows, and the flat next to the drop is the last stop.

Manitoba Master Angler

A Lake Trout of 89 cm (35 in) or better qualifies for Manitoba's Master Angler Program.

Lake Trout — Summer

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Lake Trout — Spring

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Lake Trout — Fallspawn

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Lake Trout on the ice — Early ice

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Lake Trout on the ice — Mid ice

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Lake Trout on the ice — Late ice

Where to fish

What to tie on

How to fish it

If it's still tough

Manitoba Master Angler

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