Favorite Mackinaw Jigging Lures?

I am wanting to gear up for some Mackinaw fishing in 2014. I don't want to deal with a down rigger on the kayak so I will be jigging for them. I saw on various posts (mostly from the Great Lakes) that guys use 1-2 oz jigs with swimbaits not unlike what we use for bottomfish, big spoons, or iron jigs similar to what we use when casting for albacore tuna here.

I figure I will probably try some swimbaits/painted jigging spoons that look similar to kokanee or rainbow trout since that would be a logical food item for them. I was wondering what other lures folks have had luck with around OR & WA?

I'm not a fan of downriggers either- AT ALL actually! Why not use leaded core line? I see there are plenty of folks that like and use downriggers from a kayak, but to me using leadded line seems like the only logical choice. The only exception would be using a diver, but accomplishes the same thing. The other added benefit are the color changes in the line to keep track of your depth.

That didn't answer your question about jigs, but thought I would suggest another option. Personally I have only trolled flatfish and such for Macks using leadded line (and sometimes adding enven more weight). In my experience the key was the advantage of covering a lot of water. A lot also depending on the time of year and where you are targeting them (shallows vs deep water), you don't even need weighted line, other times you are wanting on the bottom- and as DEEP as you can.

I would't mind trying to jig for them though. I would immagine what size of weight would depend on the depth current and wind. I could easily see needing to use 4 or even 6oz jig heads in one of my favorite places for Macks.

For me, when jigging for macks, it's less about the actual lure or the color of the lure than it is about 2 other factors.  I like to have a hint of glow in the lure and I like to scent heavily.  Scent is in the form of BOTH strip bait and some sort gel scent.  Strip bait can be almost anything, but I like herring, and have at times used squid, worms, squawfish, etc.  And for some reason I like the crawfish/anise gel.

-Allen

Here is a good article fishing Lake Odell....my favorite big mac spot....    http://www.how-to-fish.com/how_to_fish_odell_lake.htm
Mac's love kokanee and it's not unusual to hook one while jigging for kokanee as they are usually in the general area.
As far as depth is concerned, I use a down rigger and 60 to 125 feet is the general range for Odell.....you need to see where the big arcs are showing up on your sonar and target close to that depth.

Jigging and trolling are both effective ways to catch lake trout.  Even if you prefer jigging to trolling, trolling is a good way to find hot places to jig, because you can cover a lot of area while trolling. 

I have downriggers on my kayaks.  When trolling for lake trout, unless I see suspended fish, I fly the ball a few feet off the bottom, and check out various depths and structures around the lake.  Sometimes I can see a group of large fish near the bottom with my sonar, but because lake trout tend to sit right on the bottom, frequently they aren't visible on my sonar until they rise up off the bottom to check out or follow my lure, or they hit my lure.  If I find a group of lake trout, I either mark the spot by making a sharp turn which will show up on the "breadcrumb" track on the GPS screen of my fish finder, or I mark the spot with a waypoint.  Then I can criss-cross back through the area a couple times to pin down the location of the fish.  Then I may pull up my downrigger equipment and try jigging for the macs. I keep one rod rigged for trolling, and a separate rod rigged for jigging.

I like downrigger trolling because you can see the ball on your fish finder and can control the depth of your lure very precisely.  I can fly the ball through or right over a school of suspended fish, or can fly the ball only a few feet above the bottom.  I don't like leadline trolling or trolling with a diving device, because the lure is too far back to be visible on my fish finder, because I have only a vague idea how deep the lure is, and because I need to have so much line out that the lure cuts more across the corner of my path when I turn my kayak.  A lure on leadline or a diving device will also move up or down in the water as your speed changes or you turn.

So, consider doing some downrigger trolling in order to locate good places to jig.

Great post pmmpete.  My strategy is very similar.

Hmm, this reminds me....I've got a trip report to write.

Thanks for the responses. I agree that there are a lot of advantages to using downriggers but at this point I can't justify dumping the money into a downrigger when I can only see myself using it a few times a year for kokanee and lake trout. I went ahead and picked up some lead core line. I figure with some basic knowledge of geometry and the color coding on the spool or a line counter I can get a pretty good idea of my depth. I'll keep you appraised on how I do.

how far back from the DR ball are you putting the lures?  Which kinds?

I've heard Wallowa Lake over here has some big Macs (not the hamburger) in it but I've never tried to target them.

I run my lures 30-40 feet behind my downrigger ball.  If I'm in an area with a lot of ridges or other bumps in the bottom which will require a lot of twisting and turning to keep from running my ball into the bottom, I'll shorten that distance so the lure will track behind the ball better, and won't get pulled so much across the inside of turns.

I use a variety of lures when downrigger trolling for lake trout.  Favorites are various colors of 4.5" flatfish or Kwikfish, Rapalla lures (particularly scatter rap lures), and various flexible artificial baits with a piece of cut bait on a quickstrike rig made with two treble hooks trolled 1.5'-2' behind a dodger.  If a lure isn't producing hits, I change to a different kind of lure.  Because I troll as close as possible to the bottom, and may stop or slow up occasionally, I prefer lures which float, or at least don't sink too fast, to avoid snagging lures on the bottom.  If I was fishing higher in the water column, I'd use big spoons and spinners more.

Flathead Lake in Montana has a lot of lake trout, and in an effort to protect bull trout and other native trout populations, the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks and the Natural Resources Department of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (which has jurisdiction in the south half of the lake) are trying hard to reduce the lake trout population through fishing derbies and other efforts.  The CS&KT has prepared an excellent pair of free DVDs entitled "How to Catch Lake Trout on Flathead Lake," with detailed discussions by various successful local lake trout fishermen.  One of the DVD's focuses on trolling, and the other on jigging, with a bit on shore fishing.  You can get a copy of the pair of DVDs by calling Cindy Benson at the CS&KT Natural Resources Division, 406-883-2888, Ext. 7294.

Wow, I wouldn't think that you would be so far back from the ball.  I thought 20ft was good enough.  I like the idea of using a floating lure.

Not much experience laker fishing but up here in Alaska, the gitzit tube jig style lures are very popular jigging for Lakers.  I prefer the more realistic swimbaits but there's no doubt the guys who fish lakers up here through the ice do very well with the tube jigs.

I also am gearing up for lake trout for 2014. I can say that I can count all the kokanee I have ever jigged on my fingers so I lucked out catching a mack last summer. Here is a picture of what I have put together so far.




The little Gibbs jig on the left is what I caught the mack on. The next two are PK products I got from the Nothing. Something hit the articulated one with the little blade pretty hard up at Odell but it did not stick. I figured I would try the Pt. Wilson dart and the 'chovy since at least to me, they look kind of kokanee-like. The two clunky ones on the right are some mackerel jigs I bought in Nova Scotia at a hardware store up there. A local guy up there makes them. I never did go mackerel fishing but I figure they might have some application here so they are part of the arsenal now.

I appreciate the tip on scent or bait strips on the jigs. I am definitely going to make a serious try again next summer.

That looks like a pretty decent arsenal. You might try adding a swimbait jig to that and run a stinger treble off the jig hook back into the paddle tail of something like a BigHammer bait. Then you hook a string of herring along the back. Seems to work pretty well for the Great Lakes folks.

I am thinking about heading out to Cle Elum in December if comet ISON survives its trip around the sun. I think it would be cool to be fishing in the morning under the glowing tail of one of the centuries most spectacular comets. Plus I'll never see it on the westside unless I go east. If it burns up I'll probably wait until January or February when it is really cold and I won't need to get as deep.

I'd also consider removing lower hooks and assist hooks at the top for jigs like Wilson dart. Don't know about lakers but seems more effective in saltwater.


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When jigging for lake trout from a kayak, I use various medium-to-large leadhead jigs, because I want to be able to get the jig to the bottom fast, I like to be able to feel the bottom with the jig, and if I move with respect to the bottom, deliberately or inadvertently, I want the jig to move fairly quickly to a point underneath my kayak.  I bait the leadhead jig with a small (1"-2") strip of cut bait, usually with some flavor on it, and I replace the cut bait fairly frequently.

The same kind of rig works when ice fishing for lake trout, but for ice fishing my favorite rig is a whole pikeminnow (formerly known as squawfish) or other bait fish in the 5"-7" range on a quick-strike rig containing two treble hooks. I hang it about 6 inches above the bottom, and jig it occasionally.  It works very well.