Second, lake trout routinely smack a jigged lure and miss the hook. Most anglers assume the trout has missed the lure when, in fact, the fish has brushed against it to see if it’s edible. If you pull your lure out of the water to change baits—or to check it—you’re missing an opportunity. Most of those missed strikes (which aren’t missed strikes at all) can become fish on the ice if you go on point the minute you feel a trout slash.

Tubular Magic

Tube jigs are phenomenal ice fishing lures for lake trout, in large part because of the downward, spiraling, twisting motion you impart to them when you let them free fall on controlled slack. Smelly white Berkley Power Tubes and slimy smoke-colored Exude tubes are my go-to trout lures. But when the fish are picky and I need to fine-tune the color, I use thick-walled, super-salty, silver, white, and blue-hued Phoenix tubes, spiced with Power Bait or Dr. Juice scent.

Talking about fine-tuning options, slide the head of your jig hooks only about three-quarters of the way inside the lure. That maximizes the death-defying downward oval spiral that makes the tube jig so deadly. On the other hand, if you want a tighter, slightly more subtle fall, push it in all the way.

Sometimes is seems Lake trout are suckers for sound. That’s why many times I place a McCoy glass rattle inside a tube jig for added attraction. Strangely, at other times, any amount of added noise is a turn-off. So experiment. I also play around with 1/4-ounce to 5/8-ounce round ball, darter, and mushroom leadheads molded around sticky sharp Gamakatsu hooks to determine which action the trout prefer.

Lovin’ Spoonful

In the past—before tubes—ice fishing for lake trout meant jigging with spoons. Today, especially when the trout are on a torrid cisco, smelt, or perch bite, spoons can still be your best choice.

But put away the paper thin, flutter-light stuff you troll in summer. Also leave the opposite end of the spectrum at home—the short, squat, heavy, bass-style jigging spoons. I’ve found the best hard-water trout spoons to be standard 1/2-ounce to 3/4-ounce models like the Mepps Syclops and the famous Williams Whitefish spoon.

The Williams spoon has been a Canadian classic for decades. The coating on this spoon is pure silver—like the Lone Ranger’s bullets—and when the trout are mowing down glistening forage, the spoons brilliant flash has the same effect on trout. When lakers are gorging on perch, on the other hand, a copper and chartreuse #2 or #3 Mepps Syclops, for a reason I cannot explain, is in a league of its own.

Most spoon jiggers attach a piece of sucker meat to the trailing treble, but a sucker or chub minnow is a much better option, if you rig it right. I learned this trick thirty years ago from an old-time Grizzly Adams Lake Simcoe trout guide, and it’s been a winter secret ever since. You won’t believe how many more strikes you’ll get and trout you’ll fight.

Slip the back treble off the O-ring of a Mepps, Williams, or similar spoon, and then nick the belly of the minnow with one of the hook points. Insert the eye of the treble into the slit and run it out the mouth of the minnow so it’s lying cradled in-between two of the three hooks. Then reattach the spoon. Rigged this way, your spoon maintains it’s brilliant flash and fluttering action, while the minnow provides added visual attraction, natural scent, taste, and smell. And not a single lake trout in the North Country can pull the minnow off your spoon without getting hooked.