thegrumpyfisherman

I was lucky that someone warned me about this when I used to fish that same spot. Once the water gets into the waders you're screwed. As a result I never went in water past the crotch area, and even then remember a couple times where I almost slipped in a hole or something. Just a bad combination of circumstances, real sad to hear.

Those Gar are aggressive eh? I love it when I catch a fish that's the same size as the lure it attacked funny stuff. Nice Musky btw!

I figured that was the case, the weather was more like late August than late September! Out of the 6 of us 2 guys didn't catch anything at all, I was surprised there seemed to be no bass or pike or anything. My only theory is that they are deep and not active? Usually I can catch countless pike just dragging a Rap along the shore, but even they were nowhere to be found it was very strange indeed AKRISONER.

I would love to have a boat big enough to do Erie! Awesome fish, though I gotta say that unhealthy yellowish/white colouring to them down there makes me wonder whats in them sometimes lol. Still prefer the dark green of up North.

Well thanks for the tips everyone, just got back from 2 days on the lake. Final verdict is I tried most of the ideas. The weather was calm, water clear and about 60 degrees, also was sunny. I tried trolling, jerk baits, a worm harness, and the only thing that worked was jigging worms extremely slow in about 25-30 feet around the edges of submerged structure. Slowest I've ever seen it to be honest. I came up with only 6 pics over the 2 days, between 12 and 15.5 inches. I even trolled over the deep water both on the surface and about 20 feet down for a few hours Saturday afternoon. Some tiny smallmouth and 2 pike were all I found, total of about 10 fish. The lodge owner said it was because the water hadn't turned over yet, so the fish were dormant whatever that meant. Mind you with 2200 miles of shoreline, I was only able to work a tiny portion of it. I never tried just randomly dropping jigs next to stuff in open water. When they bit it was that real light tug, and I had to be very patient before trying to set the hook or I'd lose them. Not quite what I had expected for fall fishing, but I am guessing the calm sunny weather didn't help even though it made for a nice day out for me and the guys! Thanks again for the help!

I just fish for fun. I eat fish occasionally but don't care for them enough to kill em. Minority opinion around here I know, just personal choice. It was pretty big, I didn't weigh or measure it... It's swim bladder was coming out its mouth so I put it back fast as I pulled it out. Swam straight down so hopefully it's there for the next guy!

Would a Nitro be considered a Tracker? Bit off topic but a friend has a Z7 and I don't know about warranty issues but the boat itself is great...

Caught this while I was looking for pickerel in a small Muskoka Lake yesterday! I've never caught one before, I was drifting a plastic leach across the bottom in 30 feet. Not my thing but I was kind of impressed by the size of it. It was released I hear they are good eating but not really into that. No pickerel found lol

Best idea yet!

I was thinking the same thing! After that fight it's real hard to go back to whatever you were fishing before! Nice fish Adam!

Good info everyone thanks for the help. I asked because I'm taking 6 guys with me for their first time on this lake and am hoping to make it an experience they want to repeat. The swim bladder tip was good I hadn't thought of that. I caught one once slow trolling a Rap F18 and a bottom bouncer over a 50 foot hole and remember its belly was puffed out. It did revive in the livewell though but floated belly up for 4 mins before it improved and I never knew why. Will try all the tips and let you know how it went! Thanks again!

I'm guessing it's the usual fall stuff like shiners. A couple years ago I marked the schools of bait fish in one of the deep open spots mid lake and was told by locals there to just troll Rapalas in that area right out in the middle. I did for 5 hours and notta. I tend to have the same luck jigging near drop offs, notta. All my catches are random either when trolling for pike or that typical evening bite and even then I'm apparently not doing something right. I've always read these fish school, find one and you find a bunch. I was just hoping for any tips on how the members who chase these fish regularly would attack it and what they might use, where they might start this time of year in a shield lake? Or is Walleye frustration just a part of fishing for Walleye?

Amazing read, I always assume these guys rely on guides, but I see not entirely accurate in his case! Must have been quite the experience watching him analyze and pick all the details apart, and then top it off by cashing in on the plan!

Just curious, I'm not a pro at catching walleye but I do catch them. There is a lake I am going to in a couple weeks that I have been to many times and I have managed to find a couple spots where they seem to appear for their evening and night feeding religiously. My question is, during the day where do they go? The lake is North of Sudbury so it will be cool and clear water, and it is all rock, there is weed but nowhere near where they show up to feed at night. In this particular lake one of their night spots is near a narrows. If I was going to try to find them during the day would they likely be near the same spot? In clear water with rocky bottom how deep are they likely to sit? What would you throw down there to try and entice a daytime bite? Am I likely to find them with sonar or is it a matter of trial and error trying different ledges in the same area? I'd appreciate any tips as to tactics and what kind of areas to try. The one in my profile pic I caught trolling at 11 am in 8 feet along the shore of all places in the same lake, I always catch them randomly but would like to try to target them. Thanks!

That would probably be the worst lake to try shore fishing on if there is, drive an extra hour North and cruise the backroads North of Honey Harbour you could probaby find somewhere far quieter where you may even catch some fish!

Ya me too I guess, was just trying to figure out why such a huge difference in 2 days. I'm far from an expert so perhaps I just wasn't employing the right tactic Sunday for where they were. They seemed to be out in 20 feet Sunday whereas Tues and Weds they were in schools around docks and on weed edges. Whatever the case it was a great couple days of action!

Where did you read that I think he did nothing wrong? My only beef was with how everyone quotes he broke the "law" over and over and over, but somehow the punishment prescribed by that same law isn't enough, and that he needs endless threats, humiliation and infamy as well. Let him be fined by the ministry. You can't have your cake and eat it too, though apparently everyone seems to think otherwise. Abiding by the law also means let the law deal with the punishment. If you think that's not enough write your MPP and get the punishment upped, but stop with the drama already, it's a fish. Last post I'm done.

I was at the same lake as above on Sunday, and managed 8 fish in 12 hours. 2 days later after all the cottagers had gone home it was like someone had come by and air dropped fish into the water. I'm left assuming the boat noise and activity is part of what makes them inactive..??

I'm not arguing that I hate what he did Lew, sorry if it came across wrong as well. I am just part of the minority that thinks this has gone wayyyyy beyond what's reasonable. Laws change, 12 months ago I could keep a 14" fish from Nippissing, today someone could GoPro me and I could be on the front page of the paper and subject to the same thing as this guy. You may not think its the same thing but I'm sure someone would send me a death threat over it. I just hate public lynchings. I know they are a part of what we are turning into like it or not, but hate it none the less.

And what is the punishment for that Lew? Since everyone loves quoting the law here... I'm pretty sure its a fine. And what does he get? Two storys in a city newspaper, likely thousands of death threats, discussions and postings all over the internet that can never be removed, and where does it end? Maybe his boss sees it and decides he needs to be removed? Maybe his family disowns him? Maybe he gets spit on in the street? I condone the fine, the rest to me is disgusting for killing one fish. And I will add that I don't even kill for eating, legal or not that annoys me as well. Like others have said how does one justify all this for what he actually did?

Regardless of what he did, can you imagine how this can happen to anyone these days? I'm really not into this new technology driven public lynching game we play. The guy killed a fish, something everyone in this forum has done, and he wakes up the next morning getting publicly lynched, charged, and made famous as an evil jerk. All from a day out in the boat with his buddy. This could happen to anyone on this forum. Why we have this appetite to completely destroy lives over next to nothing these days is beyond me.

lol no everything was going well you got me Smoke. and sorry for the 3 posts this forum has some quirks I am still learning, like apparently I can't delete my own post, they limit how many pics you can upload and they won't let you use flickr. Slightly annoying but got it now.

I had two more pics but apparently it limits what I can post

We spent the last 2 days this week on our favorite Bass Lake, and it seems with all the cottagers gone and the lake quiet, they are finally up out of the deep under the docks and in the weeds! We spent the whole day Tuesday and 4 hours on Wednesday and managed 60 fish over the 2 days it was awesome! Spinners and plastics for the most part, the Smally's were a little skiddish at hitting but the Pike and Largemouth were just slamming everything! Biggest Smally was 3.9 lbs and the big Largemouth in the third pic weighed in at 4.6. None of the fish were chunked up yet, all pretty skinny which honestly made for some epic jumping and fights! Everything was released. Heres a few pics...