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Catch More Early Season Brook Trout!
 By:
Tyler Dunn
Tyler Dunn Guiding
Ontario is home to arguably the best province
wide brook trout fishery Canada has to offer.
Although parts of Southern Ontario offer some
dynamite speck fishing; the north is where it’s
at!
Brook trout can most definitely be one of the
hardest species of trout to consistently catch.
The first key ingredient to catching quality
brookies is to fish a lakes that actually host a
population of quality fish. Lake size, depth and
baitfish are key factors for big brookies. Lakes
which boast an abundance of smelts offer brook
trout a high in fat, protein rich diet which is
the perfect combo for growing giants. Although,
a ton of lakes, some of which are not much
bigger than a puddle around my home town of
Sault Ste. Marie. They do give up a ton of
trophy specks to anglers here. That being said,
most of the fish that are one in a lifetime
monsters usually come from larger bodies of
water.
 Ice
out and into early summer brook trout fishing
should be focused on shallow water areas of the
lake. Water anywhere from 1-10 feet is ideal
depth for finding brookies. Rock piles and brush
piles are great hiding places for brookies to
ambush baitfish from. Another great option is to
work the shorelines of back lakes with an
electric motor. The person off the front of the
boat can chuck an aggressive presentation and
the guy at the back throws a more subtle
approach. Aggressive baits such as a minnow
bait, spinner or spoon are typical. Minnow baits
like as Rapala countdowns, xraps, huskyjerks,
jointed and originals all can be found in my
brookie arsenal. Small is usually better but I
have landed enough fish on J11’s to know that
should always run one. Spinners such as Bluefox
Vibraxs and spoons like Gibbs Koho are staples
in my tackle boxes. The guy at the back of the
boat can work a jig/worm, buck tail or tube jig
looking for fish that seem negative and didn’t
strike the aggressive presentation.
Although I tend to cast much more during the
first several weeks of open water brook trout
fishing. Trolling can also be deadly! Specks can
be a hard nut to crack and sometimes covering
water can be the
best method to put fish in the boat. On bright,
hot, dead calm days and is when I sometimes find
fish activity non-existent and this is when I
usually opt to troll. My first trolling
presentation will usually involve some meat.
Meat being a worm or minnow. Slow rolling a worm
or shiner behind a mini flasher works wonders.
The same goes for pulling meat behind any flashy
spoon. I like to tip flatfish with a juicy dew
worm. I will hook the worms a few times and let
roughly 2” wiggle around behind the plug.
Dragging flies around behind a flashy spoon is
often deadly combo brookies often can’t refuse.
Pull around a wooley bugger or an egg sucking
leech on an 18” fluorocarbon lead from a
Williams Wobler or your favourite spoon. Just
like any another trolling presentation, little
twitches and jerks often trigger most strikes.
Another option is to throw your rod in the
holder and do S turns while trolling. This will
keep your lures moving up and down in the water
column with some added erratic action.
The open water is here early this year. Get out
there and enjoy Ontario’s most prized fish
species!
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