Something about dropping the anchor in one hundred and fifty feet is exciting. It definitely takes a while. You don’t do it the second time without leather gloves. And i do it, because of all those possibilities.

You can jig on the bottom with one and half ounce, to three ounce jigs tipped with smelt, ciscoes, or herring chunks. This is the method I was schooled in for lake trout. With some of the new rubber scented or flavored baits I’m getting a bit thrifty before I buy the real frozen stuff any longer. Maybe at over one hundred feet the Lakers, just become takers. In any case they produce.

If your old school you can hand line them with steel seven strand and what a gas to set the hook. There’s no rod. When they tap, you tap back. At that depth with steel wire there is no line stretch either. You have direct contact. Then you windmill the wire topside with the trout in tow. Cotton gloves are handy at this point, every pun intended.

If we get nipped at without success extremely deep, we change things up with smaller jigs and tinier tipped bait. The answer usually shows itself in whitefish. This also tells us to change our depth to stay after the lake trout. Not that we aren’t above having the whites smoked.

Some mornings at forty degrees it’s a very nice way to warm up. Your muscles get a bit stiff from all that line hauling but once the lake trout is splashing along side the boat it’s all worth while.

With the new finite electronics and Lake Superior offering two lines you can see down inside Davy Jones locker and maybe a school of herring suddenly comes a cruising. Then we drop half ounce jigs tipped with translucent twister tails as fast as possible to 4- 6 fathoms where they like swim.

One weird benefit to this is the salmon that slash at the herring. If you’re lucky you may get one to two herring before the school moves off, but then you jig faster at the trailing salmon. Orange meat or white fillets, I’ll take either.

This fishing is without a rod. Your arms are the reel. When you set the hook you better have been holding low over the water. Then it’s the most amazing feeling to pull that fish up not turning a reel crank. It’s also a good idea not to get your lines fouled on the boat floor. You tangle up out on the water and steel wants to kink. Just drop it as you haul it, like a coil of rope or garden hose. After you unhook just rebait and start to hand back line to the bottom.

Since the bottom is way down there and I’ve had the pleasure I’d never cheat my guest out of the thrill of hand hauling the first fish or reeling in my anchor. Besides, you may be all warmed at that point anyhow.

The trout whisperer

Karl "Trout Whisperer" Seckinger is a respected JustNorth author and outdoor adventurer. His guide service, DuNord Guide Service, and the trout waters that he fishes in the Superior National Forest, are some of the most tightly guarded secrets among Trout enthusiasts in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

Contact Karl at 218 - 525 - 0442 or write to him at:

DuNord Guide Service - 6999 Culbertson Road, Two Harbors, Minnesota 55616

Learn more about DuNord Guide Service in the JustNorth MarketPlace.