Making our 2nd trip to BWCA in mid June. EP64 we have never tried to catch Lake trout any advice would be to great. Thanks

Do you have a route planned? I like West Pike for lake trout, and it can be great for smallmouth. I have not fished East Bearskin; the DNR survey for lake trout is not so promising: http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/lakefind/showreport.html?downum=16014600

I don't know East Bearskin lake but as far as fishing lakers in mid June goes I have had some luck trolling with rapala tail dancers, and reef runner crank baits. Especially in purple color patterns. A friend of mine had good luck using a deep diving purple scatter rap last June on Basswood lake. We also have had success using white jigs with 5 inch white twister tails. The Jigs were 1/2 oz up to 1oz depending on wind conditions / drift speed and it seemed like we had our best luck jigging in 50 FOW. Lakers are a blast to catch! Have a good trip.

Troll any deep diving lure in purple or blue, or blue/silver Little Cleo's. Depending on water temp you should find them between 20 and 30 feet during the spring.

Thanks everyone for great tips. We will be base camping and day tripping to other lakes just not sure where we are going to base camp yet.

If you are set on EP64 and want to base camp then you probably need to stay on Alder and day trip to Crystal and Pierz. Although if you stay on Crystal or Pierz you may have those lakes to yourselves. Just have to paddle a little farther for day trips.

I've only been lake trout fishing once .. the last time I went to the bwca. We managed to connect, though. I am used to fishing for fish like bass, etc - that hang out around structure and wait to ambush something . .lakers are totally different. They pretty much cruise around all the time . .often in schools . .so laker fishing, for me, was pretty mysterious . .cast, cast, cast, cast, cast, cast . .FISH! . .. and no real idea why I caught a fish that time vs the other times when I didn't. Just happened to put the lure in front of his face. Once one of us did connect, we usually both connected . .sometimes more than once.

I'm going again this year . .really looking forward to it! My strategy is really going to be to cover water at different depths until I figure out the depth . .and then just cover water. I don't know what it is about me and trout (of any type) but I always end up casting my arms off to get a few, lol. If a lure spends enough time in the water, though . .something eventually eats it.

The best lures for us last time around were gold little cleos and gold kastmasters. We also tried some larger inline spinners, a few different crankbaits including the much-recommended purple taildancer . .but it seemed like gold metal was what they wanted on those days.

Good luck!

From my article Grand Slam Lures......

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.

to get down to the depth you need, try keel whgts,, easy way to get there, many different sizes to choose from.