Cold Lake - Lake Trout
 

Friend wants to head up to CL this weekend.

I never have been there and nothing about Lake Trout.

Would appreciate any tips on recommended end tackle/bait etc!

Thanks

Do you have downriggers? Lakers are deep in the summer, mainly stay below the thermocline which you can see with a good sonar by adjusting the sensitivity.

If you do have them, I run 20-30lb braid with a fluoro leader around 35' long to a good cross lock swivel. Then I run Northern King trolling spoons or Len Thompson dimple series spoons. I like to stay in 100' of water and rum my scotty downriggers at various depths above bottom but below the thermocline. I run anywhere from 10-30' back behind the release, depends on the fishes mood. I troll with my big motor at 1.8-2.0 mph

If you don't have downriggers you can jig. Also a lot of fun. Hard to anchor in 100' of water but if you have an electric with spot lock it makes life simple. I troll around until I mark stacks of fish on the bottom on my Lowrance and then pull up my gear and anchor. For jigging I use the same line setup but a bit shorter medium fast rod and a 2oz tube jig with a stinger. The fishin hole carries a selection of colors. I like the heavier bigger lures in the summer since the boat is moving a bit and gets you down faster.

Let me know if you have any questions.

go to the free provincial boat launch. from there out about a mile. there is a real nice spot. Use a crippled herring rig

if you don't have down riggers but a couple pink ladies or dipsy divers to get your lure down in the strike zone.

Thanks for the help.

We have downriggers but unexpected boat maintenance put us off this weekend😳

That's not good because this was the weekend that every other fish was 20lbs and up as apposed to the usual 2lbs, maybe next wk-end...hope the vessel gets repaired...

you for real 58?

:(Nope, just a local yocal...is all:)

I like the lake because you don't go fishing there you go catching.

Whats the lowdown this week on the laker bite? Thinking of heading up saturday and breaking in a brand new boat and rigger set up.

Was there last mon to fri. Caught 60 fish brought home 1. Lots of small ones this year but lots of action.



Mack

3 of us got 40 jigging Saturday with 8 over , biggest just over 20lbs caught by my 10yr old. Lost a pile as well , I won't use stingers.

Sounds like steady action. Thanks fellows.

That is a great catch:keep ratio...nice job.

I guess I will have to try jigging more. I just got back and caught 70 in a day and a half but none would have been retention size.

Of note it was very hot and calm and you could see/ were in large patches of algae die off. The blue green color and ooze was a bit off putting. It must have been to the fish as well because fishing in the really large area's of die off was poor. It also meant the normal jumping in the lake to cool off was out of the question. I for one have never seen it like this on Cold Lake before.

I headed up this morning for my first attempt ever at Cold Lake. Didn't have to go far or long before I was into my first Cold Lake Laker, 5 minutes tops. I fished 2 hours before the sun broke free of the cloud cover and the winds died so I packed it in. I'm not a sun worshipper by any means and I coukd see my legs turning pink quickly. I ended up with 6 on and 4 landed. I have fished Lake Trout in many waters but have to say the Cokd Lake fish are agressive and strong. Had some good fun, nothing big or anything approaching retention size but those I caught sure were fat bellied little piggies! Must have been really gorging themselves by the look of the bulged bellies. Can't wait for my next set of days off to go after them again!! Thanks all for the info and reports. Much appreciated. For anyone heading up I was getting them at 60' over 100'-180' with 3 3/4" Gibbs Gators in Neon Blue Dolphin & Wonderbread trolled about 25' behind the ball at an indicated 4km/h on my speedometer phone app. Tried various speeds from 2-5km/h but all 6 hits came at 4k.
A few pics....

They are definitely eating well. Sons big one had a fresh burbot sticking out of its mouth and still ate the jig.

GEEPERS!! :sSig_cool2:

Are you using big tube jigs? I used to find a white or chartreuse tube jig worked well for Lakers.

Hey Spank,Maybe they were just full of air from bringing them up from the bottom. This happens a lot on Cold lake when fishing deep.
Glad you had fun.

I had one burp while unhooking him and he stayed on the surface about a minute after release before getting himself re-oriented and heading for bottom with a splash of his tail. The others I think were already burped out. Those bellies looked pretty firm though I never felt them. I only touched one before release as he flopped out of the net. The others I unhooked and set back in the water in the net until they swam off. Thanks, yes I had a blast and can't wait to head back! I think I am going to order a bunch of barbless hooks and use them to swap out for on Cold Lake. After seeing all the fish caught around me yesterday with such an incredible fishery I am surprised it's not single barbless hooks only? I will fish the trout there that way voluntarily from now on. Lake Nipigon in Ontario went to single barblees years ago and I think it was a great idea. It's such an untalked about trophy Lake Trout fishery. According to the MNR records the Lake Trout average 18 lbs!!

White tube or bare jig as long as it had bait. All were caught on or near bottom even though there were lots suspended 30-50ft , we fished 90-115 depending on wind direction , tough on calm days !

Ever tag suspended walleye or ever heard of walleye suspending in Cold Lake and following the big schools of baitfish? Given the size, depths and water temps I could imagine walleye would suspend in there? I saw some nice baitfish balls on the screen yesterday which suspending walleye key in on just like the trout. Originally being from Ontario we used to fish suspended walleye on the Great Lakes and larger inland lakes like Nip****ing. Lake Erie could be alot of fun when the walleye and rainbows were in the same temperature/depth zone. It was nothing to get both at the same depths I was trolling at yesterday and big walleye are known for suspending and feeding on big baitfish like cisco etc as they grow. I ask because with another person or two in the boat we could run my dipsy rigs with a crawler harness and try to cover both species. Wishful thinking maybe?!!:thinking-006:

Nice day on the lake! Could be their air bladders causing the bellies to distend like that. Not sure how badly that affects survival rate but its hard to avoid sometimes as well. I had a fish spool me off once at Cold Lake (fishing story, i know) but there are some big ones in there.

Nice lakers. The bellies are definitely due to air bladders.

Interesting article regarding catching fish at depth

http://www.sportfishingmag.com/fish-...fishing#page-5

I've never had a Laker with a distended belly before and have hauled them up
from 90-120ft often. I didn't have them come to the surface quickly either as I screwed up on the rigger rod I brought and had to use a 7' medium action spinning rod so it took twice as long to bring them to the boat as with my heavier rigger rods. None of the fish "floated" before release and 3 of the 4 took off the instant they were back in the water. I won't say it wasn't bladder but all 4 came from 60' and had plenty of time to burp off as they ascended. I'll have to touch one to see next time out, provided I am fortunate enough to catch one?! :sign0111:

While you're probably correct I have caught a number in Cold Lake with large bellies that were not turgid like you would expect in barotrauma. I have chalked this up to Cold Lake having more than one Lake Trout morpho type.

Given Cold Lake has been stocked in from a few different source lakes in its history I would think this would not be unexpected.

Trout caught there with small heads and a gut, feel week, fight week are stocked, the ones caught an and look like a trout or a wild char are wild fish...

I likes 'em lean and hardy...the plugs/stocked are odd and look like McDonald's folks...:sHa_sarcasticlol:

:)

Not true, caught them in many depths the gut ones are stocked, small heads, kinda all around deformed.

I use 7' medium action rods exclusively and have caught lager guts, small heads, slightly deformed looking stocked fish then a large, lean type wild trout, big difference overall...all are fun to catch though, the lake provides a lot of fun.

Bottom fish tend to be short and stocky , more grayish in color. I find suspended fish longer , leaner and more silvery. Doesn't matter what it looks like when it's a new provincial record. I'm out tomorrow with the kids. Blue tracker targa , 24" orange ball just off my bow !

Apex trolling lures
 

Just got off the lake yesterday, lost a few, had multiple hook ups or hits on the willow leaf...landed 18 only had a fifteen minute gap between fish which felt like forever...our set up was a pink lady, down to 50 feet of water, attached to it was a willow leaf and then three feet behind an apex fishing lure, 4.5" rainbow trout pattern, we stayed in 150-200 feet of water, marked lots in a given area and then just enjoyed the catching.
Rods were on the light side but we like the challenge, 7' medium action.
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