Name: Lake Trout

Scientific Name: Salvelinus namaycush

 

Lake trout are the largest of the char family, are also called Mackinaw, Siscowet and paper bellies.  Lake trout is high in Omega 3 oils. Has a characteristic over sized head and mouth. Trolling for Lake Trout is the best fishing tactic. The greatest tip to catch is using a 3way swivel and weight system.  The best lures are ones that imitate the Cisco the main food source for lake trout. Jigging and fly fishing will produce fish in early spring and fall conditions. Lake Trout: One Of Canada’s Greatest Fish, but you will have to come to Northern Saskatchewan to catch your monster.

 

 

Distribution:

Wild Lake trout are found in Northern Canada but farmed trout are found throughout Canada, North and Central U.S with cold deep water.  Commercial fisheries still exist in some smaller lakes in northern Canada, but this fish is farmed for commercial markets.

 

Characteristics: 

This fish has an overly large head and mouth, are a darker gray with numerous light gray spots on the sides, both above and well below the lateral line and end with a deeply forked tail.  The biggest lake trout on record weighed almost 46.3 kg (102 lb).  Lake trout is high in fat, can be quite oily and is high in Omega 3 oils. This fish usually has firm flesh ranging from white to a red salmon color. Lake trout are one of the few freshwater fish that are able to release air from their swim bladders and, with care, can be successfully released after being brought up from deep water. 

 

Fish Habits: 

Lake trout spawn in September in lakes, in waters 1 to 120 feet deep. They may spawn in pairs or several may spawn as a group. The eggs are quite large (1/2 inch in diameter), and are spread over boulders, or gravel. The eggs are fertilized as they fall between the rocks. Incubation may require several months; hatching has at least begun by March. The juvenile fish grow very slowly. Most of the lake trout caught are less than 10 pounds but some become large, exceeding 40 pounds. Lake trout mature at 6 or 7 years old, but have been documented living up to 35 years.  They are a slow growing fish and care should be taken to release all but the smaller "eaters" to preserve a healthy spawning population.

 

Lake trout have been known, very rarely, to spawn in nature with the brook trout, but such hybrids are almost invariably reproductively sterile. Lake trout have also been successfully hybridized with brook trout to form the "splake," obtained by fertilizing lake trout eggs with brook trout sperm. Splake can weigh up to 16 pounds and have appearances of both parent species. Hybrids “splake” artificially propagated in hatcheries are planted into lakes in an effort to provide sport fishing opportunities.

 

Fishing Tactics: 

Lake trout prefer water temperatures less than 50 degrees F.  As a result, the best fishing for this species is in the early spring right after ice out or in the late fall when the surface water is cold. In early spring and fall, lake trout frequent shallow areas. Casting jigs and spinner baits work well. After ice-out lake trout can be scattered over much of the lake in shallow water and move gradually to the deeper water as the surface temperatures increase above 52 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

During the warmest parts of the summer you will find the lake trout concentrating in the deepest sections of the lake. As the water temps decrease towards fall the trout will migrate towards boulder strew shorelines and reefs where they typically spawn during late September or early October. Troll cold, large lakes until a trout is found, troll large Holographic Bucktail Jig, Thunder Jig Spinner, long-bodied streamer flies with flashy bodies, Dodger Spoon, Williams’s wobblers in silver, big minnow style Husky Jerk hardbaits in silver or perch.

 

Tips:

Early spring:

Concentrate on the shallowest waters during low light conditions, morning, evening or cloudy days.

Troll shorelines and islands with crank baits or spoons.

Fish long lines with lures such as Rapala Husky Jerks, Shad Rap, CountDown Minnow in silver or silver/blue

Spoons such as the Cyclops, Williams Wobbler or Ruby Eyes

The fish may hang deeper mid-day, deeper diving crank baits such as the Storm Hot ‘N Tot, or Rapala Tail Dancer.

Let out plenty of line while trolling and troll forward, vary your speed.

Just after ice-out fish will be found between 10 feet and the surface
Mid Spring look for lake trout from 35 to 45 feet deep

 

Mid to Late Summer:

This is a species like Large northern and Muskies, I recommend a good Fishfinder.

First, the fish will be relating to the deepest water and structure

Second will show you what depth they are at.

Fishing at 80 feet when the fish are at 50 feet will not get very many bites.

Find the bait fish, ciscoes, suckers, perch and walleye these are schooling fish trout will be nearby

Trout stay suspended in 53° thermal layers. This is where all the bait fish are.

Deep water trout 50 to 400 feet deep can be caught using one of two methods: Jigging or Trolling.  

Jigging for Trout:

This technique works best when the fish are concentrated, and requires no special rod, reel or line. A basic medium-heavy spinning rod with 8 – 14lb line and a ½ to ¾ oz jig with a white Bucktail Jig or white tube jigs are both deadly, tipped with a minnow improves your odds. Jigging spoons are also a highly productive method and spoons such as the Little Cleo (blue/silver color) or Krocodile (silver) and William’s silver/gold work great. Start jigging on the very bottom and gradually work your way to the surface with pauses along the way. Trout will follow your bait be alert for strikes, as trout will very often hit a bait that is fluttering back after being jigged. This is where many inexperienced anglers often miss catching a fish! One suggestion to increase your sensitivity to strikes is to use a super-line such as Spiderwire Line combined with a 3 ft. fluorocarbon leader. Covering ground by slowly drifting with the wind, or by using your motor, is very effective for locating fish.

 

Trolling for Trout:

Trolling works best when the fish are scattered over large areas and covering ground is essential. In the absence of sophisticated down-riggers and such, a simple alternative involves the use of the good Rod Holder and 3 Way Swivel and 3 separate line componts.The 3-way swivel technique is better than using steel line and it’s a lot more fun than using down-riggers. It’s really just a modification to the Weight Walker design. It’s effective with any deep fish. It can be used for deep Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Steelhead also effective for Walleye. The big trophy female Walleye will go deep in the summer. Use this method in 20 to 25 feet of water with a worm harness and hit those big trophy Walleyes.

 

The 3-Way Swivel Technique

When trolling these keep in mind that varying boat speeds and boat direction will often trigger fish. Also pumping the rod occasionally to create some erratic action will have the same effect. Try and maintain a 45 degree angle on your line from the rod tip to the water as you troll. Too much angle likely means you are going too fast for the depth of water, or a combination of too little weight, depth and speed.

 

Use the ultra-thin braided lines, spider wire, FireLine, gorilla braid etc, reason why, is the diameter of the line. Example 20lb spider wire has diameter of 8lb test line. With 8lb test line a 1-oz weight is good for down to 40 feet. A 2-oz weight is good for fishing down to 65 feet. 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 your main line to one eye of the 3 Way Swivel. Tie a 3-foot piece of SpiderWire Mono Line to another eye of the swivel, attach a snap swivel to this and attach the desired Trolling Weights to this snap. On the third eye tie on a 3 foot Fluorocarbon Leaders with a quality Ball Bearing Swivel & Snap then attach your lure to this. Lure choices are unlimited.  For Walleye, fish 15 to 25 feet deep and use a worm harness with a big fat worm.

 

Tackle:

Rod and reel:

Shakespeare Ugly Stik Rod and Reel Combo

 

Lures:

White jigs and tube

Buck Tails

Mepps Spinner Baits

Large Spoons Williams Warbler, 5 Diamonds, Silver

3 Way Swivels and weights

 

Cleaning:

Follow Cleaning Pike Instructions To:

How to Fillet

Scale, Cut into Steaks or Leave Whole

 

Recipes:

Trout fillets can be sautéed, pan fried, deep fried or steamed. Bigger fish can be smoked, grilled, broiled or baked as steaks or whole. 

Baked Lake Trout

Italian Baked Pike

 

Final Considerations:

Trout are funny when they bite small ones will hit and then take off so you know you have a fish on, really big trout will hit the lure and slowly swim away they don’t know they’re hooked. If you think you get a snag, make sure it’s not a fish before you start yarding and pulling 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. Catching lake trout can be a lot of fun, but because they grow so slow turn the big ones loose. Flatten the barbs down on lures with multiple hooks. Buy and use a Rubber Net trout are notorious for tangling themselves in a regular mesh net. Don’t keep fish out of the water longer than you can hold your breath. When reeling a fish in from deep water, take your time and allow the fish to "burp" on its way to the surface.

 

 

 

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