Lake Trout

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Lake Trout

Your Monster Trophy Awaits!

Lake trout are what we are known for and what 90% of our guests spend their entire trip chasing. They grow extremely slowly in the cold water, and many are over fifty years old!
Lake Trout

Plummer's Record


78.85lb
Great Bear Lake
Unofficial World Record

What You Need To Know

Fishing for Lake Trout in the Arctic is nothing like fishing for them in the southern Great Lakes. We don’t need downriggers, as the water is so cold that the action is at the top of the water column. They don’t even taste the same. If you think Lake Trout are “greasy”, then you have never had a shore lunch in the Northwest Territories. There are two basic techniques to catch lake trout that our guides use; trolling and jigging. Both lakes use a combination of techniques, but it is safe to say that the boys at Slave do more jigging than trolling, while the boys at Bear will predominantly troll for lake trout. It is ultimately up to the guest on which type of fishing method they prefer, but keep in mind the preferred techniques of each lake when deciding on which of our lodges you are going to experience.

Equipment

When jigging for lake trout, the preferred rods are 6’6” to 7’6”, medium to medium heavy, with a fast action. 30-40 lb braid with about a 12’ fluorocarbon or monofilament clear leader is the preferred line set up. 17-20 lb monofilament line throughout can also be substituted if preferred. The bait caster reels that are commonly used, are units equivalent in size to a Shimano Calcutta 300-400. Spinning reels are Shimano Stradic 4000-5000 or equivalent.

Jigging lures are often 1-2 oz jigs. Both Bucktails and tube jigs are used with white and chartreuse being popular colors.

When trolling for lake trout, the preferred rods are anywhere from 7’6” to 9’6”, medium heavy, with a fast action. Shimano Tekota 500 series or equivalent are excellent choices for reels. Most anglers have 60-80 braid on, tipped with an 80 lb mono leader. The most popular lures trolled would T-60 Flatfish, and Eppinger Husky Senior and Junior Lures. Bright colors are often used. Lucky Strike Half Wave spoons are also extremely successful.

All guests fishing at any of our lodges are welcome to bring their own gear, however it is not necessary. We have an excellent supply of the preferred rods and reels for our guests to use, and we have tackle shops at the lodges where tackle can be purchased at a very reasonable rate.

There is another often overlooked method of targeting lake trout and that is fly fishing. Most fly fishermen do not have lake trout on their radar as a target species, as lake trout are normally found in the deepest, coldest parts of southern lakes. Fishing for lake trout up north is a different ballgame, as the preferred “cold water” temperature for the lake trout is actually what we call “warm water”, so the fish are at the top of the water column.

Rod: 10-12 weight if targeting large lake trout and 8-9 weight for average sized lake trout
Line: Heavy sinking line, or high-density tips (20’)
Flies: Sizes 2/0-4/0, Game Changers, Deliveryman, large articulated pike/musky streamers in orange/chartreuse/black, orange, chartreuse, white, pink, all with lots of flash.

Getting There
Call us toll-free at: 1-800-665-0240
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