I'm planning my first trip to the Tuscarora area for the third week in May this year, and plan to try my hand at some lake trout fishing while there. I've read some threads about what may or may not work, but am interested in hearing some specifics from people who have fished Tuscarora in the middle of May. I would never expect to be given "exact spots", but rather parts of the lake to target along with tackle choices and options. I'm normally a walleye fisherman, but definitely have some cross-over gear and tackle at my disposal.

Also, just to be clear: I can fish for lake trout in a lake where they occur naturally without a stamp, but I need the stamp in order to POSSESS them (which obviously would include keeping a smaller fish for dinner). Correct?

Beautiful area and great time to go!

We did a trip to Gillis via Tuscarora in mid-May last year. Only trolled across Tuscarora while traveling and had hits but no hookups. What produced most for us on Gillis was blue/silver Laker Takers cast from shore (steep drop off near camp) before sundown or a yellow/brass Panther Martin that we didn't plan to use but got left in the tackle box. The other crankbaits, spoons, etc were roughly equivalent.

Bring a depth finder if you have one and a thermometer. We had good fishing and then a big wind overnight that turned the lake over and dropped the surface water temps. Took us another day to relocate the lakers. Didn't catch anything but lakers that trip, but I nearly pulled a very large northern onto shore as it was clamped onto a laker on the stringer in the lake as we were prepping shore lunch. I got it half way onto the elevated rock ledge before it let go and flopped back into the drink.

Read the regulations again. I thought you needed a trout stamp to fish on any designated trout streams or lakes regardless of what species you are targeting. I get a trout stamp every year to chase brookies anyway, so I did not read it closely.

"Laker Taker" -- I like the sound of that! Thanks for the information, and Happy Fishing.

I have fished Tuscarora the first week of the season several times. Both times the fish were in the top of the water column. A fluorescent Rapala Jointed Minnow J9 was my go to bait. I trolled this along the North shore and caught multiple fish. No large fish and not great numbers.

The first trip I paddled in the day before opener, a beautiful warm sunny spring day. Opening day started warm and sunny but by late afternoon clouds were building and it began to rain. It rained all night and began to snow hard very early morning. By 8:00 AM there were 4 inches of heavy wet snow on the ground. That's the way it goes sometimes!

Thanks!

I’ve heard, and rhe DNR Lake info shows, that Tuscarora doesn’t support large lake trout in great numbers. That’s okay with me as I’d be happy just to catch a few of any size. I have a couple jointed rapalas I’ll plan to bring, along with a few other presentations.

The weather definitely demands a plan for all scenarios this time of the year. I’ll hope for sunny and 65, but I’ll plan for snow/wind and 20!

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