Midwinters are the go-to times for the ice anglers to go ice fishing for Lake Trout. While having sufficient knowledge about the weather, surroundings, and kind of location where lake trout could be found is a vital requirement when going for ice fishing, having equipped oneself with necessary gears is the real catch. On many lakes, the lake trout are brilliant predators that are fast and powerful enough to challenge even the most skilled ice anglers. Moreover, this fish becomes more active while the water is capped by ice. Therefore having oneself honed with the skills required and mobility are what one needs along with dedication. Having an ice fishing reel that is compatible with you is thus of as much importance if you don’t want to get yourself hung up on lake trout forever.
Top Rated Ice Fishing Reels for Lake Trout
Before beginning to look for a good Ice Fishing Reel for Lake trout, one must keep in mind that a hasty attitude would risk the fishing experience greatly. Therefore thorough research is very much needed to make sure you have the right product in hand.
Eagle Claw In Line Ice Reel
If you are looking to have an experience with one of the best inline ice fishing reels, this is the best product you could probably go for. The durability of this reel is enhanced with the sturdy nylon made spool as well as the body. This also makes it able to withstand extremely cold water conditions for fishing. What makes it more attractive is its feature that includes a free spool releasing button. This allows the user to get the reel going into a free and smooth spin with only the push of a button by eliminating the drag on it. Thus this feature makes it very useful for ice fishing as it reduces the line twist while allowing you to have a feather drop lure just down the fishing hole.
Features:
- A sturdy nylon made spool and body
- Free spool release button to get your reel a smooth spin
- The gear ratio of 2.6: 1 helps it bring about 15.75 inches of line/crank
Pros:
- Durable Nylon spool and body
- Free spool release button
Cons:
- This reel usually is manufactured with a left-handed configuration, so it needs to be switched to a right-handed inline reel mode for being able to be used by a right-handed person
Final Verdict
If the left-right retrieval doesn’t bother you, this reel is a must-buy for anyone looking for a durable ice fishing reel that can provide a smoother fishing experience.
Goture Spinning Fishing Reel Metal Spool 6bb for Freshwater
This product is designed with materials keeping in mind the intense vibration and clanking experience that is expected during ice fishing. It consists of a rugged graphite body as well as the motor, which gives it immense strength while being very lightweight. As the lake trout excel in mobility and the water current also can be anticipated to be pulsating, this design is considered to be of many benefits for an angler. What adds to its performance is an ultralight hard anodized aluminum made spool to enhance the angler’s mobility. The reel possesses drag washers with Japanese oil technology that make the multi-disk drag system super smooth. The difference in its smoothness compared to other product could be felt due to 6 sealed ball bearings paired with an anti-reverse bearing.
Features:
- Rugged Graphite Body
- Ultra-light, hard-anodized aluminum spool
- Drag washers with Japanese oil technology
- Sealed pair of ball bearings for extra smoothness
- Anti-corrosion materials
- High precision
Pros:
- Sturdy body
- Extra smoothness
Cons:
- Depending upon the rod used, the lure spins can vary
Final Verdict
Looking at the High quality of products Goture has been manufacturing, this particular product offers what Goture does best. But, we can also not deny that gold, for some, is only a piece of stone. Therefore, Goture provides a 100% refund guarantee if you are dissatisfied with it.
Celsius Blizzard Spinning Reel
Fishing in cold weather possesses a lot of problems. Anglers must know how their hands must feel holding the rods and operating the reels if the palms are not warm enough. To keep the hands’ warm gloves could be used, but this poses another challenge. Wearing gloves decreases the efficiency with which one would hold the rod and operate the reel. Also, it makes it very troublesome when the current is fast, and fish is blazing with great speed to hold the rod using gloves.
Keeping that in mind, this ice fishing reel was designed to help the anglers cope with this problem. The Celsius Blizzard consists of an elongated yoke. This feature allows the fisherman to have an easy grip on the reel and keeping their hands warm at the same time. A durable aluminum build makes it a suitable candidate for harsh conditions of fishing. The reel is protected with anti-freeze lubrication, which prevents it from seizing up when inside water.
Features:
- Elongated yoke for good grip and keep hands warm
- Durable aluminum build
- Anti-freeze lubrication to prevent reel seizing
- Four ball bearings
Pros:
- Easy handling
- Sturdy build
- Smooth reel motion
Cons:
- With only four ball bearings, it lags behind most reels with this feature
- The size of fish that it can be used to catch must be checked accordingly
Final Verdict
The strong aluminum build makes this reel long-lasting and suitable for extreme weather conditions. If you are uncomfortable with fishing while wearing gloves, this reel is made just for you—happy fishing, with warm hands.
What is a Lake Trout?
Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) could be identified as one of the most favored commercial fishes among the anglers. Providing the angler with the experience of a beautiful adventure and being used as food is what makes them a favorite. These fishes dwell in freshwaters and possess dark greenish grey colored bodies dotted with pale yellow spots. Their most famous place is deep and cold lake water.
Geographical distribution
Location wise, these fishes have a very narrow geographical distribution. Restricted mostly to the Northernmost parts of North America, a few varieties could also be found in other parts of the world like Europe, parts of Asia, and South America. These fishes have also been introduced into the great lakes that lie outside the range of their home in Northern Canada and Alaska, such as in the Western US, Sweden, and New Zealand.
Habitat
Lake trout are the inhabitants of cold and oxygen-rich and low nutrient containing (Oligotrophic) lacustrine environment (Lake). During summertime, they prefer pelagic dwelling, i.e., they prefer deep waters. In contrast, these fishes could be found cruising in relatively shallow water during the springtime and also weigh less than what they would during the summer. These fishes grow very slowly and take a considerable amount of time to mature appropriately, which poses a threat to their population due to overfishing. While planktivorous (Plankton eating) varieties are denser in population, grow at a slower rate, and mature when they are only a few inches long, the piscivorous (fish-eating) varieties are low in abundance, grow at a faster rate and get to maturity at larger sizes.
Physical Description
Lake trout are identified by their deep forked tailed fins with dark greenish grey bodies with yellow spots and light-colored undersides. The lower fins are generally orange to red-colored with narrow white-colored edges. The Lake Trout possess 9-12 gill rakers.
The average weight of this species is found to be 3 kg, but in rare cases, fishes much heavier, up to 27kg, could also be found. The average length ranges from 44 to 69cm, with uncommon varieties reaching the length of 125cm.
Reproduction
These species have a meager reproduction potential. Even though they live a very long life, both the male and female counterparts tend to mature sexually only when they cross the age of 5 to 9 years. The factors that affect the most to reproductive maturity are the size of the lake and the concentration of solid matter dissolved in the lakes. The most favored places to spawn their eggs are found to be substrates of gravel or cobble. The males also make sure to remove any silt size grains so that the eggs get a proper environment to be fertilized.
The spawning process typically takes place during the fall or early winter, mainly at night. Due to the cold environment, the hatching of fertilized eggs takes a long time of about five to six months to hatch.
Positive Economic Importance
Lake trout fishing can be considered an adventure sport rather than a livelihood. Many anglers see it as a sport and do it for fun. As the population number of lake trout can be fluctuating due to their inconvenient reproduction and maturity habits, ice fishing of lake trout requires a license. In places with large reserves of these species, it becomes an excellent commercial opportunity. The purchase of a license of lake trout fishing helps the regional areas by contributing to their economy. Also, the Lakers possess very high economic value. A good-sized and healthy lake trout can get the angler an outstanding amount in the market.
Ice fishing also requires the necessary pieces of equipment. This fact helps in the economic transaction for the sports goods merchants. Manufacturers compete with themselves to bring the most desired and convenient product out to the market, which could make ice fishing an easy and favorite sport. Fishing lake trout has also caught the attention of many kids and youngsters. This fact opens another industry of opportunities. Experienced veterans in this field now teach the young generation and help them develop their skills with rod and reels.
What should you consider before heading out for ice fishing lake trout?
Diving inside the minds of some of the best ice anglers, the following are the insights that can help you in having your luck amplified for laying a hand on a lake stout.
Location Matters
If you look at it carefully, most fish anglers imagine deep water when it comes to fishing for Lakers. While this might be true during the hard-hitting summer, it indeed isn’t during the winters when the lakes are covered with about 4 feet of ice sheet and snow. When the lake is capped by such a thick layer of ice, these predators can be found swimming anywhere but deep, very deep.
Some suggest that while looking for a lake stout, the best locations are around reefs, points, ledges, and shelves the slope down into greater depths of water. In general, the primary structures that emerge out on to surface from deep water are the best locations to find a lake stout.
Attractive bait
Lake trout are predator fishes that excel in mobility and endurance. All that endurance is gained up by swimming around in transparent, frigid water bodies chasing around protein-rich baitfish. Although the clear, relatively sterile water gives them the advantage of mobility, it also possesses some restrictions on food habits. Relatively sterile water contains lesser bio-mass per acre.
As the baitfish quantity is fewer, the lake trout have to swim farther in search of more. This is, however, an advantage to an ice angler. Due to the lesser availability of food, the lake trout are easily lured by baits. The real game is the skill of attraction. If they can sense the presence of food in anyways, they begin to prance upon it offensively.
On one hand, while it gives an advantage to an angler, it also possesses a challenge for them on the other. While trying to lure a trout towards the bait, one should always be ready to encounter a number of followers as lake trout are fishes that predate in groups.
Flashers get them going
After attractive baits, the next intense attraction for lake trout is flash. Lakers eat spoons just like popcorn under those clear waters when they catch a spark within a range of hundred feet. Due to the exhaustion of looking hard for food in scarce regions, the Lakers tend to be less cautious when a spoon combines noise with flash. Statistically, a large percentage of lake trout are caught using a classic white tube jig easily than any other presentations.
Other factors, such as colors and soft plastic baits, should not be overlooked. Lakers are found to be attracted by dark colors like motor oil, purple, and pumpkinseed. Along with this fact one must also keep in mind that while the typical lake trout fodder like ciscoes, whitefish, kokanee, lake herring, etc., have been proven to be more effective for catching these predators, more versatile lake trout also tend to attack burbot, suckers, perch, rainbow trout and invertebrates.
Hook it right!
More often than not, lake trout are found on large water bodies. If your fishing location in large lakes or great reservoirs, you need to be aware of the variable water current flow along deep abysses. These pulsating currents influence the cruise of lake trout to a great extent. When the water current crosses a particular threshold, it can be challenging to get hold of any Lakers even with any electronic devices. In these cases, a 2nd hole has to be dug out for placing the transducer over the spoon or the jig. When the flow of water settles, the lure will fixate right below the hole, but a good angler always tries to get hold of the flow in the current. Watching the angle of the line can easily help in determining these windows of feeding beforehand.
No matter how good you are prepared or how skilled you might be, ice fishing can be a pain, and the whole adventure of trout fishing can be frustrating if you do not possess the right gear. One such important piece of equipment that can affect your fishing experience to a great extent, is the choice of a good ice fishing reel.
What to look for when buying an Ice Fishing Reel?
Before jumping towards buying the perfect reel, you need to focus a little attention on what kind of rod you are using. An ideal combination of rod and reel that complement each other is an essential factor to consider. Most manufacturers target a particular species while designing the rods, so you need to keep in mind the species of fish you are after to get the most suitable rod.
Having chosen a suitable candidate for the rod, you should look for the reel. For fishing a lake trout, the reel needs to be lightweight and at the same time, a sturdy one. The weight must be compatible enough with the fishing rod. Having light reels and rod is significant to be able to perform the necessary hand actions with ease in the water as well as to the lake trout. The reel should be such that the line twist is reduced. Reduced line twist will help you endure lesser lure spins, which would make your movements smoother.
Key Features to look for:
- Type of rod and its compatibility with the reel
- Lightweight
- Sturdy build and durability
- The smoothness of operation
- Reduced line twist
- Fewer lure spins
Final Words
With the knowledge acquired on this matter and having done your homework on lake trout fishing, you are now eligible to get yourself a suitable rod and reels and go out on the long-desired adventure. You can apply for the license through the licensing authorities in the locale to fish legally. Practicing before jumping into the battlefield in the harsh, bone-chilling weather against a brilliant opponent could be fatal. So before you make up your mind, you need to consider your safety first and equip yourself with the necessary safety equipment. Also, to enhance your fishing experience and make sure you don’t miss out on the adventure, you must carry the required gear. Nature can be ruthless sometimes and can ruin the total experience. Bad weather conditions can prevail anytime and cause great damage to life and property. Therefore following the rules and regulations while heading for ice fishing lake trout is very important. Remember to take care of yourself and nature as well. Also, remember never to go ice fishing alone.
