Developing Confidence Jigging For Lake Trout
A Beautiful Lake George Laker that was released to be caught again this summer!
Many steer clear of fishing for lake trout because they despise trolling. Others feel intimidated by lakers because they usually hang out in deep, clear environments. Often the mysterious can keep us from pursuing because we don’t even know where to start.
I felt some of each of those emotions when I started targeting lake trout on Lake George in 2015. But what I quickly discovered is that lake trout are similar to other fish. And so the same concepts that have helped us become successful with other species have enabled us to put lots of fish in the boat over the past seven seasons.
I am not a troller. I exclusively jig. If you hire me as a guide, my goal is to teach you how to fish. I want my clients to become better fisherman and fisherwomen. I’m going to lay out my thought process for what I’m looking for when I target lakers:
Location: Biggest challenge when targeting any species is locating them. Lakers are known to like cold water. Early in the season, you can find them shallow. As the water warms they move deeper. They often will suspend as well. Having good electronics can help tremendously in finding fish. I spend time looking for fish on my Garmin 8610 GPSMap and my Livescope.
Techniques: The key to developing techniques is having a starting point. You just need to get bit to develop some confidence that you can catch lakers. Here’s what I would encourage as a starting point: buy 1oz jigheads and 4” white tubes. We like to use all kinds of lures to catch lakers. Besides a tube, we have done well on Rapala jigging raps, blade baits, spoons, and other plastics. Over time, you will develop your go to’s.
Jigging Cadences: This maybe one of the areas where fine tuning will happen over the course of years of experience. With jigging styles and rhythms, remember that lakers are predators, so when you are targeting them, think about what a smelt would do if a predator came in to inspect. And try and imitate what you think it would take to get a fish to commit.
There really is no better way to learn how to fish than to hire a guide to show you how they do what they do. Last year we caught and released over 100 lakers (and I spend way more time targeting smallies on Lake George than Lakers). We had really good bite windows and periodically we struggled. But our catch rates continue to go up every year by simply applying the strategies we’ve been developing year in and year out. We would love to get you in on the action. Email me at freshwatertherapy@gmail.com for more info about booking a trip this summer!