Going to a lake trout tourny this weekend.looking for tips or any scents or any bait i can use.I'm going to use live bait a couple of feet off bottom,and jig with a sweedish pimple. any other suggestions????

Try red/white 1 oz. bucktail and/or the same size and color airplane jig
Tip both with a strip of sucker belly.

Are you heading for Sebago?

Yes i am

Good luck........there are some giants down there

ive had the best luck with 7-8 inch suckers, break their tail and rough up the scales a little bit for the tip up. ive never ice fished sebago, i hear they really like to be jigged, the kittery report says airplane jigs and ive read that before for sebago

Brookieman -- you may want to try the NH/Winni area ice fishing techniques -- "tight to the ice" -- not down near the bottom. Some guys will be so close to the ice that only the bait is below the ice and the split shot is still up in the hole. All trout I've caught through the ice have been that way...I learned the hard way. After several days of ice fishing on Winni near the bottom and getting nothing, I asked Alan at A.J.s Bait and Tackle and so for at least the last day I went tight to the ice and caught a real nice laker and whiffed on a big fat rainbow. Good luck.

Sebago Lakers/Togue: The strain of lakers the ME IF&W stocked was a "deep water" strain from the Finger Lakes (NY) not the New England lakers so for the most part fish on or near the bottom when fishing Sebago (yes, occansionally you'll catch a togue in the upper water)

You'll may want to up size your gear as there are some huge togue in Sebago.

The "Basin" has good ice, lots of fishermen but is not a "hot" spot.

Anyway...good luck & tight lines.

Correction: Not the "Basin"; it is the "Station"

Eric you said in your post that the bait was below the hole while the splitshot was still in the hole. how far is your split shot from your hook if you don't mind sharing?
Thanks and good luck Brookieman
Forry

Forry, while I am far from the most experienced hardwater angler, when I fish "tight to the ice" I use a very small to small split shot about 16-18 inches above a naked hook with a live smelt. Even so Alan Nute had recommended using 6-10 ft. of an ice worthy monofilament as a leader, which I still do. Apparently they take so long in the winter to swallow the bait you want them to be able to peel off several feet of mono before they see the large "cable" of your main line.

Brookieman -- my guess is that the famous winter feeding behavior of salmonids--looking up and crusing up or just beneath the ice to skim baitfish from just beneath the ice--is probably exhibited by all stains of salmonids. There may be subtle differences in behavior among strains of lakers, but my guess is those differences are more pronounced during the more stressful period of mid summer. My BS aside, if the local guys are catching big togue near the bottom, its worth trying it. I might try one tip up deep and one tight to the ice. You might try Fishlessman's recommendation of "tweaked" bait, that sounds interesting. Otherwise, theres no magic, just good location and presentation and time on the ice.

Here are a couple of links that may help.

http://www.iceshanty.com/ice_fishing/index.php?board=39.0

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwpdf/dfw_tigerpikehistory.pdf

http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/dfwpdf/dfw_tigerfishing.pdf

Come on guys ther's gotta be some secret baits or tricks out there.

Brookieman, good luck over on sebago, I used to live in maine but never got the chance to ice fish that lake but some of my friends did and they had good luck with lakers on that lake, They take suckers or large smelt and kill them a day before or you can do it that day by stepping on them. Put them in a zip lock bag, The smell of of the dead bait attracks the lakers, the smellier the better. Put them on the bottom and just wait. My friends do well with this and usually get double digit lakers out of that lake. I flew over sebago last week and only the bays and the eastern part of the lake was frozen the main part of the lake is still open water. Be carefull and good luck.
Dan