Home Forums Fishing Freshwater lake trout from a canoe?

howdy foke.

We're heading to the BWCA with some canoes for some camping and fishing. The lake we are staying on is a lake trout lake. We will have no electronics and no engines... just canoes, paddles and fishin poles.

Long island lake in cook county MN inside the BWCA.

Anybody got any ideas of catching some lake trout without all the fancy bells & whistles?

Heavy spoons tried at all depths...almost jigging them at times....stir up the mud on the bottom with them...

I was hoping to hear from a fisherman...
























lol!!

dave,

I fished BWCA decades ago and fish lake trout for a couple weeks each summer.....

IMO, the best all around lure for lake trout is a Sutton Spoon...very thin and fragile.....fish it 3-4 feet behind a banana sinker on light FC.....paddle slowly while bumping the sinker on bottom now and then. You should be able to get Suttons at Marine General in Duluth. I usually use one of the larger sizes.

You didn't mention when you are going.....fish deeper water as summer progresses...in August, they will start feeding heavily for the spawn.....and move to rocky ridges etc to spawn in September/October.

Good luck!

Going this week and the weather looks great!!

Entry day is June 16 for us, we'll come out on the 18th.

Won't be going through duluth but we will go through ely and grand marais on our way to gunflint area tomorrow.

sutton spoon, you are like the 4th guy to mention that spoon.

big pike in that lake too so we're bound to accidentally catch them while trying for lakers.

Thanks!

Post pics when you get back and we'll see if I was talking to one....

judging by the pics last year left at the lake ridge after someone filleted one and checked out the stomach contents......try trolling with small muskrats wouldnt have surprised me had it been a northern but was a shock to see one in the belly of a laker as the top water of Fort Peck tends to be warmer than lakers prefer and your usually fishing pretty deep to hook up a laker mid summer....

Posting photos on this site is a PIA but let us know how you did.

I'd post some LT photos but I'm afraid Ingwe would be moving up here.

Ingwe would photoshop himself into your photos, don't chance it!

lol!!

I got mad photoshop skills......

2 years ago I was up there did a loop starting on seagull lake. Don't know if that's close to were you are going or not.

We caught several lake trout mostly on doctor spoons. Trolling slow and steady with alot of line out allowing the spoon to get down there. Cover a lot of ground until you find a pattern then give em hell. Biggest one came on a shad rap type crank bait on a tiny lake as we were barely moving though so you never know. Going back in sept this year with a locator should be fun.

jig them off the bottom with something white--you don't have to be fancy for Lakers...

We plan on doing plenty of jigging, figure find a 50' whole and start on the bottom, jig a bit and work my way up stopping to jig every few feet.

Figure we'll try that in many places from 20' ledges on down to 70'

Have used a heavy white jighead (1-2oz) to raise a little dust on the bottom or just a white Swedish Pimple both with a piece of sucker attached

any white spoon that you can get down there at their temp range with a piece of fish on it will work if they are biting

sounds like a blast--thinking about Isle Royale later this year if I can get the boys out of college for a bit...

dave,

Many LT fishermen concentrate on rocky bottoms for catching LT....but certain "clay" bottoms are conducive to burrowing by burbot to create nests etc....I realize you won't have electronics but I have been able to locate an area of these burrows and have found very large LTs lurking in the depressions awaiting bait fish to swim over.....so there you have another of my bits of LT wisdom.

For more on Burbot Burrows Google on LaBerge Burbot for photos etc.

3-4 inch tubes in white or pearl. Use an appropriate jig head (we like 1/2 to 3/4 oz.) depending on the wind and depth.

Tried like hell but we didn't catch any.

You must have not taken my advice....


Did you catch anything else?

dave,

Probably not a lot of trout left in those lakes.

Did you find a Sutton Spoon....?

A rising barometer always helps the bite also.

I hope you had a good trip.

We did have a good trip. And I did find a bait/tackle store that sold sutton spoons. Me and my boy each got a couple. We each got a light gauge hammered 2 tone and a heavier or more "standard" spoon.

They were spendy but it seemed like the sort of thing a person should have in the tackle box.

ingwe, we didn't catch a damn thing, I mean nuthing, not a single fish.

First time I'me not caught fish in BWCA.