Don't pass out yet! That'll keep for the actual Bash.
I'm not familiar with that specific rod, but on a med/hvy or hvy action rod, 12 lb mono is usually about right. The 4000 is fine, a bit on the big side, but not seriously so. I have a Shimano 4000 on a hvy spinning rod and spool it with 14 lb mono and generally don't take it out of the bag unless I'm on water known for bigger fish.
Top five lures. Well. Talk about opening a can of worms! I'm going to engage in a little heresy and say that the fine points of lure selection don't really matter much. A bunch of darters, jigging raps, slender or swedish pimple spoons, tube
jigs in med sizes, some airplane
jigs. All work well if the fish are on, none work well if the fish are off.
Bside lakers have a rep as picky fish, probably because all they have to do is suck in some water and they get to swallow some of those gajillion smelt swimming around the lake. Well, maybe there aren't that many smelt, but it's close!
And you don't need large lures for Bside. Traditional large laker lures will for sure catch lakers on Bside, but generally on that lake you are selecting out the eaters and targeting fish 5 lbs plus with larger lures. Walleye sized lures will allow the eaters to smack your lure, and the big ones eat the small lures too. This runs counter to what you see in a lot of lake trout ice fishing videos, but I've never seen one of those shot on Bside, and each lake is its own dog.
There are a couple regular Bashers who use ultralite gear and panfish
jigs/ants and such, and when the fish are shut down they are the only ones landing fish. Lake trout are TROUT, after all, and sometimes smaller is better.
For a second line, I recommend a tip-up spooled with 12-20 mono. If you feel like using live bait, grab up some golden shiners or big rainbow chubs. Otherwise frozen smelt/cisco are good, but live bait is best. Put your tip-up out about 30 feet from your jigging line and about half way down the water column. Often enough, especially with live bait on the tip-up, a laker that eventually turns away from your jigging lure will smack the tip-up. Best live tip-up bait of all time in my experience on Bside is a fresh caught smelt. You do catch them sometimes. It's amazing how wide they can open their mouths, and they'll pop the smaller lures pretty often. If I catch one of them they go right onto the tip-up, and it's a rare day when a laker doesn't smack them.
And yes, it's illegal to transport live smelt off the lake, but you can catch them in the lake and use them alive in the lake for bait. I checked on that several times.
I doubt you'll need an auger extension. In the 7 years I've fished the lake, I've never needed one yet. But you never can tell in December if you'll need an extension in March. If you need one, we'll let you know.
Can you feel the fever building?
Previous Topic
Index
