Fishing Minnesota Trout Lakes
June, in Minnesota,
is a great time of year to be a fishing enthusiast. In the land of 10,000 lakes
we are fortunate enough to have approximately 180 of these lakes managed for stream
trout. The stream trout lakes in Minnesota
are stocked by the Department of Natural Resources with rainbow trout, brook
trout, brown trout and a hybrid of brook and lake trout called splake. The DNR
stocks approximately 400,000 rainbow trout, 150,000 splake, 90,000 brook trout
and 20,000 brown trout. While a majority of these lakes lie in the northern
most part of the state in Lake and Cook counties, trout fishing opportunities
lie as far south as Rochester. Not only do these fish raise havoc on light
tackle they also make for great table fare.
Growing up
in the Arrowhead Region a majority of our June consisted of fishing the remote
trout lakes of northern Minnesota.
Many of these lakes you would later lie to your mother about in fear she may
name drop at the office water cooler. In the world of inland trout fishing a
17” fish is respected, an 18” fish is coveted, and fish over 20” most people
are lying about.
The remote nature of many trout
lakes makes fishing from shore or in a canoe great options. A productive method
for shore bound anglers is to inflate night crawlers full of air with sliding
½ ounce Water Gremlin egg sinkers. Slip bobber fishing, casting small spoons,
spinners and stick baits all produce results. It pays to be versatile and
experiment with presentations. I’ll often bring several rods rigged for
different fishing methods. Prolific bug hatches also make the fly rod a viable
option on certain evenings. Pay attention to the size and color of bugs that
are hatching and try to match the hatch.
Larger lakes will typically have
boat ramps and allow for more conveniences to aid in your search. Early in the
season fish will be located high in the water column and around shoreline
structure. I typically start out trolling spoons or small stick baits. Make
sure to let out plenty of line to get lures away from the noise of the motor. These
fish have an aggressive nature so don’t be afraid to go fast, even reaching
speeds of 2.5 mph. This is a search technique and will help you eliminate
unproductive water. Another highly effective technique is to troll a small
cowbell rig. Cowbells are a set of spinner blades attached onto a piece of
cable. I run a 2’ leader off the cowbells to a #6 hook baited with a half night
crawler. I like to pinch my night crawlers in half to leave a big scent trail
in the water. The rig produces a lot of flash and vibration. It is meant to
mimic a school of bait fish with the added scent of a crawler to seal the deal.
These can be fished off a downrigger, or simply weighted down with a Water
Gremlin Rubbercor sinker.
Keep an eye on the depth finder for suspended
fish. Once I connect or locate fish on the electronics, I’ll often stop and
finesse fish. For this I like to use night crawlers or dough baits like Pautzke’s
Fire Bait, fished on slip bobbers. Pautzke’s Fire Bait caters to the instincts
of fish that grew up on hatchery pellets consisting of similar ingredients.
As summer progresses the fish will
move away from shoreline structure and suspend near the thermocline. This is
the layer of water with the greatest temperature change. This layer contains food,
adequate oxygen and the preferred temperature of these cold water fish. The
thermocline will actually show up on your depth finder as a broken line with
heavy shading below it. You will also notice a lot of fish located at this
level. This is the time of year when a downrigger really shines. It allows you
to fish fast and search out fish at a consistent depth just above this layer of
water. Clamp on downriggers can be purchased for a minimal investment and can
aid in searching out trout.
A complete list of stocked stream
trout lakes is available on the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
Website at:
dnr.state.mn.us. It
has been said that trout fishing takes you to some of the most beautiful
unspoiled places around. I assure you that the remote trout lakes of
Northern
Minnesota will not disappoint.
