August 2nd Shelburne Bay

[Koissu]

Went out with my buddy last night and tried jigging in a few spots we've had success before. Couple bites but no takers, so moved on and did some swimming over by Burlington. We were going to jig off of Red Rocks but tried another part in the main bay and had a nice hit on the first drop of my jig (Northland mimic minnow shad - the trout LOVE these things!). This was in about 75 FOW pretty close to bottom. Felt pretty good and was spooling line off the reel - I slowly brought her in. Ended up with a 30.5" / 9.5 pound laker! Finally got a master angler fish this year. She had a lamprey on her as well, a few scars, and was missing a pelvic fin. We really wanted to release her, but she was just floating on her side breathing a bit, occasionally flicking a fin. Gave her about 10-12 minutes and decided to put her out. Not sure what happened as it took about 10 minutes to reel her in so I didn't think we brought her in too fast. Now to figure out what to target for my next MA..

[Gecha (Gerry)]

Good size laker Koissu. Congrats on your MA. Thanks for sharing that nice pic.

[Vtmopar]

Nice fish.

[Reelax]

Beauty and I love the sun set lighting!

[Koissu]

Beauty and I love the sun set lighting!

The sunset was perfect timing!

[Sawyer]

Nice Laker congrats on your MA
I'm new to jigging Any Tips ????

[fishy1]

nice laker jigging.

[Koissu]

Nice Laker congrats on your MA
I'm new to jigging Any Tips ????

Hit bottom, reel up a bit, and jig. Do that a bit, reel up more, jig more. Keep going until maybe half way to the surface and start again on bottom. It depends on time of year and water temperature. For lakers specifically, I've found the Northland Tackle Mimic Minnow Shads are fantastic. I get the 2 3/4" in perch (I've got all the colors, but perch is by far the best for me). The metal heads help them drop fast and they are very lifelike. Lakers like action so you can jig fairly aggressively. If you don't get hits after maybe 10-15 minutes, move on. I have a Marcum ice fishing sonar, but it isn't much help if it is windy and I am in deep water. They like to chase, so even if you are reeling up expect a hit. Just look for drop offs and ridge lines next to deeper parts.

[Sawyer]

Thanks Koissu