# inland lake tactics for Trout



## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

So all I really know about catching stream trout species (i.e. not Lake Trout) in a lake is a few things...

They are in the shallows in the spring-time, so your favorite lures from a stream will work

As the summer comes on they go deeper and stay deep. But terrestrials (grasshoppers, ants) can still work. Possibly minnows fished deep?

In general they would be around lake inlets to feed?

Then what happens in the fall - do they come back into near-shore waters? How would I fish a year-round lake before the ice comes in?

Also, I know this is more for the summer time, how does "lantern fishing" work? I know the basics - the light attracts insects, which attracts feeding Trout. But what kind of light works best ... and then what fishing tactics are used with the lantern?


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## tito (Apr 27, 2012)

On the stocked inland lakes like under 60 acres the small 6-8 rainbows are in the shallows 3-4 ft all season. There not everywhere but they are in pockets. You can watch them a couple inches off the bottom in the clear water lakes. 12-15 ones I usually have about 20 ft of anchor out and can catch them under the surface maybe 10 ft I dont have any small stuff that can run deeper.Some spots like that are close enough to the shore to hit them. Some times you can see them when they are surface feeding might want something that floats or runs a ft deep.at that time. Not into lantern fishing so dont have any advice for catching.


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## Nork (Apr 29, 2009)

Wife and I have hit so many stocked trout lakes in the UP and none of them are the same it seems. We finally narrowed our fishing spots down to two lakes. One we would wade as far as we could and throw flies. Bigger flies. I don't think we ever caught anything with crawlers on that lake. We never did very good with the canoe in the deeper part of that lake. Another lake we would take our canoe and use a Hilldebrant and crawler or just plain hook and crawler. That lake was the only one we tried at night and we didn't have good results. That was a weird lake because some of our best fishing days were sunny, warm and midday. Anything else different as far as tackle on those two lakes and we wouldn't do very good. Any of the other lakes we hit we would go through the tackle box with limited results. We probably didn't hit the other lakes enough to figure them out like the two we settled on.


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## B.Jarvinen (Jul 12, 2014)

Sounds tough in general, thanks for the comments. I didn't end up near any such lakes in October or November. 

In late September I ended up camping on one unexpectedly, not even a Type A-F so open year-round and we knew there is Trout in it, including Browns and Brookies historically. Tried Big Lake bottom fishing tactics from shore with worms and live minnows fresh from a trap with no success. If we ignored the rod in a holder for a few hours the worm or minnow would be gone, but we eventually decided we would have to actually be holding a rod in our hand to get a fish that way. The idea of a nice big inland lake Brown still intrigues me. Casting all kinds of things from shore yielded nothing, though that seemed to possibly show that the waterfowl hadn't inadvertently delivered any Pike to the lake yet. The inlet was too much of a hike in for us when the outlet was an excellent Type 1 stream anyway and far easier to get at. Maybe next summer, or October 1, I'll try that inlet...that surely must be the best spot to fish Trout in a lake?

In October I happened upon a Trout lake way down in Montcalm County. A passer-by told me it was easy enough to catch small Rainbows from shore but I would be looking for the 10" keepers.

Lantern fishing sounds fun but I have no clue what style of light to use. I have had fun fishing Rainbows overnight at a lake outlet. Will probably fiddle around with that next time I am camping on a Trout lake shoreline during the warm months.


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