Lake trout are caught on open water mainly by trolling at depths of 20 to 40 feet. After ice-out in late April and while water is still cold in May, lake trout tend to be at higher levels retreating to deeper parts of the lakes during the warm summer months. You can use a fish-finder to determine the depth range at which most lake trout are situated. Normally, the more aggressive trout are closer to surface whereas those at great depth tend to be inactive.

A typical trolling rig consists of a short stiff rod and a fairly large reel capable of holding several hundred feet of moderately heavy line (10 to 20 pound test). This rod, reel and line assembly is used to drag a large set of spinners or "cowbells" shown in the photo. The spinner set needs to be fairly heavily weighted so that it does not float near surface behind the boat and must have a large flat anti-rotation plate to prevent twisting of your line due to the rotational action of the spinners. The spinners are normally silver or gold and need to have a snap swivel at the bottom end to which you attach a treble hook on about a one-foot monofilament lead.

On the one-foot lead, be sure to use line that is somewhat lighter than that of the main fishing line. In this way, if you snag the hook on bottom you may loose only the hook and not the expensive cowbells.

Moderate-sized minnows (2 to 3 inches long) are a good bait to put on the treble hook. Use a special needle (shown in photo below) to drag the leader forward through the intestinal area of the minnow until the body of the minnow is situated within the three barbs of the treble hook. Make up several of these baited hooks with leads and have them ready for quick access if you get some action!

Test the action of your apparatus by observing it close-up beside the boat and then slowly let out line. A slow trolling speed (normally as slow as your motor will go) is generally best. You can use a downrigger to get your lure to the proper depth or count off the length of line that you have let out as a way of gauging the depth at which your spinner is traveling.

If you don't know much about the structure of the lake, try trolling about 100 feet from shore along sections of rocky or boulder strewn and steeply sloped shoreline. Lake trout are often caught in areas of bouldery lake-bottom situated off points of land or adjacent to gravely shoals. If you get a strike, loop back and pass over the area again. Good fishing!