Targeting Lake Trout on Lake George

I’m absolutely hooked on lake trout. I just got back from Colorado where I spent a week fishing lake trout on a high mountain reservoir. We had a blast watching fish race in and do a “fly by” and then swing around and come back and whack our jig. And the more time I’ve spent fishing lakers, the more I’m beginning to see patterns develop between winter and summer jigging.

I’ve written extensively on this topic and I’ve got a ton I want to try this summer. Here’s the highlight film of what I want to experiment with:

1. Pounding bottom. A lot of time, you will get fish to come in and they won’t commit. So triggering them is the key both in the winter and the summer.

2. Ripping bait up off the bottom. I (or my clients) caught a ton of fish ripping the bait up off the bottom. I would jerk the rod and reel 3 cranks - very erratically. You can watch the fish scream up off the bottom and when they do that you keep taking it away from them. Don’t stop ripping the bait: a normal wounded cisco or smelt isn’t just going to stop when a laker is chasing it! Bait continues to try and get away.

3. Try downsizing when fish are fussy. Instead of a 4” tube, try downsizing to a 3” tube or maybe even a 2.5” tube. Switch from a 1oz jighead to a 5/8oz jighead.

4. Add scent. Now I may be off on this, but in looking at all the stuff on NY’s fishing regulations, it seems like you could catch perch and put a piece of belly meat on your jig. Or you could add scent to your plastic.

5. Make a cast. I know it sounds crazy, but I started casting jig and plastic on humps in 80-90 feet and working the bait back to the boat. I’d snap the jig and let it fall and we caught fish doing that exact presentation.

6. Use Livescope. Obviously a little pricier option - but here you could actually see how the fish were interacting with your bait. Often ice fishing, you find a specific move that the fish favor and you can see it in the way they interact with your offering. So if pounding the bottom, gets the fish’s interest, keep pounding it.

My goal this summer is to try a bunch of new ideas and tactics. I hope to have a lot more data points by the end of 2021 to draw from (really that’s what makes a person a better fisherman - time and experience on the water!).

If you want to give lakers a try on Lake George this summer, give me a shout and hopefully we can get you on fish. We also plan on doing a whole series of videos for our YouTube channel teaching all of these concepts through video format. If you want to check it out - click here or watch the video below!