Trolling Lake Champlain lakers

Ice has finally melted on some of the waterways near Montreal, but seasons for most game species are still closed. Was scheduled to try some cold water carping, but changed plans when my friend Mike invited me out to head across the border to Lake Champlain to troll for early season lakers. After the success I've had with him in the past, I new I was going to be in for a good outing, despite the water still being near freezing temperature, and us only having about 4 hours to fish.

Finally got out and set up close to 10:30 AM. Mike set up us with 4 rods using planer boards, as New York and Vermont rules allow for 2 rods per person. First area we hit registered water temps in the 38 (Fahrenheit) degree range. Still a bit cols, even by lake trout standards. Trolled for an hour without success. Started bringing in our lines to switch spots, last line in got hit, fish on! Landed my first laker of 2013:

Now the dilemma was whether to stay on the spot in hopes of landing another one, or trying to find warmer water. Mike decided to find warmer water, and it turned out to be a good choice. We found an area with water in the 41-43 degree range. Turned out to be the right choice. Over the next 3 hours, we had 6 more hits, managed to land 5 of them, all bout the same size and weight range:

Needless to say, I was more than thrilled with the short outing, and some of our friends will be happy with the fresh lakers we brought back for them. Once again, Mike came through even in tough conditions, we noticed some other boats that weren't doing nearly as well. I highly recommend Mike as a guide for any species, contact him by clicking: http://freshwaterphil.com/contactmike.cfm