Gary2242

The one thing I hate about message boards is many people believe what they read like it's carved in stone and many use message boards as some sort of revenge to justify their own failure. Every lake is different with a different structure and different food chain. Every lake requires fishing with different baits and fishing at different depths at different times of the year. Most fisherman are stuck in their ways and use the same techniques they always use without budging and when they don't catch fish on a lake they trash the lake and the lodge they are staying at. I will give you an example: Me and my buddies camped out on a Walleye lake in North-eastern Ontario for two weeks. The first week was hot and sunny with clear skies all night long. There was also a full moon, which means the Walleyes are feeding all night long and are stuffed by the time morning comes. The first week 11 highly experienced Walleye fisherman managed to catch three Walleyes. Then on the Sunday a thunderstorm came through and the temperature dropped about 20 degrees and it was mostly overcast the rest of the week. The full moon was also gone. The second week on the lake the 11 of us caught over 1500 Walleye, which is about 20 Walleye per day per person. If we were only there the first week do we say the lake sucks? If we were only there the second week do we say it's a Fantastic Walleye lake? Fishing is always a gamble and developing new skills and techniques is what minimizes that gamble. I have been to Northern Walleye Lodge (Previously Camp Missanabie - www.campmissanabie.com) twice and both times the Walleye fishing was fantastic. During the day we found spots where we where catching 1, 2 and 3-pounders one after another. At night we trolled along the shore with floating blue-&-silver Rapalas and Thundersticks and caught huge Walleyes in the 25" to 32" range. The first time we where there it took us three days to get the know the lake and find hot spots. Going back the second time we knew the lake well and caught three times as many fish. Dog Lake: - Troll along the shore in the 6 to 12 foot of water - When hitting a point start jigging down around 15 feet deep off the point on the side that the waves are hitting. - When fishing a weedy area try jigging between the weeds or trolling along the weeds on the outside facing the main lake. - Don't use artificial scented rubbers. Use unscented or salted baits. Scented baits do not work on most clear Northern Ontario Lakes. - Save the Walleye gullet and Walleye belly meat when you clean a Walleye and rub the scent on your lures - In the spring fish the darker water off of sandy beaches and sand bars as that is where they spawn. - In the spring fish the mouths of feeder streams - In the summer on a hot sunny day the Walleyes along the shore will be slow so find deeper humps and ridges and drop a hook and sinker down with a minnow or a big fat worm and just let it sit on bottom. Walleyes get very lazy in the afternoon but they will still feed if they don't have to use any effort. I hope this helps Gary www.walleyeheaven.com

You need to know how to fish Crotch Lake. It actually has fantastic Walleye and Northern Pike fishing. Crotch Lake is totally inundated with Smallmouth Bass. In the last 10 years the Largemouth Bass population has grown by 100X, In early spring and fall the Walleyes are right close to shore. You just need to troll along the shore until you find them and then star casting or keep trolling. On Crotch Lake there are so many bass that are eating everything and pushing the Walleyes deeper so they can find food. By late spring the Walleyes move out to the rocky points, shoals and sunken reefs and then stay down 20 to 30 feet. They are in concentrated schools so once you find them you will catch a mess of them. At dusk all the big trophy Walleyes come to shore in the 3 to foot range and will feed all night but that first two hours after dark are the best. Just troll along the shore with Perch Coloured or silver-&-blue coloured J-9 or J-11 Jointed Rapalas. Thundersticks also work. With Northern Pike it's different. Crotch Lake has whitefish, which is a pike's favourite food. By late spring many of the big trophy pike will hand around sunken reefs and plateaus in the 15 to 20 foot range where they stage before going deep on Whitefish raids. You need to get them while they are on the reefs and still hungry. If you go to Land 0' Lakes Lodge's website; read their fishing pages and their fishing tips pages and you will get a really clear picture of how to fish that lake. www.land-0-lakes-lodge.com Gary

Yes, there are Muskie in Red Cedar Lake but they are very rare and not supposed to be there. A guy from Ohio staying at Red Cedar Lake Camp caught one this year. It was a smaller one around 10 pounds. Gary

I grew up on Sturgeon Lake and then my parents moved to Pigeon Lake in 1970. I have been fishing Sturgeon, Pigeon and Buckhorn for 50 years and have never seen a pike. Last time we were fishing for muskie on Pigeon we were pulled over by the MNR / OPP boat and they asked us if we have ever caught any Pike so they must be coming down the Trent. The first time I ever saw a Crappy in the Kawarthas was in 1992 and now there are billions of them. The pictures above sure look like Tiger Musky. There is prominent Pike markings on the fins as well as the groovy tiger stripes. You can never be 100% without DNA testing because lots of times pike and muskie can have some freaking colour and skin patterns and look a lot like a tiger muskie but still be pure. Most official Tiger Muskie that I have seen have had a lot more brown in them. I don’t know if that means anything. There is also a strain of Muskie called a Leopard Muskie, which often gets mistaken for a Tiger Muskie - http://www.musky.ca/leopardmuskie.htm

I have written every politician and biologist in the area and nobody seems to care or wants to listen to ideas that someone else thought of. Close to the north end of the Mississippi there are the biggest Salt mines in the US. All they need to do is dump a truckload of rock salt into the river every week or two at the electrical barrier and that will greatly decrease the chances of the carp getting through the barrier and will compensate if there is a power shortage. The salt will push them all down river a few miles. By the time the salt gets a few miles down stream it will dissipate and not affect native fish species. A dump truck of rock salt delivered is about $60. This is a cheap way of dealing with the problem until they block the waterway. Salting the river to push them way down stream will also help prevent birds of prey from catching a carp and then dropping it above the electrical barrier. I also think they should dump a few million Muskie in there. That will clean out the populations as well. Gary www.musky.ca

Hi It's the same everywhere. I just got back from Lake Opeongo in Algonquin Park and the biggest trout I caught was 2.5 pounds, which is really unusual since the average size is usually around 3 pounds. Most were 6 to 12 inches. We usually pick up a couple of 4 and 5-pounders but not this time. What I did notice was my depth finder was picking up massive schools of minnows, which I have never seen before in this volume. I would troll 40 yards and be over one school and they were so thick my depth finder was saying it was 28 feet when in fact it was 65 feet deep. I am assumeing they are Lake Herring, Shad and Whitefish. I am thinking that the heat last year and this year has increased the presents of alge and insect larva and there has been a minnow bloom or something. Maybe the bigger lake trout are just stuffed. These minnows might have grown so fast that they are too big for smaller trout. Maybe the secret is to use bigger lures, which mimic bigger minnows. I usually use small Moose Spoons, Sutton Silver Spoons, William Wablers and small Cleaos. Maybe larger live minnows will wok. Or try dead salted minnows on just a hook if you are not allowed live bait like Algonquin Park. Gary

Hi again That Youtube video is not that good. The lead to the lure needs to be shorter than the lead to the sinkers or you will lose all your lures. It does not need to be that long. I use 3 feet to the sinker and 2.5 feet to the lure. I tie a knot in the sinker link to make it a little weaker. That way if the sinker gets snagged, your lure is still off bottom. If you have to break the line, the sinker line will break first beacaue of the knot. You only need a 2 oz weight to fish 60 or 70 feet deep if you back troll with 6 or 8 pound test line. Lake Trout deeper than 50 feet, with the exception of the Great Lakes or massive inland lakes, are usually not actively feeding. Lake Temegami is a big lake so they might be deeper. Feeding Lake Trout in Northern Ontario lakes are usually 40 to 50-feet deep. The Specs will be 25 to 35 feet deep if there are Specs. In small spring-fed lakes the lakers can be 10 feet deep in the middle of summer. Canadian Tire and Wal*Mart sell steel bell sinkers now. It's best not to use lead because you don't want to leave a pound of lead on the bottom of the lake after a week of trout fishing. Lead is nasty and we should try to keep it out of our water system when we can.. Gary

Hi Guys This is Gary from www.laketrout.org The link above is to my motor boat tips. Here are my tips for specifically fishing in a canoe. Me and my buddies catch tons of trout in Algonquin Park this way. Steel wire and flashers is a crappy way of fishing from the 1950s. You will catch 100 times as many trout with my 3-way swivel method. Jigging is good if you find a spot where they are consentrated but you have to troll around to find these spots if you don't know the lake. Try to find dead salted minnows and pink jig heads if you want to do some jigging.. Canoe Lake Trout Trolling Tips Gary

Hi Everybody I noticed you have been looking at my Aurora Trout page at my Brook Trout site. Even though Aurora Trout have been released in a bunch of the lakes, they did not survive in all of them. For example, Liberty Lake north of Temagami did not take. The released fish did not live. I am slowely getting feedback from MNR officers and local lodges on other lakes. The very best lake for Aurora Trout is Carol Lake, which is north-west of Sudbury and also where the world record was caught. There are so many bears in that area and they are all starving to death so camping in the area is not a great idea. There is a small trout camp near by called Appolo Lake Lodge - http://www.appelolake.com - Rick, the owner, will take you on day trips to Carol Lake. He has to take you by 4x4 ATV up a small mountain to a lake. You have to canoe across the lake and then portage another 100 yards to get to Carol Lake. This is your very best chance at catching an Aurora Trout. Carol Lake is open August 1st / 2011 so you have time to plan. Fishing for them - There are no motors allowed on Aurora Trout Lakes. You have to fish out of a canoe. I have written some light-tackle deep-water trout techniques at my Lake Trout site. I use this all summer long in Algonquin Park and catch hundreds of trout so you should consider these techniques if you are going to try and get an Aurora - http://www.laketrout.org/algonquin-trout-fishing-canoe.htm The guy in the short shorts is actually one of the first people to ever catch an Aurora Trout. That picture is from the early 80's so don't hack on him too much or he will ask me to take his picture down and pictures of Aurora Trout are very very rare. Thanks Gary