Anyone have luck trolling lakers on Saganaga mid-summer? I tried last year with no luck using the usual spoons and tail dancers. Assuming they were down pretty deep. Thinking about going back this year and treating it like great lakes trolling with dipsy divers, lead core, and maybe downriggers this year. Anyone have luck on this lake using these tactics? It's a big lake, but finding a long stretch of deep water to troll without getting hung up on the divers and downriggers is my main concern...

This is from a boat, not a canoe. I've noticed on some other lakes in the bwca the lakers seem to be sensitive to the sound of a motorboat so I would imagine that's a contributing factor as well.

Can’t say I have experienced the motor-shyness, I used to do pretty well with my noisy 2-stroke but I’ll definitely say that an electric trolling motor is a big plus for our fishing style.

How late is mid-summer? We do pretty well every year mid-late June. I do bring one lead core setup to get my spoons deeper, but we catch them trolling tail dancers and even casting/jigging big paddle tails.

I’m not going to get into spots, but the Canadian side can be worth the extra licensing costs.

thegildedgopher: "Can’t say I have experienced the motor-shyness, I used to do pretty well with my noisy 2-stroke but I’ll definitely say that an electric trolling motor is a big plus for our fishing style.


How late is mid-summer? We do pretty well every year mid-late June. I do bring one lead core setup to get my spoons deeper, but we catch them trolling tail dancers and even casting/jigging big paddle tails.


I’m not going to get into spots, but the Canadian side can be worth the extra licensing costs."

Good to know about the Canadian side we've mostly stuck to the US side so far. We'll be there mid July.

Motor-shyness is something I picked up on fishing Clearwater lake. Spent a week there once and started out using tactics that have always worked well for me paddling (trolling tail dancers, little cleos, etc up on large drop offs on the windward side of the lake). I had 4 days where I alternated between trolling with a little boat with a 10 horse motor and paddling and the 2 days in the boat produced 0 results. We didn't even have to fish more than a few hours to catch enough to eat on both of the days fishing from the canoe. Same tactics, same lake, only difference was the vessel. Could have been coincidence I suppose, or it could have been the slightly less consistent pace of the canoe? It can be hard to hold an exact speed with a canoe but tried to keep both the canoe and the boat trolling roughly the same speed.

Interesting. It could have been the motor or it could have been a dozen other things. I am the kind of guy that resists the urge to identify the exact reason for fish behavior so I am much more inclined to say “I can’t rule the motor out, but I certainly can’t say with certainty that it mattered.”

Anecdotally I have caught a mess of lakers in Clearwater in boats with 6 and 8 hp motors, using the exact tactics you mentioned. But I almost always fish the Gunflint trail in June.

My top GFT laker baits have been a blue/silver crocodile spoon on leadcore and a blue flash (blue silver w red belly) scatter rap taildancer. The scatter rap might be worth checking out for you. It has a big scooped bill that brings a different and more erratic action than a standard TD. Everyone seems to run purple but I’ve done better on blue/silver.

I mostly trip in August, not in a motorized zone, but should work anywhere…From Cache bay to Hook Island always troll deep diving cranks, always pick up some Lakers and usually have to quite to get to our tow in time.

Nothing fancy, just long line trolling.

Nice little addition to bring back a couple of Quetico Lakes to grill for the family.

T