On the first week of June. Two friends and I will be doing the Cherokee loop. With a night on frost. My buddy and I have done the loop before. His son has been on trips with us before. But not like this. I have done very well with the fishing in the past. Just no lakers yet. I am looking to get your ideas and opinions on what to fish? And how to fish it? If this was your fishing trip? What would you do? Thank you for your time.

We caught a few lakers on Cherokee in June.........certainly of average size and it wasn't hot and heavy but we did catch some. We had a diving aid (planer of sorts) and a regular original rapala. But if I had to do it over I would probably just pull a Tail Dancer (rainbow trout of course) the large size and not to fast..........I had to make my bow partner stop paddling altogether on a trip in North Bay as the brute knows only one speed. No matter how many times I told him to slow down he was back to plowing away within 5 minutes.

long story short everyone in our party had caught a laker of about 8lbs (nice fish) except him. He prevailed upon me to take him out as I usually paddled my solo.........when battling his laker he thought for sure he had a fish on of at least 20 lbs.........but it was another 8lb laker (they sure can pull).

FWIW......take my trolling speed suggestion with a gain of salt. Thats just what has worked for me. I read where lots of guys use speed to trigger lake trout especially with jigging applications.

If this was my trip, I would be fishing for smallmouth bass the whole time, mostly with a 5 inch soft plastic jerk shad. When I get bored with that I would move to fishing topwater with a Super Pop-R or Magnum bullfrog torpedo.

Lake Trout

The 3-1/4”, hammered silver, Dr. Spoon is the first choice when it comes to spring trolling for lake trout. In the spring, target areas in the 8 to 10 foot range, just outside the areas you would be looking for smallmouth. Look for gently slopping, rocky, rubble type areas. You don’t want to be in an area that appears to be a straight drop off from the shore. If you view the shore line, you can make a good determination of what the structure should hold beneath the surface.

I am still looking for that elusive trophy “laker”. Some people in the Ely area have told me if you want to catch an enormous lake trout you need to fish early in the season, just after ice out, and troll the shallow areas with a 4-1/2” nickel plated Dardevle Spoon. The nickel color imitates a cisco or whitefish which are the primary forage for these fish.

These two spoons can be cast or trolled during the early spring phase. When the water begins to warm, these trout will move to deep water on reefs located next to adjacent deeper water. The summer time phase is when you will need to troll deeper. This can be accomplished by adding weight to your line with a three-way swivel. Tie off about three feet of leader line to the middle loop of the swivel and tie on your spoon. On the bottom loop tie on about a foot and half of line with a one ounce weight at the far end of this line. Tie the remaining loop to the line on your reel. Let out plenty of line, at least 120 feet while trolling the depths of the lake. With the three-way swivel set up, if you do happen to snag up, there is a good chance you will just lose your weight and will be able to retrieve your lure. These spoons can also be jigged vertically over deep reefs as well.

Another good trout lure to use in warm water is the one ounce hair or plastic jig. White or black colors seem to work best while vertical jigging over a deep reef. I prefer to use white. You will need to lift the rod a little higher when jigging at extreme depths. Since you will be fishing so deep you probably won’t feel the hit itself as most of the strikes come during the drop. You will just feel a heavier weight on the line, when you do, set the hook as hard as you can.