trapshooter

beauty eye!!! 30inches of ice still in april? When does ice go out up there? may long weekend?

 

Thanks for the report!

 

Cheers!

That's when it went out last year. It can be gone by Mid april though, just depends on the winter. This one, and last, were both long and cold.

Was there a lot of snow up that way this winter? They must have been enjoying the easy travel on the trail. Cool pic though TJ. Thanks for sharing.

We got one out of 10' yesterday. Same thing happens in the spring up here while jigging walleye in late May / early June. Has to do with water temperature too.

Ben,

Don't have the boats out yet?

 

-s

Not even close Sheldon! I've gotta come back down south here soon to get in some soft-water action.

Ben.....

You didn't see the smile face at the end of my post???? :D

 

Cheers man

 

 

Thanks Skud, bout time you admitted you were wrong once in your life. ha ha ha

 

Cheers, Ron....

No harm, no fowl. I respect your opinion Ron.

Cheers,

Ben

Oooops me bad

 

Did you get a measurement on her??

Hey Jacques, I didn't measure her but I'm guessing she was an easy 5lbs. I just wanted to get her and her eggs back in the lake

2.5' not 2.5"

 

30" of ice.

Yes, what Cudz said... 2.5 Feet!!

Hit a stretch of Lac Seul tonight for a couple hours. The spot is pretty close to town and it's a drive/walk out spot. There's a small bridge over the road and therefore a current pinch. Open water within 150 yards of where we were fishing.... on 2.5' of solid ice Caught some walleye, including this nice fat female. Full of eggs, released of course so she can spawn in another month.

Check out the blue tinge on her tail.

I'm not sure how you can see scales or sub mandibular pores in that picture

Like you said skud, Muskie are light in colour with dark strips, bars and spots. Limey's small essox has a dark body with light markings.

IMO, it's a pike.

I'm pretty sure the London crew usually meets at a place at the NE corner of Southdale and Wharencliff Rd, Jacks maybe?

Waaay back in the day we used to meet at Bernies, which is on Adelaide just south of Oxford (ask Roy, haha).

It certainly doesn't matter to me, I'm not even 100% sure if I can make it yet.

Simon! Your reports are legendary buddy. I love to see how excited you were driving to the lake on the first outing. Glad to see you got some nice walleye to eat as well.

That first pike was a beauty, fat fat fat. IMO, the 2nd little one is a pike as well. Def. not 100% muskie.

Ben, never lived there but the ex was from Sioux Lookout and we used to go back for a month each summer. Usually spent a week around Sioux Lookout fishing before we flew out of Latto's to the cabin at Star Island on Kawaweogama Lake at Allanwater. I was in Sioux Lookout for 3 or 4 summers in a row. Have actually been looking at real estate out that way for when I retire in 8 years. Housing in Ignace is ridiculously cheap and that gets me out there with in a hour or so off Sioux Lookout and area. Also liked to fish Big Vermilion from the boat launch past Hudson and before the mill there. Beautiful area around Sioux Lookout and you are lucky to be living up there Ben.

I know it, I love it here and never want to leave. Savant lake, now there's some cheap real estate just over 1 hr from Sioux. Ignace is probably closer to 1.5 hrs. Sioux Lookout is like a bubble in the real estate world.... everywhere else in the Country the market can be down but Sioux Lookout is always expensive. Demand outweighs supply here. Makes it tough for first time home buyers like my wife and I. Anyhow......... I know the Big V boat launch you're talking about. That's where the ski-doo trail goes on the lake and I've fished lake trout not far from there this winter. Big V, another jewel in the Sioux Lookout crown of lakes

Be sure to let me know when you come back this way John.

Marchington lake, remember that name. Is it not off the end of Botsford Lake? Man talk and pics like this keep up I may have to get back together with the ex!

 

The highway from Sioux Lookout to Savant has a lot of lakes on it for sure. Used to like fishing Deception Lake across from the Deception Bay boat launch or Sen Bay down the Vermilion River road.

Hey John, you're familiar with this area for sure. Where did you live? Botsford is a part of the Sturgeon (aka Marchington) River. If you go from Abram Lake into the river, Botsford is down there where the river opens up.

I've been on Deception too, it's basically part of lac seul. You can drive a small boat through the culvert, under the highway. We were trolling for ski's in there one day and got a 26" walleye on a 10" jake. Haven't been inot Sen yet but would like to do the run from the zig-zag up to where sen hits Taylor island, where Lac Seul really opens up again. So much water....

Sorry, my bad, the camp was just south of Hough Lake, further NE of Marchington, which also has walleye, pike, perch, but my bud did fish Marchington Lake quite a few times.

 

I made it up there to pick him up on our way to hunt ducks near Red Lake back in 78 or 79, actually never made it into Red Lake, hunted the Chukuni River south of Red Lake and a couple of other small lakes. On the way back home, dropped him off at the camp again. He actually helped build the Marchington Road, Hwy 516 as it is known now. It did not fully exist when he started working up there. The link to Sioux Lookout was completed when he was working up there, and was just a gravel bush road through the middle of nowhere back then.

 

Sheesh............typing this out just made me realize how old I am now,

I've heard of Marchington but not sure exactly where it is. I'll get to it one day

The 516 is quite the stretch of road. Lakes all around it and good fishing up that way for sure.

Well done, some very nice browns there.

Great stuff Ben, I find larger pike have that darker coloring in the winter up here. Seen it a few times. The blue tinge to the walleye slime, I do not believe I have ever come across it in winter, more often in summer.

And when I saw Savant Lake in the title, I was thinking I should pm you about Houghton Lake(in case you had not tried it yet) A bud of mine worked at a timber harvesting camp that was set up right beside Houghton many, many years ago when it was Great Lakes Paper Co., now called Bowater. The fishing was excellent in that area, although I never got the chance to experience it myself.

That's really interesting that there was a camp on Houghton years ago. I wonder if there's any signs of it after the snow melts? It's a neat lake for sure and easily accessable off the highway with a sled. If you want smaller walleye to eat and lots of action, it's a great place to go. Personally I'd rather spend a day sitting on a spot where I had confidence in the chance of a big walleye. Lac Seul or Minnitaki for eg.

I'll be visiting back Home in London then as well. Let me know when and were and I'll try and make it.

Headed 'up north' for a couple day to fish some back lakes for walleye. Savant lake is a tiny town NE of Sioux Lookout, almost half way to Pickle Lake. My buddy Cory goes on this trip every year with his Uncle and his buddys. Some real good old boys.

We fished 2 lakes in 2 days. The first wasn't too good but we got some walleye to eat and this pike was the highlight for me. 36" and so dark. Love the colour and markings on this fish.

Day 2 we hit up Houghton. It's a pretty big lake with a few creeks coming in. Really shallow though. We caught all our fish in less then 6 FOW. Nothing big, not one over 18" in fact, but we put about 60 on the ice between the group of us.

This is the only walleye picture I took the whole trip. You can't see it too well here but they would leave a very pronounced blue colour in the snow.

Another real dark fish here. Only perch of the trip. 12"

We got close to a foot of snow up here earlier in the week and there's still a lot of ice on the lakes. We were within inches of needing an auger extension. The rivers and creeks are opening up though. Spring's coming.... slowly.

We don't need to tell you, you are spoiled right Ben?

 

Nice fish pal.....I'd say I miss the ice already, but I'm looking forward to some soft water Crappies, Walters and Bass Opener way too much at this point

Yeah I know it Abberz. And I'm in the middle of a 2 day trip even farther north right now.

Right on brother... Looks like a sweet setup to me! I mostly fish from the bow of my boat, so I use the graph up front for fishing, and the one at the back is pretty much only for getting from spot to spot. Just an FYI I wasn't purposely trying to sound sarcastic.

 

Cheers,

UF

 

Ps. Nice hookset!

No worries Urban. I just wanted to clarify what I was saying.

Lew - cool pic, I remember seeing it before.

I definitely look forward but my body is facing the port side of the boat. I just turn my head to glance at the graph when driving. When I'm fishing I'm facing and fishing over the port side staring (fixated, lol) down at my graph. Sounds like its a case of different strokes for different folks....although now that I think of it, big tillers come pre-equiped with a spot for mounting the graph on the port side.

Here's my rig last summer.

I was thinking the same thing. When you till w/ your left hand, you will be facing the port side of the boat most of the time. At least that's where I have my graph on my tiller. If it works for you though, that's all that matters.

wow, awesome gator there. fat, clean and big. Did you get a measurement?

Nice stradic/Legend Tournament combo there... not to mention the fat pig walleye. Real pale coloured fish down there eh. If I lived nearby I'd be all over that.

Quality fish and pics. Thanks for the report.