limeyangler

Thanks Bushart....will try that out....will head up west arm as soon as i get the hell out of winnipeg.....on a school outing for work.....god i hate cities...much rather be out in the bush.....on the ice....or in my boat with the occasional necessary trip to walmart in dryden ....lol...will be back on the water tuesday evening...will try west arm and larson and let ya know how i get on.... And the guys who cannot get vids ...maybe you need to register with photobucket, might help with the vids.

Priceless info there Bushart...will give it a go...hope i'm not late for them...lol...always next year god willing....and yeah nice pic....the Goon certainly is murky...but lots of fishies . By the way....its all cabbage along the shore of our bush, its growing all the time...even there under the ice...as ive pulled up green stuff in winter...so i tried your weed fishing advice as soon as i read the post....well only got little guys.....but i discovered where the perch are!!!!! holy man...about 10 in 1/2 hour.....did not stay long as wind full on in my face and driving rain, hence no pics...already froze a camera to death on the ice this year...dont wanna drown one now...not at $400 a shot! And Johnny these sunsets are really wild....glad you enjoyed...me too....guess thats why they call this area 'Sunset County'.

LOLOL....Bushart....seems like your just the person i need to talk to....you local?...sounds like it. I tried devils Island the other day....no joy...by the looks of it the 2 other boats did not do well. The reefs before Larson bay are showing fish but i am either not presenting well enough...or they aint biting. I was gonna go down the west arm on yesterday, but spoke to a couple of people who said they'd been....including my neighbour......but they all said nuttin' happening. I will do as you say and try the weed beds, THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE. dude....dont be so anonymous...if you are local...pm me please.

Hi All, Well I planned to go for some trout(lakers) on downriggers with my buddy Matt yesterday. Well after him messing me around...and then finally cancelling I just headed out on Wabigoon( he did call later when i got back in to apologise again...good man is Matt . This has got be one of the first times not getting everything ready the day before worked out to my advantage, cuz i was gonna pull the boat out of the water to get it to the trout lake, but i was tired and had left it at the bottom of the yard, so i was ready to roll as soon as Matt cancelled. Was getting the boat ready by 8:30am .....must have been rush hour....lol....but why my neighbour cant just drive or cycle to work is beyond me .................................. DON’T THINK THE GAS MILEAGE CAN BE VERY GOOD He must have forgotten his lunch box as the wife showed up 10 minutes later to give chase...lol...... HONEY!........YOU FORGOT YOUR LUNCHBOX! They are my neighbours , but the real story(as if you haven’t guessed already) is that they are a fly-in camp operator at the end of the bay, I don’t mind them, pretty cool to watch, but i do take exception to them taking off and buzzing 20 feet above the lawn scaring the S#!T out of my cats and rattling' the windows Anyway...lol...rant over....back to the fishing. The phone was non stop this morning at home and I was finally headed out at about 11am. Needed some smokes and drinks for the day so drove the boat to town. At the shop, there's my buddy Dave buying minnows for a quick trip out with a kid. We both work with children in care....its great when you have the kids who like fishing cuz you can go out all day in the boat....tough job.....the kids love it too! So Dave suggests we just go in my boat as its right there...save him putting his in ...and besides he has a meeting at 1:30pm and cant go out for long. So off we go to our favourite little walleye spot. We had lots of bites, marked lots of fish but failed to land anything, and were headed back to get Dave to his meeting at 1pm. After dropping Dave off i headed back to the same spot as we had marked lots of fish, after another hour or so all i had managed was one little guy, so decided to try Mile and Trap lakes, which although connected to Wabigoon are much clearer lakes. ALL I MANAGED TO LAND IN 2 HOURS Mile and Trap Lakes are connected to the main Wabigoon lake by narrow weeded channels, here’s the coordinates on Google earth.................... MILE LAKE 49 40 54.61 N 92 46 38.88 W TRAP LAKE 49 39 37.48 N 92 47 23.00 W Mile is the first lake you come to off of Wabigoon and Trap is the 2nd and more southerly of the two, if you click the blue icon at the entrance to Mile Lake on Google Earth it shows a rather cool pic of a moose i saw there last summer running and chomping its way through the weed bed...guess that’s why they call them 'Swamp Donkeys'....here's some more video footage from last summer of the same moose.... MOOSE LAST SUMMER AT ENTRANCE TO MILE LAKE Like i said, the entrance to the two Lakes are narrow weeded channels. Mind you they are only narrow and weeded in the summer, i have not ever been there at this time of year and there was hardly any weed growth at all. On the one hand it seems like it would be easier to navigate being wider, but after consideration i realised it was gonna be trickier because the edge of the weeds in the summer mark the deeper water, even then the water is only 2 to 3 feet deep with lots of stumps to hit. So i braced myself for the attempt....which i have always been told to do at full tilt with my 30hp as this apparently lifts the boat higher...apparently....... ENTRANCE TO MILE LAKE GOING THROUGH AS FAST AS MY 30HP WILL GO PHEW!!>>>MADE IT THROUGH, GREETED BY THE GREAT LOOKING MILE LAKE After not having much success for walleye all morning and afternoon, i decided to try my black fury mepps spinner, as last summer this proved deadly on these two lakes for pike , bass and the odd walleye. After my fourth cast ....lol....i was having my doubts, as in the summer on these lakes the fish hit before the lure has hit the water. My doubts none the less were there because the main lake seems to be in transition from the good ice out/spawn stage to the summer mode. That is to say all the large walleye have disappeared or are not liking my usual presentation of jig and minnow. I think i will try another bait/rig presentation next time out as when cleaning fish there is a lot of insect/ water bug type stuff in the digestive tract....match the hatch as they say. Anyway.....i did a bit more thinking about the lack of bites on the spinner and decided that although the water seemed warm enough to trigger the fish to bite a slow moving spinner, i was fishing in the same bays that in summer are reed beds. I decided that perhaps the rotted remnants of the reeds were depleting oxygen, hence the lack of fish. So i decided to fish the rocky shores which form the entrance to these little bays and within 2 casts bam....first little pike, I then hooked into a bass which while messing around trying to film it...it broke loose. I got a couple more pike before loosing my Black with Yellow dot mepps...something big bit through my 20lb flouro leader...and swapped over to my only other mepps which was a reverse Yellow with Black spots...which also caught a few pike. 1ST PIKE 1ST AND ONLY BASS.......GOOD JOB I SWITCHED OFF THE CAMERA AS SOON AS IT GOT OFF....LOL....CUZ I LET LOOSE A FEW CHOICE WORDS DIRECTED MAINLY AT MYSELF Although catching the pike and bass were fun i wanted to see if the walleye fishing was different on this lake, so did a short troll round the corner from where i was fishing to a reef i did well at last year, the fishing was not fast and furious then either, but the fish i landed were much larger than the norm i had been catching on Wabigoon. After 30 minutes trolling and jigging around the reef i managed another little guy. SEEMS THE BIG GUYS ARE HIDING FROM ME I decided that i would now head down the next connecting channel into Trap Lake. Again the channel was not weeded as in summer, I actually found a similar picture view i took last summer which makes for a fun comparison ......... YESTERDAY LAST YEAR IN JULY USED ALL THE 30 HORSES TO GET THROUGH AGAIN (the outboard is 23 years old so probably closer to 25 horses....lol) I fished for about another hour or so in Trap Lake. I had lots of follows from very small pike, which was fun, cuz although shy of biting they were not shy to sit by the boat in clear view while i tried to entice them to bite. I only managed to land one but it was the first trip into this lake this year so was good to get a fish on the maiden voyage. I wanted to stay longer but i knew thunder storms were predicted for the evening, and having to cross large open water areas on the main lake to get home i decided to head off before the wind picked up and made my journey in the 16' tinny more interesting than need be. On the way out i disturbed an Eagle which took off up the channel, i followed it for a whole mile before it took off over the trees, wanted to film but only managed a picture as i though it sensible to concentrate on navigating...lol. 1ST TRAP LAKE FISH FOR THIS YEAR MY TRAVELLING COMPANION FOR ABOUT 1 MILE Tried for walleye again on Wabigoon at the first spot, to see if it was an evening bite....no luck. So tried in front of the house before mooring up for the day as it has actually been the best fishing in front of the house....i just like getting out in the boat....lol. Whilst doing the slow troll along our shoreline i caught sight of this deer checking me out from our lawn, wish he'd stick to mowing the grass instead of chomping all our shrubs and flowers....grrrrrrrrrrrr MOW THE LAWN>>>NOT OUR SHRUBS PLEASE! As the sun started to set i tied up the boat and set up a pickerel rig from shore in a last ditch attempt at supper whilst i unpacked the boat.....once again i only got one small one just before the sun dipped behind the horizon....but boy was it a good day out...and what a sunset!!!! LAST NIGHTS SUNSET......NEVER CEASES TO WOW ME!

[ooooops.....sorry did not finish this........dont know how to remove...will try again :oops:

CONGRATULATIONS JOHNNY! Great looking trip, cool way too propose! Glad your trip was good, looks like an awesome time.

very, very cool...thanks lew.

lol...i fricken wish, i did catch some fish...but they were all small. Will stick the report up in the morning greencoachdog.....ive been in the boat all day and the whole room is still rocking...back and forth...back and forth.....i'm suprised i'm not feeling seasick.

fantistic report...great pics...i love catching whitefish.

check this out GONNA NEED A WHLOE LOTTA CHIPS WITH THIS

i am looking to buy a handheld at the moment, will take this into the final decision...lol...looks like Garmin or lowrance.

great report, great pics....yup the ice up here certainly took its time to go.

Thanks for the replies. Yup getting out in the boat is great, then i see cliff catches and.....nah...still great, but hey those are awesome fish from shore or boat..lol. Ohio, the fishfinder sucks at the moment but at least it dont leak, she has her wellies (boots) on cause we dont have a dock yet and she pushes off. The only dock we have is the pontoon thing you may have seen in some of my other piccies, found it floating acroos the lake in a storm last summer, claimed salvage...lol but its gonna be no good once the water levels drop as they normally do by mid summer. Like i said picking up my buddy matt at his uncles dock 5 mins round the other side of the bay at 11am this morning, gonna get serious now...lol...we'll see.

Hi All, Well finally got the boat back in the water, and after getting up at 6 am cuz i could not wait to get out and to try and fix the transducer properly i was all ready to go at 11am. Only problem was i was so tired i fell asleep after lunch at 12 and woke up at 3:30....LOL....tough life aint it. Anyway, after convincing my wife i was ok....she could not believe i fell asleep when the opportunity to go fishing was there, she was worried about me...lol we headed out at 4:30 pm. I did not actually pay much attention to the fishing as i was trying to work out my fishfinder, i will need to do some more work on mounting the transducer. Anyway, we did catch fish, tiny little walleyes and a tiny little pike. MY WIFE IN HER LOVELY WELLIES ALL THE FISH WERE TINY>>>MUST BE THE BOAT CUZ I WAS GETTING NICE ONES FROM SHORE ALL WEEK The fish were small but being out in the boat....IN THE SUNSHINE(at last) with my wife was awesome......it was also fun cuz i met my fishing buddy Dave out at one of our favourite spots with his family, and bumped into my neighbour Ian out the front of the house on the way back in. MY FISHING BUDDY DAVE TURNED UP WITH HIS FAMILY MY NEIGHBOUR IAN.....HE SAID HE ONLY CAUGHT A COUPLE OF SMALL ONES TOO Due to go out with my buddy Matt tomorrow and we will be trying a few really shallow reefs, see if we cant find the elusive walleys of Lake Wabigoon. we might also head into Mile and Trap lake through the narrow channels...see whats lurking in there.

welcome aboard, sorry cant help with the Lake question

HEHEHE cant resist it...lol...sorry

Hi All, Got back from a 4 day shift at work away from home at about 3pm yeaterday. Started to mess with the boat , trying to get it ready as i got my motor back, but the sun was out, it was warm, i was tired, the wife was not at home and the beautiful water on the lake was calling to me.....oh well, guess i can do the boat tomorrow and sit and fish I headed down the lawn with my rod, the minnows in my trolling bait bucket were still good so i decided to go with the slip bobber and chartreuse jig/minnow as i had been doing pretty well with that. i love fishing with slip bobbers, its a hang over from my sea bass and mackerel fishing days. Not much happening for the first half hour. There was absolutely wind, flat calm and glassy. Although nice not to have the wind howling (it was even snowing the previous day) I do better with the bobber and in general with a bit of chop on the water. Anyway, after half an hour i was almost dozing off , probably would have but i was chugging a Red Bull , when my bobber started doing the walleye waltz...lol....what i mean is that the bobber rarely goes straight under when its a walleye, instead it usually lifts up, lies flat then goes for a little walk around. Struck and landed a good eater about 12 or 14". HALF WAY TO SUPPER WITH THIS ONE Put another minnow on and cast out, the bobber got twisted in the line on the cast so i started to retrieve and a big pike tried to nail the bait right at my feet as i was lifting the jig out of the water. I cast out again and decided to do the slow retrieve with the bobber again. I cast out three times and retrieved slowly, on the fourth cast i was about to start the wind in but no sooner had the bobber settled it shot under and the slack line out on the surface of the water was going tight quickly, i was pretty sure it was a biggish pike, and having only 6lb line with an 8lb flouro leader on this rod it was a race to check and adjust the drag before the slack was gone and i connected, i managed to adjust the drag....only thing is i made it too loose in my haste.....i managed to video the pike i caught whilst reeling in and desperately trying to adjust the drag...who says only women are good at multi tasking!!! AFTER A BIT OF MESSING AROUND IT WAS LANDED I thought after the hit on the retrieve, and given that there was no wind or current to give the bait movement on the bobber set up i would try a mepps spinner. I probably made about 30 casts with the mepps when i got a hit. I did not manage to set the hook the first time , so cast out and retrieved along the same path, and like so many times before the fish hit again, almost in exactly the same spot as before. It did not feel very big and it wasn't, a small pike.........but is it......it had very pronounced tiger stripes on its side and its fins were very red/pink at the tips......I’ve caught what i thought was a pike before and been told later when showing pics that it was a pike/musky hybrid....I’d like to think it was. Was trying to get a pic of it on its side but it flipped back into the water, it did do me the courtesy of sitting right where it landed back and managed this snap. MUSKY HYBRID? PROBABLY ME JUST WISHING IT TO BE After that little guy it went dead, started messing around changing up lures, straight casting jigs with minnows, back to bobber....nothing. I Decided to give a pickerel rig a shot, stuck one huge minnow on one hook and a small on the other. I waited about another twenty minutes when the rod was nearly pulled in by this guy......again not easy to film and wind but the result gave me a great idea for a business...lol....." REELCAM" NEARLY GOT MY ROD VIDEO A BIT BLURRY SO INCLUDED A STILL SHOT By now the sun was started to set, and the walleye bite really picked up, I missed quite a few and landed 2 more keepers which i added to my earlier one for supper, lots of small ones out there though. i did think i had got another big pike on at one point as again my rod was almost pulled in. As i started to reel in it felt weird though, like a severe head shake but different. What had happened was that 2 small walleye must have hit the separate minnows on the pickerel rig at almost exactly the same time...lol....chances of that eh.... MY 1ST EVER DOUBLE HEADER ON A PICKEREL RIG Well I decided that i had had enough after that, even though i still could get one more for my limit i decided to just sit down there and wait till the sun disappeared, just really peaceful..... PEACEFUL END TO THE DAY

Truly inspiring, what else can be said? Thanks for posting that.

Yup, did not have a net either....lol...but still managed to land it.

Great report, love the pics of the Loons, apart from catching lots of fish those birds are one of the things i love about fishing here. Thanks for sharing.

Hi All, Still at work but did half an hour again behind the office for walleye. 2nd cast and i thought i got snagged, only to realise the snag was moving?! I was reeling in against a strong current as i am 300yrds upstream from the rapids and was pulling what felt like dead weight for about 30secs, thought it must have been a stick or log. Then wham, i just think the fish did not know it was hooked for a little while, cuz it went nuts...i could feel the head shakes and thought....definitely a jackfish. After what seemed like longer than probably 15 secs i get a look at what i'd hooked into.....BIGGEST WALLEYE IVE EVER CAUGHT!! it was probably 5 or 6 pounds in weight and around 35"? dunno really but i know it was bigger than my previous PB. What really sucks is that for probably the 1 time in a thousand i dont have my camera with me while fishing i get a PB...oh well. I was using one of those Northland Thumper Jigs (orange) with a twisty tail grub...caught 3 eaters as well. Cant wait till tomorrow either, i'm off work for 4 days and i finally get my motor back from the shop so should be out in the boat.....AT LAST!!!!

nice pike, even nicer Lakers....70' fish at 40'....lol....those are my lucky numbers for Lakers on the troll too. Thanks for sharing.

wow...looks like a perfect day in those pics, glassy water, bit of swell, and fish!!! some nice size to those whities too. I would also like to know what you were using, ive caught loads through the ice but not on open water, ganna be giving it a go soon. Great report.

ahhhhh...i knew i was not alone....and yeas i'm addicted, obsessed...call it what ya like lol...but i dont wanna be cured

Just been browsing the topics here for a while, and cant help getting excited about the next time i can get out fishing. I found myself chuckling insanely at myself for getting so excited. I never, ever ,ever tire of fishing!! No matter how , where or for how long the expedition is, as soon as i know i'm going the buzz is there. My wife laughs at me and says i'm like a 5 year old on xmas eve the night before i know i'm going on a days mission. She's not wrong either, i litterally cant sleep for excitement at the prospect and promise of an awesome day. Many a time even though i have been up till 1 or 2 am getting my gear perfectly organised, thinking i must get some sleep cuz we're leaving at 5am, I lie in bed and wake up every 20 mins or so to see if its time to go yet! I just thought i'd write it down as it was on my mind, maybe some of you can relate, maybe not, i suspect a lot of you will though. Tight llines all PS...although new to this site...love it already!