We made a trip to Insula last year and spent a day in late May trying to chase Lakers on Thomas. I've had luck on other lakes using silver/blue Little Cleos, Purple Tail Dancers and White curly tails. We threw everything we had at them to no avail. We trolled shallow because it was May and the ice had just gone out, we trolled deep, we jigged, we casted, nothing. Not even a random northern! I did mark a few random fish on the depth finder, but whatever they were, they would not bite.

The water was very high in May, but I don't know that would be a factor for all the effort we put into it? Any suggestions for another attempt at the end of May this year? We'll be hitting Alice as well.

No lakers in Alice.

The one time we caught lakers in Thomas over Memorial Day we did exactly what you describe: power troll silver tail dancers up and down the lake....everywhere.

Pinetree: "No lakers in Alice."

But the walleye fishing/catching is awesome. Find the reefs and troll around them with shad raps. Find Gull Rock on the west side and throw some crankbaits or jigs to the northwest side. We had to keep throwing back what we caught because they were too big for us to eat.

RMinMN: "

Pinetree: "No lakers in Alice."

But the walleye fishing/catching is awesome. Find the reefs and troll around them with shad raps. Find Gull Rock on the west side and throw some crankbaits or jigs to the northwest side. We had to keep throwing back what we caught because they were too big for us to eat."

Is Gull Rock an island?

Lawnchair107: "

RMinMN: "

Pinetree: "No lakers in Alice."

But the walleye fishing/catching is awesome. Find the reefs and troll around them with shad raps. Find Gull Rock on the west side and throw some crankbaits or jigs to the northwest side. We had to keep throwing back what we caught because they were too big for us to eat."

Is Gull Rock an island? "

Yes it is an island but really not much more to it that a rock that sticks up with a little bit of bushes/grass along one side. Look on Google maps and zoom in on Alice. You can see a small island on the west side, quite a ways from shore. Here's the latitude and longitude for it.

47.934233222386865, -91.2216778499733

I’ve trolled Thomas twice for lakers with no luck. They’re in there, but it’s not been a productive lake trout lake for me personally.

We always had better luck for walleyes on Thomas and lakers on Fraser

Most of the lakers are on the southern end and eastern side of Thomas. I’ve caught more lakers and walleyes on Fraser, but to be honest both have been pass through lakes I haven’t fished much.

T

I have had one trip to Thomas several years ago... well I guess almost 10 years now wow... It was in August and we managed to catch some lake trout on the Southern end. We were vertically jigging spoons along the bottom as the wind blew us across the basin. We caught walleyes in Thomas as well but it was a very windy trip so our fishing was limited. Have always wanted to fish Fraser but have not gotten into there yet.

With you going in May I am not sure how much help my intel will be. I do not think there are many lake trout in that lake.

Interesting, I thought Thomas had a better laker reputation than what I'm hearing here?! Thank you all for the info. We'll probably give it another go in May this year to see if our luck changes. Fingers crossed!