So... I troll quite a bit. I usually troll purple tail dancers and deep tail dancers. I always catch a few fish. But...

But, I dont really feel that I know what I am doing. I have a bunch of questions:

First, lets say this is for a trip in late June. I'll be on deep lakes on the Gunflint trail: Seagull, Tuscarora, Gillis, Gabi, etc.

- What lures? I hate spoons because they twist my line even with good swivels. Are there better baits than the deep taildancers?

- What speed should I troll? I usually just go normal speed which is about 3-3.5 mph.

- What structure should I troll? I usually just paddle somewhat methodically around the deeper holes in the lake.

- What about wind? Should I concentrate on the upwind or downwind sides of the hoes?

What about time? I usually troll around mid day. Am I wasting my time? Should I concentrate on early or late?

What about weather? Should I avoid or concentrate on certain conditions?

What about bait balls? I often see balls at about 40-60 feet on my depth finder. I assume that these are ciscos. Should I stop and drop a jig or blade bait around the ciscos?

Anything else?

Sounds about what everyone else does. Maybe try going a little slower at times or in the mornings. I would probably add 1oz inline above my bait at that time of year.

Suspended LT are pretty easy to see on sonars. If you aren't marking fish move on. Of course if you see bait only you can come back later and see if fish have moved in.

When fishing blades sometimes you can add a few extra fish by lowering below the fish and reeling up through them then stopping the bait above them.

Try using a Fish Seeker or Jet Diver to get a flutter spoon deeper. Any twist caused by the spoon will only be on the 3-5' of leader between the diver and the lure. Fish Seekers are nice because you can easily adjust the trolling depth; however, they sink, so they won't back up if (when) you snag them in an unexpected rock pile. https://www.amazon.com/Davis-Instruments-511-P-Fish-Seeker/dp/B01I1X7MTY

Jet Divers back up and float rapidly, which can be a plus. You can also troll a Jet Diver faster than you can a Fish Seeker. Fish Seekers max out about 2 mph, although I would say you want to stay around 2 mph or even slower when trolling for lakers.

You don't necessarily need to see trout on the graph in order to catch them. Often you will see them suspended but not always (which is true when trolling for any suspended fish).

I like Snap Weights for adding inline weight. You can easily unclip them from your line while bringing in the fish; that way you don't have the annoying length of leader when you go to land the fish. AmarilloJim's method works well, too. I often use 2-3 oz. with Snap Weights; it lets me get deeper with less line out. Having a more vertical line helps prevent irretrievable snags.

Will a medium action rod handle using jet divers or dipsy divers with a spoon or shad rap?

How fast to troll?

It seems that the answer is 2mph. That seems slow.

There seems to be quite a bit of info on the web on catching shield lake trout. From what I can ascertain the laker is a temperature dependent fish and gravitates to certain water temps. They also can spend quite a bit of time on bottom and don't always show on a graph.

I suspect if they are in open water suspended they are shopping for groceries and are apt to be caught more easily. My next option for lake trout fishing is to get a temp gauge and fish where their favored water temps coincide with reef structure and either troll or jig near bottom.

quote bruno62: "Will a medium action rod handle using jet divers or dipsy divers with a spoon or shad rap?"

I like a medium or medium-heavy baitcaster for trolling jet divers. A shad rap probably has too much drag to use behind a jet diver; the diver will pivot and not dive as well. Floating cranks work well behind them.

quote Mad_Angler: "How fast to troll?


It seems that the answer is 2mph. That seems slow. "

It feels slow while you're paddling, but it works. Unless you are fighting wind, one person can handle the paddling, or two people paddle as lazily as they can.