merill creek lakers help

[15FOOTER]

Heading out tommorrow for some mid summer laker fishing on merrill creek. I dont usually fish it this time of year so i was looking for some advice..mainly what depths i should really be focusing on for them. Any other help would be greatly appreciated! Ill report tom night.

[AndyS]

Go DEEP !!!

[jimmythegreek]

either mark em on the bottom and hover over them and jig em up, OR use a 3 way swivel or eggsinker/fishfinder rig and stick tight to the bottom w some herring, thats where the bigger girls are at. Never fished it but when I fish RV I usually run downriggers and I setup up 2 lines per side and target right above depths I mark fish at runnin spoons and cowbells/flashers. U can just as easily run 4 rods off each corner w small 1/4 or 1/2 oz egg sinkers/fishfinder rigs and vary the depths and run them where u see fish. I know alot of guys live line too, I never have much luck livelining but if I do I always run a splitshot a few feet up from herring to keep the thing kinda goin down. The other way is to run a slipbobber setup, same deal run them the depth u see fish at. I usually go like 20-30 ft, I use the boat as a ruler, hook my transom and run the bobber stop by the bow plus a few feet, etc. post some results, I hear its still good up there, some buddies of mine hit it on the regular and get some nice trout outta there. Dont pull em out of the water+net if ur not keepin them, they wont live. take pics in the net and use pliers to unhook and let em swim away if ur CPRing them. good luck bro

[bulletbob]

Food and temp.. Thats the rule of thumb.. If you can find the preferred temp zone {deep this time of year!], and FOOD in that zone, you have found the lakers...If you can find out how deep the thermocline is, and fish where the thermocline meets bottom, there should be fish there.
However, lakers will go out of preferred temp zones for food.. Temp zone is important, but lakers are chow hounds and food is MORE important.. You didn't say if you had a good fish finder.. For lakers you should have one.. Find the bait pods, and the lakers will be under them.. If the lake doesn't have large pods of schooling type bait[herring/landlocked alewives/sawbellies], fish where the thermocline meets the bottom... bob