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Lake Trout is one of the prized northern Canadian game fishes. Since they like to live in the deep cold lakes of Canada's north they are adapted to the cold water, Trout isn't commonly found in small ponds or rivers.
Sometimes the best Lake Trout fishing is found in the remote wilderness, lakes far in the north, which is only accessible by float plane. American anglers don't get their hands on this type of fish that often, except in some lakes such as Lake Michigan where the Lake Trout is found among bass, perch, salmon, coho, siscowet, taque, tuite grise, and much more. Trout is usually found in water at about 55 degrees Fahrenheit or below. In the hot summer months Trout can be found as deep as 200 feet or even more to find a low water temperature. The Lake Trout is also known as laker, salmon trout, lake char, toulandi, mackinaw, gray trout, forktail trout, among many others which just shows how popular and prized this fish is. It has a deeply forked tail, large head and eyes with grey-green to grey-blue back, whites spotted sides and a creamy belly. Sometime the lakers have no spots and are a silvery colour all over. The average weight of the laker is about 2-11 lb and the IGFA record weight has been recorded at 72.25 lb which has been caught at the Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories by Lloyd Bull.
The lakers usually eat fish in their own habitat, so good baits to use on them are smelt, suckers, chubs, other lake trout, shiners, minnows, and fish strips. They also eat crustaceans, small mammals, and insects in their habitat, often adjusting their diet to what's available. Since the lake trout is found so deep below, a popular way to get your hooks down there is to use leadcore line or down riggers. A floater or small bobber can be used to keep the hook at a pretty constant depth which can be adjusted every ten minutes to find out where the trout is. A good starting range is about thirty to sixty feet, and if that yields nothing try higher if the water temperature is cold, and lower if it is warm. The hook should be size 10 or larger if the lake trout you are fishing for is larger then 7 lb. When fishing with the live bait slows down try moving to trolling live bait or streamers. Immediately after the ice-out lakers can be found near the surface, which calls for different fishing techniques. At this time fly's work very well, until the laker retreats to deeper waters. Ice fishing is also a popular way to fish out the lakers. A hole is drilled above known laker hangouts such as shoals or weed beds, or other hiding places. The best type of bait for this type of fishing is the minnow, herring or smelt, or trolling can be used with a very slow to medium speed along with fluorescent colours since the bait will be harder to see at that depth. Natural colours such as green, black and blue are also good on bright clear days. Just try each until you get a response from the lakers.
Once the trout has bit the line, the tackle is usually quite exhauting since the lakers are such strong heavy creatures. That is another reason why heavy wire lines are used along with short, stout rods. The battle is often long and fierce, and mysterious since it takes a long time until you will see your catch. Try reeling the line in very quickly when the laker gives you the line, and be prepared to give him some line when he wants to retreat back down. This will prevent the line from ripping apart. Usually it will take a long time until the fish is caught because the laker doesn't tire easily.
After you have caught the laker there you will probably want to show your catch to your friends and family. A good laker recipe is:
Herbed Lemon Laker:
INGREDIENTS:
2 lb fresh lake trout
2 crushed toes of garlic
1 sprig each of fresh rosemary, majoram, basil
1 fresh lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper and salt
DIRECTIONS:
Finely chop the herbs and crushed garlic and cut the lemon in half lenghtwise. mix the lemon juice with the herbs, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil and rub the trout with the mixture. Then add the mixture and the lake trout into a seal able plastic bag. Make sure the air is out of the bag, then seal and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Then barbecue the laker over hot coals about 3-5 minutes per side basting liberally with the herbed lemon garlic mixture.
Serve with the other half of the lemon cut into wedges and some parsley for garnish.
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