mastertangler wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2013 at 5:37pm:

Jim makes a good point.........although with the depth finder running I am less apt to remove the front hook gang since I typically hang up fairly infrequently. If you troll without a depth finder I am a big proponent of removing the front hooks ( less hangups). I do beef up the rear trebles by one size larger though. During my August Basswood trip I was a little rough on the fish losing 2 walleyes over 6lbs. One  unexpectedly just up and died for no apparent reason and another had engulfed a muskie inline spinner and had the hooks lodged in her gills.......blood city. Bum deal. I also lost a dandy laker after taking great lengths to try and revive it. Another major bummer. The warm water of August can be hard on the fish or so I am surmising.

With Lakers in August, the water is warm and therefore they are coming up from a greater depth, usually 60 feet or more.  I suspect they suffer from a form of the bends.  When I'm fishing for Lakers in August I stop fishing after I've caught what I can eat because once you get them to the surface, my experience is, they mostly don't survive.