Downriggers and Lakers

[Tork35]

I am fortunante enough to spend June and July at a small private fishing camp in northern Sask. I grew up a pike and walleye guy but got hooked on going deep for lakers.

I have been marking lots of fish, catching a few (10-15lbs).
Looking for some tips or references (books,dvds) on how to better myself as a laker fisherman.

Last summer I spent a lot of time trolling #18 rapalas, quickfish,flatfish and assorted spoons anywhere from 45-65ft. Anywhere from 2.0mph to 4mph with fish biting at all speeds in between. I tried all times of day, sky and wind conditions.
I have heard that sunny days with little to no wind are better. Is there truth to that?

The Lake I am on only has 80 fishermen on it per year and the lakers are rarely targeted. There are several spots that have depths of 50-80 feet.
I am confident there has to be some 30-40 pounders there.
Just looking for some quick tips to try and find some of them.

[Deer Hunter]

Are you using a flasher? If not, try that in front of a silver rapala.

[Tyangelo]

Some more info relating to targeting Cold lake etc would be helpful as well.

[tip-up]

I would try: sliver green stripe or orange 5" flasher , chrome tiger anchovy rig .1 rigger at 3/4 down 1. rigger at 1/4 down to start use a kicker move at 1.6 - 2.0 and look for bait on sonar. No down rigger try a 2.0 oz banana wt. and a 3.0 0z coyote spoon black and sliver red hook lot's of fun.

[bisonhunter]

If you're into hardware, give the good old Len Thompson red five of diamonds a try. Remember that big fish eat big bait, so get the great big one. Use your fishfinder to gauge the depth, and put it just above them, they like to attack from underneath. The other thing is that they tend to like a slow troll 1.5-2 Mph, make lots of "S" turns as it affects the action/depth of the lure and that is when you will typically get the bite.
This of course is my preferred method in northern lakes, there are a lot of fellow fishermen on this site with different methods that will work just as good/better......
tight lines

[FRE]

Jigging works great for me. Use bait in conjunction with your lead jigs and rubber.

[nicemustang]

We do an annual trip to Waterbury in mid july. Can't keep the fish off, but 20-30 lbers are always caught by someone, nothing over 30 though in a few years. I'm not sure if any one particular rig catches bigger fish than others....

We use a 4 oz banana weight on a 3 way swivel. About 150-200 feet of line out. a 6-8 foot flouro leader to a variety of different hooks. 4-8" flashy spoons mostly like a red devil, a willams wabbler, or apex. This gets you to 50' or so give or take. I didn't make it last year, but I will be trying new techniques this year. A dispy diver, a flasher stick and spin-n-glos, bondy baits and buzz bombs. We RARELY jig, mostly troll around 1.5-2 mph.

[Dust1n]

i like using silver anchovy spoons in 1-1.5 onces on a trolling rod going 1-4mph the fish will tell you what they want.