We'll be going into Sag for a 5-day trip on June 18th and we're trying to decide on whether or not to bring live / frozen shiners, and or cisco, with us. I've never fished for lake trout before and most of the information I've dug up seems to indicate that using minnows to catch them is the way to go. If we bring live minnows, I'm a little concerned about being able to keep them alive for the entire trip. We will be bringing 10-15lbs of dry ice with us to keep some venison frozen, so I don't see that keeping the minnows frozen will be an issue. We're also planning on bringing some leeches for walleyes and small mouth s well!

Your Thoughts?

My opinion is you catch more Lakers with artificials than live bait. I'm sure bait works but I've watched too many times trout hit an artificial over bait. Even had one year where the Lakers hit my sinker instead of the Ciscoe---I could see them down there.

If they are slamming it, then using live bait will take time away from catching by having to mess with the bait and re-baiting.

If you don't have specific spots to try then I'd troll until ya find them. I prefer crankbaits. I've trolled down south west of Hook island towards Cache Bay with cranks either heading towards or leaving Quetico with success.

If ya find a hot spot then stop and jig.

10 to 15lbs of dry ice? Venison steaks? I want to go with you guys ;)

Hey if your base camping and have dry ice its a no-brainer. Of course you bring some ciscos. Why not? At the very least you can toss a line out while your in camp and see what happens. Who knows what will pick it up. I know the target is lake trout but Pike are suckers (no pun intended) for a dead bait as well so I might put on a bit of wire. In that case I would probably opt for single strand coffee colored wire in say 25lb which is easy and fast to build using a haywire twist.

As per live minnows? Thats a little different but again if your base camping and young and strong then go for it. Again I wouldn't hesitate to throw them out while in camp. You could fish them on the bottom with a lindy type rig and hook the minnow in the underside near the anal fin so it swims up off the bottom or you could use a slip bobber set up and vary the depth. No wire with the live minnows unless pike are your target.