The Top Three Picks for Trolling and Casting When Self-Guided Angling at Plummer’s Lodges
By Derrek Stewart 8/24/18, updated 7/24/26
Prime Lake Trout Lures at
Plummer’s Arctic Circle Outpost Lodge, Great Bear Lake, NWT, Canada
Maintaining an open mind and experimenting are tenets of excellent angling. Yet, you are
always going to find an Eppinger Huskie Delve Spoon, a Lindy Tiger Tube, and a
T-60 Flatfish in my tackle box during a Plummer’s Lodges Lake Trout Adventure.
These picks allow anglers to cover the entire water column and
deceive big Lake Trout.
The Eppinger Huskie
Devle
The Huskie Delve 300 series is a large metal spoon. Almost
as wide as its length, 5.5”, this spoon produces a thump, flutter, and vortex
that Lake Trout love. The signature of this lure moving through the water
column calls in big fish.
The big Devle is equally effective
casting or trolling. With the same rod and reel set-up, you can troll a stretch of shoreline and immediately turn
around and target a cast to an isolated high spot on a submerged reef. Trolling or casting don’t get stuck in the same
groove. Change your course, change
your speed, understand what your lure is doing during an inside turn versus an
outside turn, when to speed up, when to slow down.
Miss a strike; that fish is probably still there and tracking. Don’t give up after a
missed strike. Stay sharp; you can coax
Lake Trout into coming back for another good strike. Mix your cadence, free-fall/flutter back, sell your presentation. Lake
Trout often react when your lure produces a change in movement. Live bait
doesn’t swim a straight line at the same pace, nor should your lure.
The author with a
nice Red. This Lake Trout was hooked
after several missed strikes using a Hammered Nickle Huskie Devle.
The Lindy Tiger Tube
The Lindy Tiger Tube
The eight-inch Tiger Tube features an internal jig head system that accommodates a treble stinger hook. The
Lindy Tiger Tube is no longer in production. My Great Bear fishing partner,
BBZ’s Bill Siemantel, teamed up with Spence Petros and Lindy to design the
Tiger Tube. I’m lucky that Bill still has some. Otherwise,
Basstrix, Canyon Lures, and other companies provide magnum tubes and hardware.
You can troll this lure; it
happens to be one of, if not the most versatile baits ever. It’s also a highly
effective search bait that covers the entire water column. When it’s time to cast, this is when the Big
Tube shines.
Bill and I have watched fish on the sonar react to the boat.
In the same stretch, we sometimes experience short strikes or fish that don’t
stay pinned after the initial hookup. You’ve located fish, yet they seem
‘touchy.’ Picky bite situations are an
excellent time to target these Lake Trout with an approach they don’t see
often.
With a big tube, you
can come back; instead of being directly over the fish, you can place the boat
out and away from the fish, on a wind drift, and make long casts. Casting
beyond the fish-holding spot, allowing the bait to glide on a pendulum swing
down into the kill zone. Occasionally apply manual action, causing the lure to
flare out and upward by popping the bait on tight
line, a loaded rod, and quickly reeling line in to prevent any slack that can
foul the stinger hook.
Like a fly fisherman making graceful casts, each time you
properly snap the tube, the bait flares up and out, tails flush outward on the
pause; the glow of the tube simulates the flash of a baitfish school, directional change, course change; a lot of
outstanding attributes are packed into
the Tiger.
If Illusion is the game, throughout the entire water column,
big tubes in the hands of a capable angler can produce magic. All lures are an
illusion; big tubes are an advanced
deception. Big fish across the planet can’t resist big tubes; Great Bear’s
trophy Lake Trout are no different.
The T-60 Flatfish
The T-60 Flatfish lure is a big crankbait, a Wiggle Wort on steroids that
catches Lake Trout on steroids.
The design of the T-60 produces an extreme wobble, a bill and body shape crafted to dive, dig,
and deflect when it strikes an object. If crankbaits
twerk, the T-60 is Lake Trout bootyliscious.
The T-60 is the bookend of the Eppinger Husky Delve. This
crankbait dives, and when boat position and rigging allow, the T-60 digs into
the lake bottom, deflecting off cover elements. Varying boat speed, reeling
during a troll, or moving the rod tip
position can affect how the T-60 moves through the water column.
If you miss a strike or get slapped, free-spool and the T-60
will wobble up; this course change can be
the trigger.
Mr. BBZ, Bill
Siemantel, with a stout Grey Laker that fell for the T-60.
Rigging
All three lures are rigged with
65-pound Maxima braided line; a double Albright knot connects the main line
to a 40-pound Maxima Ultragreen Monofilament
leader. The mono leader is important for protecting Lake Trout. Lake Trout are
notorious for rolling and wrapping the line
around their head and gill plate when hooked. If you use braided line only, it will cut into the flesh and gills,
most likely producing a fatal injury. Great Bear’s Lake Trout is a precious resource,
and unless you plan on eating one for a shore lunch, catch-and-release
is strictly practiced.http://www.maximafishingline.com/
At the end of the leader, a size-5 165-pound SPRO ball bearing swivel with
a Coastlock Snap is tied on using a San Diego Jam knot. The snap accommodates
quick lure changes, and the swivel prevents line twist.http://www.spro.com/
Both the Huskie Devle and the
Tiger Tube are paired with a Daiwa 8-foot DXSB 801 Extra Heavy Swimbait Rod and
a Lexa 400HS 8:1 reel. We use an 8-foot DXSB 801 Heavy Swimbait Rod to accommodate
the crankbait action of the T-60, and a Lexa 400 7:1 gear ratio. The lower
ratio makes it easier on your wrists and arms when the Flatfish is dredging
into the lake bottom.http://www.daiwa.com/us/
Rigged and ready for Great Bear's Trophy Lake Trout
Proven Winners
There is a common theme with all three of these lures.
They’re versatile, they’re large, and it’s easy to give them life. Stick with
these three proven Lake Trout winners and maximize your hookup rate.
For more information on a trip of a lifetime with Plummer’s Lodges on amazing Great Bear Lake, NWT, Canada, visithttps://www.plummerslodges.com/
Author's Note: At the time of this article, the Daiwa DXSB 801 Heavy
Swimbait Rod was our rod of choice for these Plummer’s angling adventures.
During a subsequent trip, we experienced an issue with the airline carrier. For
the first time during several trips, we experienced an equipment arrival delay.
Our 8-foot rods didn’t make it onto our flight to Yellowknife. Our rods
eventually caught up to us, impacting only a half day of fishing. Evaluating the
situation, we have switched to the Daiwa Saltiga G SAG 703MHR-TR 7’-0” two-piece
travel rods. These rods pack much shorter in length, yet perform exceptionally
well when battling stout trophy Lake Trout.
