LAKE TROUT

Double your chances of catching lakers!

I often tell people that in order to catch fish, they need to think like fish. And based on this somewhat simplistic theory, what can one make of lake trout fishing? It is already a known fact that lakers are harder to catch than brook trout. Then, let’s pretend that the lake you fish contains 1000 lake trout, and that about 15% of these are on feeding mode on the day you happen to spend on the lake. The questions are where will they eat, and what will they eat?

If the theory above is taken into consideration, the odds of catching fish are slim. Very slim. Then what can you do to increase your chances? The answer is simple! Instead of trolling with one lure, you can troll with two, if not three of them!

The technique in question here is called that of the flasher. It consists of pairing a large spoon with other lures. The advantages of this technique are many:1-you have a better chance of presenting the right lure to the fish if you do not just present one meal at a time but rather a whole buffet instead;2-the large spoon shines much in the water, prompting curious predators to follow and then eat whatever lure they please;3-the movement of the large spoon makes that of the lures it is paired with more erratic, thus making them appear like wounded bait, which in turn makes them more appetizing.

This setup begins with the selection of the main spoon, or flasher. It should be a minimum of 4 inches long. I tend to prefer lures with a wide and irregular action. The #70 Williams Wabler and the #80 and 90 Williams Whitefish are good choices. The line embossed in them makes them move in semi-circles punctuated with pauses. Should you prefer to try this technique with a smaller spoon, give the Trophy II a try.

Leave the factory treble hook on the spoon, and tie it to your line using a ball bearing swivel. Then, add another ball bearing swivel at the bottom of the flasher, in the same split ring the treble hook is attached to. Add a 4 to 6-foot leader followed by a second lure.

The second lure, located at the very end of the line, must be light. If you choose to use a rapala-style lure, make sure you take one with a floating or neutral balance as well as a short bill. Should you put on a deep diver, it would tend to dive deeper than the flasher, and the latter would end up at an angle in the water and lose its sway.

For this second lure, try the original floating Rapala, the jointed Rapala, Yo Zuri Crystal Minnow or Pin’s Minnow, Rebel’s Fastrac series and the like. However, nothing prevents you from using a second spoon here, one that is smaller and lighter than the flasher. How about a Sutton 44?

Once this setup is complete, you can add a third lure, this time about three feet above the flasher. A tandem streamer does a great job in that respect.

Of course, you will soon realize that this setup is close enough to fishing with a full Christmas tree. Literally. However, the success I have had with this technique over the years has by far compensated for all the knots one needs to tie to prepare it.

Patrick Savard

Now you know one amazing way to tackle Lake Piraube!