Tackle & Bait I
By Linda Janousek (Revised 01/95)

Are you an inland lake or river fisherman who is tired of putting in a long day of fishing, only coming up with small fish time after time? You get to go home and tell friends about the "eaters" you caught, but you don't have any exciting fighting fish stories to brag about. Also, for your efforts, you acquired numerous mosquito bites, and you managed to bring home many unwanted friends, known to us as the wood tick. Well, I got frustrated 15 years ago with these above events, so I took on the challenge of fishing Lake Superior. The fish are large and fight like crazy, and the biting insects are almost non-existent.

To fish Lake Superior, from a small or large boat, will require tackle and bait that is quite a bit different than your inland lakes fishing. Since you troll pretty fast on the big lake, you will find out that most of your small lake baits are not going to wiggle properly and track right in the water. Also, these smaller baits have hooks that are too light or small to hold larger fighting fish, when the boat keeps trolling all of the time. The constant trolling of the boat and the catching of active larger fish means your rods will have to be heavier, your reels will need more line capacity, and you will need heavier weight line than you were using in the inland lakes. So, let's see if we can get you outfitted with different tackle and bait for your new and exciting adventures on Lake Superior.

First, I want you to have a rod that will do the job for you on the lake. The trolling rod should be at least seven feet long, but not over nine feet. I prefer an eight foot rod overall for your downriggers or board line rods, or for the use with dipsey divers. If you have a number of rods that vary in length, then you probably want to use certain ones for different situations. Also, rods come in light, medium and heavy actions. The medium action rod is best all around but light and heavy action can be effective for certain fishing methods on your boat.

For board line fishing, I prefer my longer rods with medium to heavy action. These rods don't have to bend while hooked up to your board line clips, They will keep your fishing lines higher up so they won't drag in the waves. On downriggers use your shorter and/or lighter action rods. They bend easier and are out of the way better so you can put a good arc in these rods, when you hook the line to the downrigger release. The dipsey rods should be your longest and heaviest rods because these features help keep the dipsey farther out away from your boat and your downrigger cables.

Remember, if you are just starting out an 8 foot medium action rod best handles all the above situations. Shorter rods have limited uses and the rods over 8 feet have two drawbacks. One is these rods make it more difficult to bring the fish closer to the boat to be netted. The other problem is it is harder to reach the line at the end of the long rod when you want to hook your fishing line into a downrigger or board line release.

On any good trolling rod there has to be a quality reel with a large line capacity and a smooth functioning drag system. I prefer a level wind reel over a large spinning reel, because it is easier to use to let your line out. Also, it doesn't stick out as far from the rod, which means less chance to catch on other equipment in the boat.

Your reel has to be larger than your inland lake reels for two main reasons. First, you will be letting out longer lines when fishing for trout and salmon than you did for walleyes or northerns. These fish are spookier and move away from your boat more readily than inland lake types of fish, so longer fishing lines will be more productive. Also, a big Chinook salmon can rip out over 100 yards of line before you can barely get your rod out of the rod holder. Therefore, your reel needs a line capacity of at least 250 yards minimum. Second, your big lake reel will have heavier line on it for catching larger fish. Heavier weight line takes more room on the reel so larger reels are needed. I recommend 15 to 25 lb. Test with 17 to 20 lb. being the most commonly used line among Great Lakes Fishermen.

Rod and reel in hand, now let's get a good quality snap and swivel on the end of the line. A ball bearing swivel with a duolock snap will do as good a job as anything out there. DON'T buy cheap snaps and swivels for fast trolling of big scrappy fish. You will twist up your fishing lines and many baits and big fish will be lost to faulty equipment. One trick to a strong knot for tying your fishing line to the ball bearing swivel, is wet the twisted line at the knot before you tighten up on the knot. This causes less friction and heat which damages monofilament line.

We are ready to fish, if we can figure out what type bait to hook onto your line. I will put baits in three categories. They are stick baits, spoons, and "meat" fishing lures of flies, squids and fish attractors.

Stick baits are minnow imitations that come in various sizes and colors. Some examples are Bombers, Rapalas, Rebels and Shad Raps. Stick baits are most effectively fished near the surface and rarely below 40 feet. When fishing the top 40 feet of water usually means you are fishing cooler water situations. On the western end of Lake Superior. Stick baits are your best producers from October to early June fishing. As for colors, bright pinks, fluorescent oranges and greens work best in brownish water. In clear water, I favor flashier bait colors, but the bright ones on any given day can be highly productive. A bomber is my favorite choice of a stick bait for Lake Superior.

Spoons can be fished from the surface to below 100 feet. As the surface water warms in June, the stick baits give way to spoon fishing as the best producer. When the surface temperatures go from the low 50's into the 60's, the fish go deeper, and a good spoon is hard to beat for catching trout and salmon.

With hundreds of spoons on the market, like Finn spoons, Gold Stars, Crocodiles, Northport Nailer and Miljes, it is hard to pick the best. Let's just use some guidelines to go by. Medium length spoons are better than large or small ones in this area. Thinner spoons should be trolled slower than a thicker spoon to be more effective. Brighter fluorescent colors work better in brownish water and near the surface, while flashy shiny colors are better in clear water and down at deeper depths.

From mid July to end of August this end of Lake Superior actually gets warm. This happening sends the fish to depths of 80 to 150 feet. Spoons will catch some of these fish, but "Meat" fishing is by far the most productive.

"Meat" fishing DOES NOT mean catching as many fish as you can and by any method, to fill your freezer before winter. It is a fishing technique of hooking a smelt, a minnow, a piece of herring to an artificial fly, or a rubber squid. The fly or squid adds a little color to the bait hookup, and it acts as a hook harness to put the live or frozen meat on to.

An attractor like a Dodger, Hotspot, Abe and Al or Kelpcutter is attached in front of the fly or squid. This helps attract the fishes' attention, as well as giving a swaying action to the "meat" hookup. The distance, between the attractor and your bail, should be two to three times the length of your attractor. Fish get less active as they go deeper, so make sure you troll slower as you start to fish to deeper depths.

Good rods, reels and baits with sharp hooks, will help catch more fish or at least get them to the boat. But, getting them in the boat takes an experienced netter with the right type of net. The net needs a fairly large hoop, deep netting, and a handle of 5 to 8 feet in length. Some long handle nets have telescoping handles to take less space when storing them.

Good Luck Fishing and Catch Big Fish, but please practice Catch and Release. Remember, the smaller ones are the best to eat.

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