I will be on the gunflint in a couple weeks, we are staying at hungry jack lodge 6/18-6/22 does it look like the lakers will be super deep? If i do release fish will they survive? I dont want to fish them if there will be a high mortality rate on released fish, i can wait until im up earlier in the season sometime. I might keep one to try it but everything else will be realeased.
I have read some about fishing them but any advice would be appreciated.

In my experience they shouldn't be super deep unless it gets real hot in the next few weeks. Check with the guys at HJO before you go in, they'll know what's up.

If i want to try trolling some spoons or rapalas how deep should i be prepared to troll? Is 20-30 feet that time of year reasonable?

Totally depends. I'd bring stuff that will get you from 5-30 feet down and just try it out until you find what works. Lakers will come up to hit bait so you just need to get it above them. Crankbaits can be had that will go down to 30 feet (deep taildancers, deep thundersticks etc.) and you can adjust the weight on spoon setups to get them pretty deep. Start shallow and work down, you might be surprised how shallow you can find them.

I admire you for not wanting to kill any Lakers, those were my thoughts when my son and I went to Oyster right after opener. We refused to take any dead bait that you simply cast out from shore and let them find it, we figured they would swallow the bait and we'd not be able to release them. We both caught 2 Lakers apiece both on shiny silver spoons in 20 to 25 foot water, released them and watched them swim away. Not saying it's wrong to keep some fish to eat, but different strokes for different folks. FRED

quote FOG51: "I admire you for not wanting to kill any Lakers, those were my thoughts when my son and I went to Oyster right after opener. We refused to take any dead bait that you simply cast out from shore and let them find it, we figured they would swallow the bait and we'd not be able to release them. We both caught 2 Lakers apiece both on shiny silver spoons in 20 to 25 foot water, released them and watched them swim away. Not saying it's wrong to keep some fish to eat, but different strokes for different folks. FRED"

I was on oyster a few years ago, nobody in out group could buy a bite to save our life, right after a cold front came through.
Yea, keeping a fish or two to eat is one thing but I would hate to release fish and only to have them die being wasted.

Lake trout generally do not suffer from baurotrauma. They have a swim bladder that is attached to their gut and allows them to "burp" as they ascend.
We release lakers out on Superior that are caught out of 100-200 feet of water on a regular basis. There is a very small percentage that are not able to purge, and those get kept.

http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2013/05/let_em_down_easy_returning_a_fish_to_deep_water.html

Also, a simple solution to the live/dead bait issue is to use circle hooks. When using circle hooks I usually go up one hook size (ie a #2 circle instead of a #4 standard, or a 3/0 instead of a 2/0). Used properly (simply reeling up on a hit, not "setting" the hook) the vast majority of fish will be hooked in the corner of the mouth allowing easy release. I've used circle hooks for everything from stream trout to Alaskan halibut, they are a great catch/release tool.

quote Xplorer: "Lake trout generally do not suffer from baurotrauma. They have a swim bladder that is attached to their gut and allows them to "burp" as they ascend.
We release lakers out on Superior that are caught out of 100-200 feet of water on a regular basis. There is a very small percentage that are not able to purge, and those get kept.


http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/newsletter/2013/05/let_em_down_easy_returning_a_fish_to_deep_water.html


Also, a simple solution to the live/dead bait issue is to use circle hooks. When using circle hooks I usually go up one hook size (ie a #2 circle instead of a #4 standard, or a 3/0 instead of a 2/0). Used properly (simply reeling up on a hit, not "setting" the hook) the vast majority of fish will be hooked in the corner of the mouth allowing easy release. I've used circle hooks for everything from stream trout to Alaskan halibut, they are a great catch/release tool. "

+1

Ok, good to hear