Shuswap Lake Trout

Shuswapfisher

New Member
Hi everyone,

I am new to this site, and just thought I’d ask a question I’ve been wondering for some time.

when it comes to the Shuswap, how do you typically target Lake Trout? I know it is different at all times of the year, I am mostly speaking from June - September. The shu is so deep, I don’t really know where to start? Are you looking at being in 100ft of water or less and putting your rigger down to near bottom? What depth of water are you looking to be in to find them? Do they suspend much in these months?

thanks for any help you can provide!
 
Fish finder is key. Lakers like cold water (in the low 50’s F) which is right to the surface in spring and at/ below the thermocline once the lake turns and warms up. On Shu, the big fish key on the large schools of salmon fry and smolts so look for obvious ambush areas - points, rock bluffs and creek mouths in particular. Use your sonar to find bait balls and large fish marks to tell you where to fish and how deep to set. For Lakers, troll slower than for rainbows (1.5-2.5 mph for lakers, 2.5-4mph for bows). “Match the hatch” so plugs (Lyman, tomic, flatfish) and spoons in silver and green or silver and blue work well. “Skunk” (black with silver flecks) and “wonder bread” have also worked well for lakers for me.

I know a few guys on here fish Okanagan and similar big valley bottom lakes so hopefully they’ll chime in.

Cheers!

Ukee
 
Back in the day we used to catch them with a Mac's Squid about 50-60' down. Tomics and Apex lures work. Jigging can be good if you find a nice shelf with them holding.
Want to get real keen? Try a streamer at the creek mouths where the Sockeye fry are exiting. Usually through June for this technique.
They aren't very good table fare for the most part in case you were wondering...
 
Finding them is key. Once you find the active fish, it’s usually pretty easy to catch them. I like using a slow troll chrome apex. Caught lots on em. Like the others said, they like deep water but with the cold surface temps, who knows where you’ll catch them. I caught one last weekend on my bucktail setup.
 
150' Down with plugs or apexs trolled at 1.5 - 1.8mph watch for the tip to bounce then lift the downrigger to help the hookset and pop off.
 
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