I know you all have your favorite trout lures, but the lures I am about to tell you about are ‘standard spring trout issue’ in my tackle box. They have been cold water tested in local area lakes and in some Alqonquin Park lakes.

Spring is a great time to catch trout. This is because the water temperature is cold enough for the cold water fish to be caught at the surface without special down-rigger and weighted equipment. If the ice is out on your favorite trout lake, I would suggest you could pinpoint lake trout (and speckled trout) around river and creek mouths where smelt have been running.

Here is my list (in order of importance):

1. Mepps Silver Aglia  #3 or #4 – I have never seen one lure catch as many different species of fish as the Mepps Silver Aglia. It also happens to be deadly for spring Lake Trout. It has been tradition for me when I hit the water of Tim Lake (in Algonquin Park) to put this spinner bait on first. When I put it on, I start a troll along the right side of the lake – as soon as you exit the Tim river. There is a subtle rock face over there that holds trout who love this lure. This Mepps has been one of dad’s favorites as well. If you are after speckled trout, I have done very well with the #0 size of this lure.

2. Weighted walleye spinning rig with Power Bait smelt minnow -  This rig has worked for me on Lake Kippewa and along the shores of Vernon Lake by the mouth of the Big East River. These walleye spinning rigs worked the best tipped with live minnows, but I found that using a Berkley Power Bait minnow (smelt colors) worked almost as well. One day on Lake Kippewa, I fished only with the Power Bait teasers. The rest of the guys used live minnows. At the end of the day I was only slightly out-fished.

3. Silver and Blue Backed Rapala Tail Diver - I have spent some time on a couple of sections of Lake Opeongo in Algonquin Park with this lure. Trolling over drop offs and around islands with these lures has hauled in some nice lake trout where other lures have failed. You can really feel “the wiggle’ with these lures which helps to warn you to set the hook on a strike or when you have a line/hook tangle. It keeps the guess work out.

4. Mepps Syclops – Any silver spoon will do, but there seems to be something about flash pattern of a syclops that triggers strikes. Trolling or casting this lure in lake trout waters has usually always meant a trout in the boat for me. If grandpa were writing this post, he would tell you to use a silver Williams instead. That seemed to be all I would ever seen him fish with. You are probably safe with any silver trolling spoon.

5. White Tube Jig – Where the Big East River enters Vernon Lake, there are some sandbars drop-offs that make for excellent jigging. A couple of years ago, a friend put on a white ‘squid-like’ tube jig during an early evening fish. I thought he was crazy bumping the jig along the sandy drop. Within minutes, he had two lake trout in the boat. It does not work every time for me – but I have a couple stashed away just in case.

With the warm weather finally approaching the ice is starting to break-up. Don’t miss this great opportunity to catch some normally elusive, deep-water trout in a lake near you. Hope my suggestions help you out. Come back in a few days and I will be posting some favorite trout flies as recommended by some of my visitors and twitter friends.

Would you care to share something that works for you? Why not comment below this post…

*Mepps Aglia photo used under creative license guidelines as listed on tacomabibelot’s flickr photostream

lake opeongo, spring trout lures, tim lake, Trout Fishing, Vernon-Lake