TROPHY LAKE TROUT ON ICE
by Don Lamont

In Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the angling season for most species closes then end of March; however in Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba stocked trout and lake trout stay open while in the northwestern section of Manitoba the fishing season doesn't close to May 1st. I always try and plan a trip towards the end of March or early April for lake trout and pike combined. The longer days, for one, signal a change in season for our cold-blooded foe, then add a little bit of warmer meltwater entering the fishes domain and you have active and hungry fish. It doesn't matter if you are angling for walleye, pike, perch, rainbows or lake trout, these fish will be aggressively chasing down food and for longer periods of time. You will also catch big fish during the last ice period. This year I might venture back to mighty Lake Athapapaskow, Clearwater Lake or even Reed Lake, a trophy fishery that I haven't had the chance to fish yet.

Over the last 20 years I've had a number of great ice fishing lake trout trips but one still stands out, because it has helped me understand a little better were to find lake trout at this time of the year.

It was on Lake of the Woods Ontario in early April, a beautiful sunny + 6 celsius day, that a group of us headed out to a shoreline point that dropped off into 55 feet of water. After four hours of drilling holes and flogging water we had only a couple of medium sized lakers to our credit. More than a little puzzled by our lack of success we decided to move across the lake to a necked down area between two sections of the lake with shallow water.

We started by drilling series of holes right across the channel, hoping to intercept any fish that might be moving through. Since there was three of us, we spread to cover some area and contact fish. Taking off my coat and draping it over my head, I lay down on the ice and peered down the hole with the coat blocking out the bright sunshine. As the underwater vista opened up before me, I could see the bottom 11 feet down. Sure enough, there were the culprits! Perch, dozens of them swarming around my jig, but having little success with such a big lure. After about five minutes of this, the perch suddenly disappeared from the scene and the underwater world was all quiet until a gray shape entered the frame headed directly for my white tube. This is when things became a little crazy. I had been hand jigging my lure with my rod laying on the ice some five feet away. When this big lake trout smacked my bait, I just set the hook with my hand, and grabbed the rod as it started skipping across the ice, grabbing it just before it disappeared down the hole. In less that 10 feet of water, this lake trout had no were to go but sideways. Luckily I had lots of 10 pound Trilene on my level wind reel.

All in all it turned out to be one of the most exciting ice fishing days of my career, fishing an area most lake trout anglers would overlook. The key in this situation, as in most, was the predator-prey relationship. Perch in this area were the most readily available food source that the lake trout had and since their food was shallow, the lake trout had absolutely no problem leaving the confines of deep water to search on the flats for food.

Any time anglers can find active fish cruising these feeding shelves, your going to get bit, it's as simple as that. Since that time I have used this information to good advantage and caught numerous big lake trout in less than 10 feet of water.

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