Lake trout fishing tips: depth by season, jigging, trolling and ice fishing lakers

Lake trout fishing tips for the Great Lakes, Minnesota, Maine, the Finger Lakes and the Rockies: water temperature and depth by season, best lures, vertical jigging, trolling, ice fishing for lakers and best time of day.

Lake trout are the giants of cold, deep, clear lakes. They live long, grow slowly and can top 30 pounds. Because they follow cold water, lakers are near the surface for only a short time each year and deep the rest of it. These lake trout fishing tips will show you where to find them in every season, from open water to the ice.

Where to fish

Lake trout need cold, clean, oxygen-rich water. The best fisheries:

The Great Lakes: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Ontario.
Minnesota and the Boundary Waters: Lake of the Woods region, Lake Vermilion, BWCA lakes.
New York: Seneca, Cayuga and other Finger Lakes, plus Lake George and Adirondack lakes.
Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire: Moosehead Lake, Lake Champlain, Sebago and many "togue" ponds.
The Rockies: Flaming Gorge (UT/WY), Lake Pend Oreille (ID), Yellowstone Lake, Flathead Lake (MT).

Depth by season

Season	Water temperature	Where lakers are
Ice-out (spring)	Cold all through	Shallow: 5–30 ft, near shore, river mouths, flats
Early summer	Surface warming	Dropping to 30–60 ft along breaks
Summer	Thermocline set	Deep: 60–150 ft, below the thermocline, around 48–52°F water
Fall	Lake turning over	Spawning shallow on rocky reefs and shoals (often closed seasons)
Winter / ice	Cold all through	Anywhere from 20–100 ft, roaming and very aggressive

The key number: lake trout prefer water around 50°F. Find that temperature and you find the fish.

Vertical jigging

The most fun way to catch lakers once you find them on the sonar:

Lures: 1–3 oz tube jigs, bucktails, blade baits and heavy spoons.
Technique: drop to the bottom, rip the jig up 2–4 feet, let it fall on a tight line. Many hits come on the fall.
Watch the sonar: lakers often rise to the jig. Reel up fast when one follows; they chase.

Trolling

To cover water in summer:

Downriggers or lead core/wire line to get spoons and flies deep.
Spoons, flasher-fly combos and stickbaits, trolled slowly: about 1.5–2.5 mph.
Follow the bottom contour along breaks and humps, keeping lures near the fish.

Ice fishing for lake trout

Ice fishing is often the best laker fishing of the year:

Find structure: points, humps and breaks dropping into deep water, near basins with forage like cisco and smelt.
Jig with tubes, blade baits, bucktail jigs or large spoons, often tipped with a piece of sucker or cisco meat.
Use flashers or sonar: lakers come in fast; speed up your jigging to trigger a chase.
Tip-ups with dead bait (cisco, smelt) on the bottom cover a second hole.

Check that your lake is open for lake trout in winter and how many lines are allowed. More on basics in our ice fishing tips.

Best time of day

Deep water keeps light low, so lakers can bite all day. Still, many anglers see the best bites early in the morning and in the late afternoon, and when the wind or a weather change gets the fish moving. Strong solunar periods often line up with good bites, especially on the ice.

Gear

Rod: a 7-foot medium-heavy spinning or casting rod for jigging; longer trolling rods for downriggers.
Line: braid (20–30 lb) for feel in deep water, with a fluorocarbon leader.
Handle with care: fish from deep water can suffer barotrauma; release quickly if you're not keeping them.

Practical tips

Use sonar to find bait: lakers are rarely far from it.
Go after ice-out for easy shallow fishing.
Respect fall spawning closures on reefs.
Check your state's regulations: many waters have slot limits, size limits and special laker rules.

Plan with Solunar

Solunar shows sunrise, sunset, moon phase and solunar windows on one 24-hour dial with a 1–4 star day rating, for your exact lake, offline, even on the ice. Pick the highest-rated day and be over your structure when the major window opens.