Ontario Lake Trout Fishing
On Lower Manitou Lake
Trophy Lake Trout in Ontario Canada
Lake Trout Fishing
Muskie Fishing
Bass Fishing
Pike Fishing
Walleye Fishing
Ice Fishing
Trout Fishing on Lower Manitou Lake
Lower Manitou Lake is absolutely one of the best Ontario lake trout lakes and boasts trout of all sizes. Our large numbers make it easy for you to catch smaller, good eaters right up to big, trophy/lunker lake trout every trip.
Our season starts off with ICE OUT trout fishing. If you haven’t tried our lake yet and you want to experience a trout frenzy, try fishing at ICE OUT. Just like the name says, ICE OUT fishing is the weekend right after the ice breaks up on the lake. One condition though is you have to tough out the unpredictable weather! During ICE OUT, in the spring, we have had guests catch their limit of trout in only a few minutes of fishing close to camp. This does not always happen, but schools of lakers do swim along the shoreline in the spring. This is when the die-hards get their gear out for their first action of the season!
Ice-out usually comes in the first two weeks of May, though the exact weekend moves with the winter. That is part of why we run an ice-out contest every year, and why the regulars watch the lake as closely as we do. If you want this trip, tell us and we will let you know as the ice starts going.
After ICE OUT, for the first 3 or 4 weeks, lake trout are shallow and very active. Using trout lures such as Rapala, Mepps #5 or bigger cowbell spoons, and sometimes tipped with either sucker, shiners or ciscos, guests have found success catching trout. Fly fishermen will have lots of exciting opportunities with a mix of flies. As the water warms up, trout slowly make their way deeper until mid-summer where they can be found from 30 to 100 feet deep, following schools of baitfish. By changing gear and moving to the right spots, trout can still be caught in great numbers. Proven trout techniques include using jigs, downriggers or trolling with a 3-way swivel rig. On other lakes, lake trout can be elusive during the summer. On Lower Manitou Lake, they are easy to catch, and plentiful all season.
Trout are common in the 2 to 6-pound range. Frequently we have guests bring in lake trout between 8 and 15 pounds. Occasionally trout in the 20 to 30-pound range are caught. Lower Manitou Lake is a big lake so there should be plenty of trout over 30 pounds. A trout that lives long enough to weigh 30 pounds is smart, so you can’t expect it to make a mistake and hit a lure too often.
Lake trout are very sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure. When they are feeding, which is usually for 2 or 3 hours at a time, you can catch 5 to 30 trout within a time period. Some days they are not feeding, so it does not matter where or how you fish. If you have experience with lake trout, then you know what we mean. One thing is for sure; there are very few lakes in Ontario with lake trout fishing as fantastic as the trout fishing on Lower Manitou Lake.
Lower Manitou Lake is a crystal clean lake with a diverse rocky structure including many islands, shoals, deep ridges, sunken plateaus and even deep weed beds. It’s also a nutrient rich lake with massive schools of baitfish. The reason the lake is clear is because it has deep holes that consume all the sediments. There is a large forage base of baitfish because of mineral deposits in the area. Glaciers scraping the land and exposing non-porous Precambrian rock formed most Canadian Shield lakes. Lower Manitou Lake was formed the same way, but we are lucky that large amounts of minerals were deposited.
A precious mineral to the fish is calcium. The population of fish cannot exceed the calcium content of the water because they need it to grow bones. Our lake has a very healthy amount of dissolved calcium thus having a bountiful amount of natural resources for trout to proliferate in great numbers and grow large. This holds true with muskie, pike and smallmouth bass.
Lower Manitou Lake has perfect environmental conditions for fishing Northwest Ontario lake trout. It’s something our guests enjoy immensely.
Be sure to rent a fishing boat for lake trout fishing while here, or book one of our experienced fishing guides to find big lake trout! Forward-facing sonar units are also available to rent.
Ontario Lake Trout Fishing Tips
The 3-way swivel technique below is ten times better than using steel line or bait-walkers, and it’s a lot more fun than using down-riggers. All you need is your walleye Stick. You need a light to medium action rod and thin line. What allows you to fish deep is line diameter, not necessarily pound test. 6 to 8-pound mono and 20 to 30-pound braid all fish about the same depth. Use what you are comfortable playing a big trout on. You also need three-way swivels and a 1 or 2-oz weight depending how deep you want to fish, which depends on what time of year it is.
Diagram Showing the Setup:
By using light line, the line has less friction with the water and slices through so that your line goes down to the bottom without having lots of line out. Tie two 3-foot pieces of line to your three-way swivel. Use a 1 or 2-oz. weight on one line and a light lure on the other. Lake trout like small lures more than big lures. The very best lure is a small Sutton Silver Spoon. You can also use #1 or #0 Mepps, Panther Martins, Moose Spoons, tiny Dardevles, Nasty Boyz or Blue Foxes. Small Cleos or a small Mepps Cyclopes are also good but you have to shorten the lead line because these lures are heavy.
With thin line, a 1-oz weight is good for fishing down to 40 feet and a 2-oz weight down to about 65 feet. Larger diameter line means more drag, so just add weight to reach the same depth.
Trolling Slowly for Lake Trout:
You only want to move just fast enough for your lure to work, and no faster. If your boat is moving too fast, it will be very hard to find the bottom of the lake. If you are using a boat with a bigger motor and it’s hard to keep slow, try back trolling.
Finding the Bottom:
The most important aspect of deep water trout fishing is letting out line to get to the bottom. DO NOT JUST LET YOUR LINE OUT UNTIL IT HITS BOTTOM. Hold the rod in one hand with the bail open. Let the line run through the palm of your other hand and grip the line. Once the boat starts moving and you have a good straight troll going, open your hand with the line then close it again. This way you can let out a foot or two of line at a time. Get a rhythm going. Open, close, open, close. Your rod tip will bounce up and down as you release little bits of line. The rhythm of your rod tip bouncing will be disrupted when your weight hits the bottom of the lake. When this happens, reel up a foot or two. The purpose of this procedure is to keep your 3-way swivel setup from getting tangled.
Trout are funny when it comes to hitting your lure. Small ones hit and then take off – you know you have a fish on. Really big trout hit the lure and slowly swim away, some don’t know they’re hooked. If you think you have a snag, make sure it’s not a fish before you start tugging on your line. If it’s a big trout, loosen the reel drag because they will go nuts and strip 100 feet of line off your reel before you can turn them. Set your drag appropriately for the line you are using and do not horse it in.
Lake Trout & Weather:
In the summer time, Ontario Lake Trout hit best in the morning between first light and 10:30 AM. They will hit better if the surface of the water is dead calm and it’s a clear sky with high pressure. Any other conditions will cause them to slow down. In early spring trout seem to feed in other parts of the day. In some lakes the trout feed aggressively before dark.
Lake Trout Structure and wind:
Take a close look at the structure of the shoreline and try to extend the elevation patterns into the lake. If you see a cliff, odds are the water is deep at its face. If you see a string of islands, odds are there is a shallow shoal that runs between them. Trout like drop-offs so you want to troll parallel to the string of shoals and not over them.
When you drop your line to the bottom, count how many times you let out line. You can get a good estimate of the depth. For Lake Trout, try to stay in 30 to 60 feet of water and close to shore. If you come across a spot and catch a trout, odds are there are more of them there.
The wind is very important when trout fishing. Traditionally for warm water fish like Walleye or Pike, you would fish on the side of the lake were the wind is blowing. The logic being that the fish follow the surface food that is being blown in. With trout it’s the exact opposite. The wind also blows the warm surface water, which does not hold enough oxygen for the trout. Thus fish the side of the lake where the wind is coming from.
There will be Lake Trout out in the middle of the lake suspended 40 to 60-feet down. They are usually in close proximity to schools of bait-fish. If you are closer to shore in 40 to 60-feet of water and not catching anything, drop your line down to the bottom so you know how deep you are and then leave your rig at that depth and head out into open water. In open water, you will usually catch less trout but they will be bigger. There are occasions where all trout are out in the open water, especially when the last few days have been hot with strong variable winds.
Lake Trout Depth:
In the spring, Lake Trout will be right up to the surface. As the water starts to warm up with the changing weather, trout start to go deeper. This is not true for all lakes. Some smaller spring-fed lakes have trout in shallow water all year. Here are approximate depths for different times of year:
Just after ice-out: Between 10 feet and the surface
Mid Spring: About 20 to 30 feet deep
Late Spring: About 30 to 45 feet deep
Summer: Summer is tricky. Many believe that Lake Trout go to the deepest part of the lake and stay dormant. In actual fact, Lake Trout stay suspended in 53° thermal layers or concentrate in shallower holes where a natural spring pumps cold water into the lake. Why are they there? That’s where all the baitfish are. There will be trout deeper then 60 feet or on the bottom in the deepest part of the lake but they are not feeding. When they do feed, they come shallower.
Depth Finder:
It’s good to have a depth finder so you can map the schools of bait-fish that are suspended. When you do come across a school, troll around the outside of the school. The Lake Trout sit right underneath the school waiting for weak or injured fish to venture outside the school. Out in the middle of the lake, you will find these schools of bait-fish in the 30 to 60-foot range. It’s different on most lakes but this is a good place to start.
Middle of Summer Lake Trout:
The middle of summer is the time when people spend the least amount of time hunting down Lake Trout. With the 3-way swivel method, the middle of the summer can be the best time because the Lakers are concentrated in the deep holes and not spread out all over the lake like they are in the spring. Once you find a spot in the summer where you are catching Lake Trout, keep going back because they will stay in the same spot the whole summer.
A Lake Trout’s feeding turns on and off like a light-switch. You can find a spot where you are mapping fish on your depth finder and fish that spot for days without catching anything. Then all of a sudden, they start feeding like crazy for an hour or two and then stop dead again. You have to keep trying. Perseverance is a major factor in successful Lake Trout fishing.
Learn more about our rental fishing boats here and see our photo gallery of fishing boats.
Top Ontario Lake Trout Lures
- Berkley Vibrato
- Jig and fluke
- White tube jig
- Sonar
- Buzz Bomb
- Mepps #5
Spring,after ice out:
- Cowbell
- Spinner tipped with bait
- Rapala
- Spoon
Ontario Lake Trout Weight Calculator
Manitou Weather Station
Ontario Lake Trout Fishing Photos
Laake Trout Fishing on Lower Manitou Lake: Frequently Asked Questions
When is the best time to fish lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Ice-out, right after the lake thaws in spring, is the most productive window of the year – schools of lake trout move close to shore and can be caught in shallow water. Fall is the second window, when cooling water brings trout back up out of the depths and they feed hard before winter. Between the two, lake trout stay catchable right through the season; you simply fish deeper as the water warms.
When is ice-out on Lower Manitou Lake?
Ice-out usually comes in the first two weeks of May, though the exact weekend moves with the winter. It is the most productive lake trout window of the year, when schools move close to shore and can be caught in shallow water. We run an ice-out contest every year, so the date gets watched closely here – if you want that trip, tell us and we will let you know as the ice starts going.
How deep do you fish for lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Depth changes through the season. Right after ice-out, lake trout can be caught close to shore in shallow water. As the water warms they move down, and through the warmest weeks most fish hold between 30 and 100 feet. Lower Manitou Lake has deep, cold basins well below where most anglers fish, which is what keeps the trout fishery strong through the middle of summer.
Do you keep or release lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Both, within Ontario’s limits. Trout of about 25 inches and under are the good eating ones and a few go in the pan; the bigger fish go back so they are there for the next angler. Lake trout carry size and catch limits set by Ontario regulation, and those are tighter in September than through the rest of the season, so check the current fishing regulations summary before you travel.
How big are the lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Lake trout here most commonly run 2 to 6 pounds, and fish of 8 to 15 pounds are caught frequently. Trout in the 20 to 30 pound range are landed every season, and on a lake this big and this deep there are certainly larger ones down there waiting for somebody.
Can you smoke the lake trout we catch?
Yes. Bring a trout in and we can smoke it for you. Trout of about 25 inches and under are the best eating, so those are usually the ones that go in the smoker.
Do you use forward-facing sonar for lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Yes, and it is a new and exciting way to fish for them. Most anglers do not think of lake trout and forward-facing sonar together, but on a lake this deep it changes the day – you watch a trout come to the jig and react to it rather than guessing. Most of the guides here use it now, more guests are arriving with it on their own boats, and there is a unit available to rent at camp if you want to try it without buying one. It pairs naturally with vertical jigging, and it is the fastest way to learn new water on a lake this size.
What lures and rigs work best for lake trout on Lower Manitou Lake?
Vertical jigging is where a lot of the fishing has gone – tube jigs, tipped with minnow or sucker meat or fished plain, worked straight down over fish you have marked. Berkley Vibratos, Jigging Raps, a jig and fluke, and Buzz Bombs all work well fished the same way. The 3-way swivel rig is still a mainstay through summer: a light to medium action rod, a weighted dropper line and a small spoon riding near the bottom, which keeps you fighting the fish on rod and line instead of hauling it up on wire. Line is a matter of preference. 10-15 pound works well, and thin braid up to 30 pound fishes the same depths, because what gets a rig down is more about line diameter than strictly pound test. Flat-line trolling takes fish early in the season when trout are shallow, and downriggers cover the deepest water in midsummer.
Why is Lower Manitou Lake so good for lake trout?
Depth and water quality. The lake is deep, cold and clear, so lake trout have cold water available all summer instead of being squeezed into a thin band. It is also calcium-rich, which supports the large baitfish populations that let lake trout grow to trophy size here, along with muskie, northern pike and smallmouth bass.
Can you drive to Manitou Weather Station, or is it fly-in only?
You can drive, and that sets Lower Manitou Lake apart from most remote lodges in Northwestern Ontario. It is about 43 miles by road from Fort Frances on Highways 11 and 502, then Cedar Road and Esox Landing Road to the boat launch at Esox Landing, and roughly 24 miles north by boat to camp. The float plane option is there too, about 45 minutes from Fort Frances. Driving in means you can bring your own boat and as much gear as you want instead of packing to a float plane’s weight limit. In winter, access is by snowmobile.
How do I book a lake trout trip at Manitou Weather Station?
Trips are booked directly with Manitou Weather Station. Current packages, open dates and rates are on the Packages & Rates page, and the Contact page will reach the family with any questions before you book.
What license do I need to fish for lake trout in Ontario?
Every angler needs a valid Ontario fishing license and an Outdoors Card, and one license covers lake trout, muskie, walleye, northern pike and smallmouth bass alike. Buy both before you arrive, online from the Ontario government, at any ServiceOntario location, or from tackle and outdoor stores in Fort Frances on your way through. Non-residents choose between a Sport license and a Conservation license; the Conservation license costs less and carries lower catch limits. Lake trout in particular carry size and catch limits set by Ontario regulation, and those change from time to time, so check the current fishing regulations summary before you travel. There is Starlink internet at all three camps, so you can check the regulations or sort a license online from the lake if you need to. Visitors from the United States also need a passport or another approved document to cross the border at Fort Frances.