The Cayuga Fisher

Jigging for Lake Trout:  Tackle:  Rods and Reels

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Rods and Reels:

As with all fishing this is ultimately a matter of personal choice.  Luckily, one of the advantages to jigging for lakers is the cost- you can do it with some of the cheapest equipment there is.  Naturally a nice boat and gear will make you more comfortable and perhaps land you more fish, but the basic equipment you need can found for minimal outlay, and even minimal floatation... personally I jig from a plastic rowboat, and I've seen it done from a canoe.  A float tube or kayak will work, too, just get out on the water and over those trout!

Any reel with a decent drag and line capacity of at least 100 yards will catch lake trout, though there are a few things to consider when looking to outfit yourself properly.  The most important feature in a reel is for the line to flow freely off of the spool.  Secondary factors are mostly related to the drag- smooth starting and easily adjustable drags are preferable.  Lake trout won't go on hard, reel-searing runs but they do sound for bottom.

I use a spinning reel, and I know people that swear by baitcasters.  My spinning reel has a large arbor, and holds 300 yards of 10 lb test.  It's overkill in terms of capacity, but the wide spool helps the line fall smoothly off of the reel and reduces twist- there are about half as many coils per length of line.  It's a Daiwa Regal 3500-4i, and was about 25 dollars- not fancy at all.  Avoid small arbor reels if you can- repeatedly dropping and retrieving 60-120 feet of line will quickly put a serious kink in it.  A high gear ratio also helps to retrieve your lures from the depths, and mimic fleeing baitfish in the bargain!

Baitcasting reels have the advantage of the free spool- that is, line will continue to come off and puddle on the surface of the water when the lure stops.  This aids in detecting strikes on the drop and thumbing the reel enables you to simply increase thumb pressure and lift the rod to set the hook.  It's a definite advantage over the spinning reels "on the drop" but these strikes can also be detected with spinning gear- it just takes a little more attention.  What style you choose should be a matter of preference- use what you are comfortable with, or already own.

Rods: This is a little more important.  The deeper you are fishing, the stiffer your rod needs to be.  I have two rods that I use- both are 6' 6" bass rods.  One is medium action, and the other is heavy action.  I would prefer a 7' rod.  The medium rod I use in water under 70 feet, and the heavy rod in depths up to 150 feet. The two most important things to think about are stiffness and sensitivity.  Sometimes these go hand in hand with fishing rods, but not always.  You ALWAYS want a very sensitive rod- you're trying to detect (sometimes very light) strikes in water up to 100 feet deep or more.

Match the stiffness of the rod to the weight of your lures and the depth of the water.  Deeper water requires heavier lures, too, in addition to the added weight of the line.  If your lure is on the bottom of the lake and your rod tip is soft and mushy, you are going to miss most of the strikes you get.  The rod tip needs to be able to support up to several ounces of weight.  I also believe a slightly longer rod is better- 7' 0" or even possibly 7' 6", for better hook setting power.  Again, you are fishing deep water...  think of it as light-tackle saltwater fishing, but for trout in freshwater.  (if you are a salt-water fisherman and that actually makes sense, I'll consider myself lucky.)  Don't overdo it, either- an inch-thick stick of a rod won't give you the sensitivity to feel the strikes.  It's probably worth spending a little money on a decent rod.  By this I mean 50-80 dollars.

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