TOPIC:

Hello, I am playing with the idea of entering your lakerpalooza tournament. All of my lake michigan fishing experience has been in march and early april. You do not have to go far to catch your limit of coho. The idea of catching a large lake trout would be cool. I do have some questions since I have not fished this late on the big lake. How deep of water do you fish in? How far from port to you go out 1-mile, 5-miles 10-miles? Are lead core lines OK or are down riggers required? I have some older ones in the barn setting on the shelf wanting to go fishing. I believe if you launch out of mich. city you can reach deeper water quicker than portage. My boat is a 20 foot sylvan offshore I/O is this boat too small for this tournament? Is it ok for 1 person to navigate and 2 people to fish? We are not out to win any big money, just want to have a good fishing trip with friends. Any advise would be appreciated, thank you and good fishing, steve.......life is good......

Lake trout can be found in shallower water this time of year. I would say anywhere from 1-10 miles out 50-100 FOW you should be able to find them no problem.

Sometimes you can catch them suspended and sometimes you need to get close to the bottom. Any line setup "can" work from riggers to dipsies to copper / leadcore.

MI city is a little closer to deep water than say portage.

A ton of people fish out of a 20 foot boat including myself. Just make sure you have a marine radio.

I am sure some other lake trout experts can chime in with good advice on some general tactics this time of year. We look forward to seeing you out there. It will be a very fun event without a doubt.

I think Jeff hit the nail on the head. Riggers are not needed but will be helpful getting your baits to the bottom with easier control. Divers work well. You will want to use longer coppers and leads though I would say 8 color to 10 color is a good start. 200 copper to 250 coppers. Some days in may they are through the entire water colum and none of it matters as long as you have baits in the water. I would not worry about the size of your boat so much. I also run a 20 footer. We don't run these tournaments in overly rough water we want guys that have 16 foot boats to be able to participate if they want too. Just be sure you have a marine radio and your boat is mechanically sound before you go offshore.

I believe that Dirty and AP Said it well. If you have a couple of downriggers use them along with what ever other lines you can get down with. Lakers at that time of year shouldn't be far out. But, for most of the fishing will be in the bottom 20ft of the water column. Spoons etc. in different colors should work along with a pair of dipseys if you have them. This is a first of this kind of tournamnet and should be a fun outing.

thank you for the information and support. I just installed a new marine radio it's a Cobra MRF55-D with DSC. thanks again, steve.....

I was glad to hear the lake trout are not that far out this time of year. I do have a question - I am not sure what you mean by use longer coppers and leads 8 to 10 color is a good start, 200 copper to 250 coppers. I use lead core lines but sure of this copper talk. Sorry to hear of the Hammond situation.. Good luck, hope it works out for you. steve..

thank you for the information and support. Lets see what happens next. thanks again, steve.....

Fish wrote:

I was glad to hear the lake trout are not that far out this time of year. I do have a question - I am not sure what you mean by use longer coppers and leads 8 to 10 color is a good start, 200 copper to 250 coppers. I use lead core lines but sure of this copper talk. Sorry to hear of the Hammond situation.. Good luck, hope it works out for you. steve..

Thank you Steve. Copper line and lead core achieve the same thing but the lines act differently in the water. I am sure you know this but lead is general listed in colors each color is 30 feet long when we talk copper line it's just how many feet of copper are on the reel. The biggest difference between copper and lead is copper sinks faster than lead. Hope that's helps clarify what I was trying to say.

Make sure you have a compass and anchor with enough rope.

Bruce

Just want to,all to know that's it's really nice to have you helping fellow fisherman, thanks to all of you for helping us with fishing the south end.