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Old school ‘bobsticking’ for deep-water Superior lake trout still works

Finnish roots and decades of Great Lakes tradition have kept ‘bobsticking’ alive as an inexpensive, hands-on tactic. (Photos by Ron Hustvedt)

Bobsticking is a low-tech, low-cost tactic that’s popular among many lake trout anglers on Lake Superior. It works great for catching lots of eater-sized fish as well as some trophies.
It’s an especially popular tactic in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan where “Yoopers” call it a bobstick or gabbus. That name comes from the Finnish word Käppu, which is what anglers in their native land use to probe deep, rocky lakes for lake trout and cod.

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