The Cayuga Fisher

Jigging for Lake Trout:  Tackle

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Tackle:

Relatively light tackle is most often used to jig for lake trout.  Equipment is cheap and you should be able to set yourself up for under 100 dollars (Or even less!).  A little length in a rod is nice, around seven feet, to help set the hook in deeper water.  A good backbone, too, to support the weight of (sometimes) heavy jigs.  Add a boat or other means of floatation and you're all set!  Jigging for lake trout suits folks who like a hands-on fishing technique or don't have a lot of cash to invest in modern deepwater fishing equipment.  Water fleas are not a problem, and in this era, saving a few bucks on gas is well worth it.  Jigging for lakers with light tackle is cheaper, more fun, productive, and- best of all- you catch bigger fish.

Makes sense, doesn't it?  Lake trout are big, lazy, eating machines.  The biggest and fattest ones don't like to move much for food- that's why they are bigger and fatter!  With the relatively small size of the forage (alewives) lake trout growth rates start to plateau after a while.  In "the olden days" whitefish and cisco were common foods for lakers, and the energy-gained to energy-expenditure ratio of eating whitefish is much higher than that of alewives.  So, it's another case of "back in the old days when the fishing was better"... but it's still excellent!  Back on topic, the big lunkers are lazy- your chances of hooking one are much greater still-fishing or jigging, using a "slow" technique, rather than dragging lures that fish will have to chase.

So, to catch the biggest, baddest lake trout out there, all you need is a 6'- 7'6", relatively stiff rod, and a reel with a decent drag and 100 yards of line... sound good?  Read on!

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