There are many highly productive approaches to teasing lake trout, including jigging.
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Jigging on gray is nothing new and I’ve told you about it quite a few times over the years.
The classic
The method most roders use is to drop a jig head lined with soft bait or deer hair all the way to the bottom. Then, like the pike-perch, go 30 cm up, down, 30 cm up, etc. As soon as we get a hit, we’ll shoe and, if necessary, intervene in the fight. Using a good sonar is highly recommended to target sighted specimens, otherwise you will feel like you are looking for a needle in a haystack.
Improved
The guide Sébastien Garneau had perfected a technique that consists of touching the seabed with his device and then raising the whole thing by about a meter. He then bounces it on himself while subtly vibrating it. Therefore, he has to constantly scan the screen of his sonar. When a fish approaches his jig he doesn’t wait and brings it up at a moderate speed, pausing occasionally.
Even better
Robert Fortier is a passionate fisherman from the Outaouais. He hunts lake trout on many waters in this beautiful part of the country. To give you a good idea of his results, last time I spoke to him he had foiled 23 gray char on a single trip, two of which were over 10lbs (4.5kg).
methodology
Robert looks for shoals and plateaus near steep slopes at depths of 20 to 40 meters. It moves slowly along the slope that descends towards the abyss. He always puts his boat nose into the wind to prevent the boat from turning when trying to position himself with his electric motor. As soon as he sees a specimen at the bottom of his EchoMap UHD 92sv screen, he activates the electric anchor of his Xi5.
He then lowers a white colored oversized tail pipe or swimbait. Its lure is mounted on a 3⁄4, 1 or 1.5 ounce head. He wants the whole thing to get down as quickly as possible. The deeper it is, the greater its ballast.
The technique varies greatly here. He stops over a fish and his lure is in free fall. Once at the bottom, he semi-aggressively jibbs it 5 or 6 times and without even waiting to see if it’s piqued his interest, he begins rolling his way up at a moderate speed without stopping. Although the lake trout will occasionally attack its prey on the bottom, it is often during the ascent that it reacts most severely. This happens even a few meters from the surface.
According to Robert and Sébastien, the ogresses of the shallows are not very active when the moon is full. FYI August was last week.
Fishing for char ends on September 11 in most areas in the southern part of the province.
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