Fishing for Trophy Lake Trout

Fishing lake trout is challenging and exciting! While many anglers love to tangle with big northern pike and tasty, fat walleyes, there is something mystical about lake trout. If you've never hooked up with a 20-pound plus laker, maybe this year is your time.

Lake trout from clear, cold northern lakes are beautifully marked, big fish. Although many lakers are in the 3-to-10 pound range, they do grow to huge proportions.

Seasonal Movements of Lake Trout

As with any species of fish, knowing when and where to fish is most of the battle. Before getting to the "how-to" of catching lake trout, let's examine their seasonal movements.

Unlike many other gamefish, lake trout utilize the entire water column from top to bottom during the year. As the seasons progress, they seek out water temperatures within their preferred range of 48-52 degrees.

Immediately after ice-out, fish will be found either on the edge of drop-offs adjacent to their summer deep-water haunts (80-to-100 feet), or near shallow rock reefs and island points of 3-to-30 feet deep. In short, they are widely dispersed, but are concentrated on shallow rock reefs, points, and humps in search of food.

As lake temperatures rise above 55 degrees, lakers seek cold, deep holes, which can exceed depths of 100 feet or more. The presence of baitfish is a key factor in locating these giants of the deep. Suckers, smelt, ciscoes, and whitefish are the primary forage species.

Fall is a great time to locate true trophy-size fish. As the water temperatures fall below 55 degrees, lake trout are driven by their spawning instincts and congregate around very shallow rock reefs.

As cold winter temperatures arrive, lake trout once again prey on baitfish inhabiting deep-water rock humps and sunken islands. Knowing this simple annual cycle is critical to catching lake trout consistently throughout the season.

Fall Lake Trout Fishing
Best Chance at a Trophy Laker

The reason fall is a great time to fish for big lake trout is that they not only arrive in numbers, but the huge, elusive monsters of the deep show themselves for the first time. All summer, fish in the 20-to-50 pound class cruise the deep water at 60-to-150 feet and seldom see the light of day.

In fall, lake trout are drawn to rocky spawning locations like a magnet. Find these key structural locations and you've found the mother lode of lake trout in your particular lake.

As you inspect a potential reef for its suitability, it helps to think like a trout. Lake trout spawn on rocks, however all rockpiles are not the same. Lake trout seek out shallow rock reefs (3 to 10 feet) composed of gravel, small rocks, and medium-sized boulders. The best reefs or stony points are usually surrounded by deep water of 40-100 feet.

Avoid fine sand or small stone gravel areas. Individual eggs would lie on the surface of the rocks and become easy food for predators. It's very important that the fertilized eggs, the size of garden peas, fall into the cracks and crevices between rocks. These eggs are then safe from predators during their incubation period. Once you locate a good reef, it's a safe bet that the lakers will use the same reef year after year.

Use the knowledge of lake trout seasonal movements to increase your chances of hooking into a true monster of the deep.

Lake Trout Fishing Tip | Locating Lake Trout

Whether the season is spring, summer, or fall, locate water in the 48-to-52 degree range with baitfish in the area, and you will have found the home of lake trout during that particular seasonal period. When water temperatures rise above 55 degrees, they will seek out areas in a lake that offer more favorable conditions. This usually means going deep.