Sterling

Thought I'd throw a fish pic in here, just to keep the masses happy! LOL

HH

I'm derailing again but mind giving the backstory on this fish? I cheated and dup up the date... you caught this 10 years ago?!

Nice suit by the way. Can't beat the mustangs.

Right now, 12:48pm, there are 28 members on line and 68 guests... do I need to spell it out for you?

HH

One of the best ratios I've ever seen!

Brian - as per my most recent report http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=82786&hl=%2Byear+%2Breview

Going a bit off topic but I went back to your report and at the time I had recommended the Chamberlain clips for downrigging.

I've since used them a lot and vouch for them 100%, amazing product. It's actually 4-5 loops you need to make in the line which is really easy. Just as easy as securing a regular clip really. Once you get them dialed in (takes a couple trips), you never miss a fish. I had a 0.5lb dink trigger the release once.

LOL Brian !! About right, back in 1979 I could have traded all that stuff for a washing machine at the junk yard. In todays market there's about 10 grand sitting there.

Could have fooled me. What is it?

There seems to be a fair bit of misunderstanding going on here. I really don't understand what was meant by that 100% comment???

Seems like a misunderstanding to me as well. I don't see the disrespect in giving the old-timers a pass on having to go fishing and posting reports?

Is it disrespectful to help an old lady cross the street?

Nice! That arctic char photo... easily top 3 catches I've seen around. Such a beautiful fish, never gets old. Only ones that come close are those massive auroras people rarely catch.

Moosebunk, there are some solutions to your problems;

1. Use HTML formatting for everything. I don't know of any place that doesn't allow HTML posts. This would make cross-posting a breeze.

2. You can use wayback engine to recover long-lost posts. Here's OFC in 2011.

3. For stolen content, register at imgur.com and put your images inside posts. If someone steals content, you can switch up the image URLs. It's a lot of work, and I'm not sure if it's even worth it, but at least it protects your stuff. There's also a way to watermark images that aren't shown on your own site. Forget how though.

Yes maggots, bait shop not to far from me started to carry them

Never seen them anywhere. How big are they?

Beautiful. That one picture, you're standing on what looks like a pedestal. Just perfect.

where can you fish for Sturgeon, thought most lakes the fish is closed year round.

Only place I know of is BC, but you have to keep the fish in the water and C&R. In fact the sturgeon fishery is protected by $$$ recreational sturgeon fishing brings.

And I do believe it's time that the forums separate into fishing and non-fishing, or that the one page be split in half somehow with fishing topics and reports at the top and the rest at the bottom.

 

Just the coffee, toast and marmie talk this morning.. Maybe muskie this afternoon. Gonna drop a huge report here this week.

Other option is to enforce thread prefixes.

So you can't post a thread unless you've selected "non-fishing" or "fishing". Something like that.

Then add a filter at the top, so that users may sort by fishing or non-fishing.

That's what I do on my forums anyway.

I had a thought while driving home yesterday.

Most large water bodies in Ontario are host to both walleye and sauger. For the newer people, a sauger is a close relative to the walleye. Saugers are smaller and have a few distinct features differentiating them from walleye. Generally people don't know they're catching sauger, and just assume they're on small walleye.

This begs the question - is there a noticeable difference between walleye/sauger behavior and habitat that could be exploited to yield larger or smaller fish?

Someone fishing Nipissing might want to avoid sauger, since small fish can't be kept on that lake. Outside of Nipissing, larger fish must be released (generally), so smaller fish such as sauger could be preferable.

I did a bit of research and it does seem that sauger and walleye have different depth preferences. Take this article for example (page 5).

I've never really tracked my sauger vs walleye ratios, but will start doing so this winter, see how it compares in different depths/areas.

So, do any of you guys take this into account? Is there any known way to target specific subspecies?

Narcos is great. Going to binge season 2 soon.

Westworld however is on the Game of Thrones / Breaking Bad level. Just can't get enough of it.

AKRISONER vs Mister G fishing face-off?

So we returned yesterday from our trip and man, was the fishing ever tough. We managed a dozen walleye throughout the trip. Weather didn't help at all. We didn't fish Wednesday and couldn't get out for prime time on Tuesday. Weather forecast was messed up - calling for 3km/hr winds when really it was 20+ all day.

I'm putting all details of the trip here so that others may learn from it.

Trip dates October 14-19th.

I used my trusty temperature probe to check layer profiles. In most areas the profile went like this;

0ft - 55.2 (sheltered areas - 57)

5ft - 54.9

10ft - 54.9

15ft - 54.9

20ft - 54.9

25ft - 54.5

30ft - 50.0

35ft - 48.3

40ft - 47.5

45ft - 46.8

50ft - 46.6

55ft - 46.4

60ft - 46.2

So there's a pretty clear thermocline at the 30ft mark. I think it's definitely possible that turnover has started in some area. On a couple occasions my depth finder was showing the thermocline and it was fluctuating in depth, usually between 20-40ft. In some areas (usually mid-lake) it curved all the way to surface, I'm kicking myself for not snapshotting this, but it was pretty cool.

For fun I took some time to make note of lake trout behavior, they were stuck at 30ft and bottom. Rarely in between.

In terms of spots, as I quickly learned, the south-central arm holds very few fish. I don't really have an explanation for this - maybe it's just too far from spawning areas? We did catch a bunch of fish here but they were dinks. Either way, if you're on this lake, try to launch in the South-East arm and fish there (for walleye, anyway).

All fish were caught in 20-30 FoW. We tried REALLY hard to fish shallow, deep, etc. Nothing yielded fish but jigging. I was using a plain drop-shot setup and the wife was usually bouncing a jig off bottom. Fishing mid-day was a waste of time. Evening bite or bust!

Best spots were "2" and the north side of the big island to the left of "3". And by "best" I mean least crappy.

We did hit some spots that members here PM'ed me - I won't share them obviously, but consider that they're not in the South-Central arm.

Unfortunately it's impossible to find leeches at this time of year, at least in the Temiscaming area. If you need bait, grab it in North Bay before heading out. I was able to snag 3 dozen worms from Pro Nature which cleaned them right out.

Somewhat related - Navionics has this lake charted almost perfectly. I set my depth to -2ft (the lake was recently drained) and the depth shown on Navionics almost always matched what the depth finder showed. It was even more accurate than the maps provided at the cottage.

Update guys, water is still 57, not muchluck though. I posted a thread on the kipawa forums, here's a copy of it in case anyone has pointers :

Hi all,

I'm currently camping on the southern arm of kipawa and not having much success. From what I read it seems the southeast arm of the lake is probably a better area? Anyone know of a place to launch?

I've tried pretty much everything in the south end without much success (only 4 so far), including down rigging at 30, harnesses, jigging, etc. Only action was at sundown. Is there something else I should try?

Any tips are appreciated!

So in my last thread I asked for some advice as to where I should take the wife for a 1 week fishing getaway. Kipawa really stood out, and I'm locked in for the 14th-20th.

We haven't had the opportunity to fish walleye at all this spring/summer/fall, so I really need to put her on some.

A quick study of the lake shows that Kipawa is branchy, deep and big. I'm staying in a bay near the public boat launch on the southern end of the lake (circled in red).

This time of year I imagine fish will still be in 30-40 FOW. Some have mentioned a potential lake turnover, so the first thing I'll do is verify that the thermocline is there. I have a temperature probe that will do this for me. Honestly I'm not too concerned about a turnover, I think this will happen in November.

The areas marked on the map are either large bowls in the 30-40 FOW range, or sunken islands I plan on hitting in the evening/mornings. Here are some screenies of the areas, in an imgur album.

I plan on trying the following, in order;

1. Troll harnesses at depth (0.5-1mph)
2. Troll shad raps at depth (1.5mph)
3. Drag bottom bouncers.
4. Still fish or drift with leeches.
5. Do 3 & 4 on humps at night.

Does this seem like a reasonable plan? Should I switch up the order? I don't know the lake at all. Been there as a kid a couple times but that's it. If anyone could add some tips I'd greatly appreciate it!

Stay as far as possible. It's bad karma to park close. Keep in mind that some people are new at launching boats and may require tons of space.

Since this is the off season there won't be too much traffic, in June-August I'd stay away from the launch area completely.

The continued ice fishing on Nipissing is a problem because of the size restriction and the number of walleye caught from water over 30' deep that have to be released. They probably die. Our group had gone there for many many years, but no longer go. We haven't seen the operators adjust by moving their huts to better pike and perch grounds.

Correct. The MNR and NFN claim 20% mortality via ice fishing - that means I've killed 40 walleye with catch and release? Totally defeats the purpose.

Some innovative regulations are needed, but the public doesn't seem willing to budge.

Personally I'd go for something wild like 1 fish limit, no releasing except for spawners. Barbless only and no fishing deeper than 25ft through ice. The aurora trout population is protected in a similar way - you catch a fish, release or not, you're done.

Who here is willing to go this far? The lake has cancer, it needs major surgery, not aspirin.

Edit: I'm actually curious as to what other innovative regulations we could utilize. Anyone else have ideas?

The mentality that "i dont need to make a change because others are ignorant to the problem" IMO is downright a joke

 

I should pollute because others do it, so why should i give a turd?

That's a bit parabolic. What I'm saying is that - although it will help - discouraging the local purchase of walleye won't solve our problem. The entirety of Nipissing's walleye supply could be met by southern demand, no problem. Sad but true.

Meanwhile I'm going into my 200th walleye on Nipissing without keeping a single one. I never buy walleye, Nipissing, Erie or anywhere. I now fish barbless. I don't fish deep in the winter in order to avoid barotrauma.

Believe me my friend, I'm not careless about the issue, in fact I'm borderline obsessed with restoring the lake.

Just a note about buying walleye; even if all local residents stopped buying, the demand would still exist. I've seen Nipissing walleye on menus in Hamilton. And people down there haven't a clue what's going on in our lake, nor is it possible to educate them all.

I rent out my cottage and it has availability in October. We have largemouth, smallmouth, splake, pike, and lakers. The fishing is fantastic. In October you can get nice size splake drifting in 30-40 with spoons and catch your limit in bass as well. We have walleye lakes all around us as well which I would be happy to tell you about.

 

https://www.cottagesincanada.com/oldgoldruss

Place is beautiful and MASSIVE, thanks for the offer but I require 1 bed only (2 if I can't put the wife on fish), pretty far too! Totally jealous though.

Still looking! Rental on Kipawa fell through. No follow up from owner .

What end of Kipawa will you be on?

Right here: https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Lake+Kipawa/@47.0388729,-79.2547277,15z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x4d27e15e48ac6895:0x62a8ede63a069a73!8m2!3d46.850485!4d-78.8475469

West arm of the lake in Baie Sale.

I'm doing a ton of research and drafting a plan of attack which I will run by the OFC committee when ready. I imagine the problem at that time will be a potential lake turnover.

Even considered booking a guide on day 1 to get a head start. Joey do you know of anyone reliable in the area?

Bottom line is that if the wife doesn't catch any eyes, I might as well just stay at the cabin this winter!!!

you can air bnb any lake with lots of cottages.

 

www.airbnb.com

 

pick any lake you want, there will be a cottage on it. Kawarthas have lots of walleye.

Lac Kipawa?

Thanks, ended up booking on Kipawa via airbnb!

Lake Temiscaming old Mission lodge near Cobalt.

I've fished Temiscaming through the ice, great lake!

call wishin you were fishin on lake temagami

rick and pauline laockhart will take care of you

Thanks Malcolm, I've been to Rick's cabins on Diamond, Mosquito and Temagami. If it was an option I'd definitely drop the cash and go to Diamond. But the lodge is booked solid for hunting season as I understand it. I did a charter with Rick just last week!

What's wrong with the Big Nip ? ? ?

 

But anyways..........try here but call ahead, don't know if they are open that late in the year. If they are that would be my first choice. Stay right at the main lodge, they have GREAT accommodations.

 

http://www.airivanhoe.com/drive-in-lodge-cabins.php

I did suggest to the wife that we stay inside and fish Nip, but she'd like to get away. I can catch 20+ walleye in an afternoon on Nip but I'm on 200+ this summer with no keepers. I'll check out the Ivanhoe cabins.

The wife and I are thinking of getting away for 3-4 days this October.

We've scoured the web and found all sorts of cottages, there are some beauties out there for sure, but a problem is that they're mostly on non-walleye lakes.

Personally I'll go for anything, bass, trout etc (though lakers will be closed soon). But the wife REALLY wants to get into some walleye.

Any suggestions for cottages on (or near) good walleye water? I'm located in North Bay and will travel up to 3 hrs in any direction.

I did find a reference to a 29K (commercial) vs 20K (angler) reference in this thread:

 

 

 

http://ontariofishingcommunity.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=75514&page=2

 

I can't find any other hard numbers right now. My point is this isn't a new issue, and both sides are keeping 10's of thousands of kilos of fish. They're both living in glass houses and throwing stones.

I'd like to see the numbers after the change in limit & slot.

That link was really enlightening, thanks AKRISONER

I read every blog post Bob writes. Great perspective he offers.