adolson

That pike looks tasty! And I don't usually say that about pike.

Dana, you look so upset at that perch, lol

Haha, it was the first fish I ever caught on a spinner... And this was after trying for auroras for about 6 hours.. I was really tired.

Thanks everyone! It was a gorgeous day. I figured I'd catch more than two, but any day you catch a trout is a good day.

What's next? Lakers? Splakers? More brookies? Or continued punishment on rainbow lakes?

Good question. I haven't caught a soft-water laker yet, so that's appealing. There's also a lake I am considering trying out that has splake and rainbow stocked into it regularly. I tried it twice in the winter and got nothing but a couple weird orange OOS smallies. And another rainbow lake I PMd you about.

Aside from that, I'm thinking I'm going to focus on specks and splake, since they're closer and easier for me to get to without a helicopter or ATV. And they taste great.

Oh, a thread made for me! lol

BONUS PICTURES - my sister's personal smallests:

Saturday I spent far too much time trolling and casting around a rainbow trout lake.

I have fished this lake before, and the closest I've come to catching anything was seeing one rainbow following into shore. And of course, I've seen them jumping all over the place. This was decidedly my last try here, as the lake is a good hour away and down a pretty rough road. My tires spun a couple times on a really bad rocky portion of said road, and I nearly backed out and went elsewhere. But I made it up eventually. My old Achieva made it into the lake more easily in the past, but the van is now my fishing vehicle and it seems to struggle.

I didn't catch anything from my Sportspal, but I did get very close to a cub - much closer than it appears in the picture. He was alternating between watching me and another guy who was launching his canoe. I've seen the other guy at the lake three times now. But all he had to show for his efforts this time was a little sucker fish. I'm more persistent than to leave after just a couple hours, though.

It was a nice day, at least, despite being a bit chilly at the start and ends of the day.

At the end of the day, as I just finished packing up my gear, the trout started jumping like mad all over the lake, even as shallow as 3-4 feet of water. So, I grabbed my rod and put on a bobber and worm and made my way around to the defined shore-fishing spot. Cast into the rings... Wait a minute... Then re-cast.

After about three casts, I hook into a fish. It breaks the surface and I see it's a little rainbow trout! I get it right up to the shore line and I can see the pink on him. I hadn't grabbed my net from the van, having just packed everything away, and so when I reached to grab it, the hook came out and I lost it. I watched him swim away slowly - a reprise of what happened the last time I caught a nice brookie. What a heart-breaker. At least I had one, and I saw it. Even in the stained green waters it was pretty. I cast a bit longer and caught two suckers and took that as a sign it was time to give up. Tomorrow was a new day.

When I got home, I had a message from Rod Caster asking if I wanted to meet up and fish with him and Joeytier. But since I knew my van wouldn't get into the lake they were going to (and I kinda doubted his truck would too - but he proved me wrong), plus I couldn't rustle up a fishing partner of my own to save my life, I woulda never made it into the first lake. So I went to the planned second destination, to which the boys never showed (and were rewarded with a nice, big bow).

I made it to this speck lake unscathed, though the road in was pretty rough. I am noticing a pattern, here. I got there and unloaded all my gear and took to the water. I trolled a worm-crawler as I got an idea of the depths along the shoreline and in the middle of the lake. I switched to a Little Cleo and drifted with the wind along the shore I figured would be my best shot. I had a couple definite bites, but lacking stinger hooks, my worm went missing.

Continuing to drift, I reached a little bay area with lots of nice submerged logs. Casting a silver Mepps #3 dressed with piece of worm into 2 feet dropping quickly to 11 feet, I caught two speckled trout. I had many other bites and follows, but these were the only two I landed. They seemed to be pretty methodical with stripping the worms from my hooks. The water was so clear, I could watch one of them do it.

It's not a 28" rainbow trout, but it's a little over 28" of specks, and that's almost as good to me.

These are also the first trouts I've caught on Mepps gear. I've seen them work before, but never for me until now, when my Little Cleos weren't cutting it.

---

TLDR; I caught two specks and heartbreakingly lost a rainbow on the shore.

Dana: don't bother with a truck, you basically need a 4 wheeler for this trail. The crew at mazda are gonna have a fun time picking out branches from my brakes at my next service.

So I guess you're not going back? :\

I don't know why they always have to stock rainbow in the hard-to-reach lakes. I want to buy a cheaper used ATV, but with the baby nearly here, it won't likely be happening for a long time, if ever.

Well done, man. That's a beauty. I wish I coulda been there, but I knew my van wouldn't make it.

Simple... Pan-fry in butter with a little pepper and seasoned salt.. If you can mix it in with some walleye, even better.

Or you can get fancy and use some Fish Crisp.

Nice report, man! Those are some nice and tasty-looking lakers.

I have only been on Temagami once this year, but it wasn't to fish (I played a small show on Bear Island). I'd love to try fishing it but it's a bit of a big lake for my Sportspal, really.

Everyone who tries braid says the same thing - "I could never go back to mono".

I tried braid and I sure didn't say that!

I know that Tuf-Line DuraCast is supposedly a braid, but compared with all other braids I've had the displeasure of wasting money on, it sure seems different. I'd easily go back to mono before I waste any more money on Power Pro or similar again.

Cancelled cause the card was flat...go back to the 3-4 events a year and make them count....Whites greed will destroyed the sport

Agreed... I'd give my next brook trout just to have IFL (before they removed the team aspect) back.

I stick with 10lb Tuf-Line Duracast for walleye, and pretty much everything else. I don't fish muskie or salmon, though (not really found in my 1-hour radius).

The perfect fish already exists. The Brook Trout. Mother natures finest work.

I'm in total agreement. Close the thread.

I fished downstream of two hydro dams on the Montreal River many times last year, and a handful of times this year, including earlier today. The water level today was crazy low compared to last year, and even earlier this year it was really low compared to the lowest days of last year. I thought it was just due to the dams, but every lake that I fished last year and this year had the same result - much lower water levels, even after all the rain we've had.

At the river today, it was so low, I'd say a 3-4 foot drop would be accurate. I walked about 50 feet from last year's shoreline, and found a Beetlespin lure that I broke off on a snag last year. It still had my snap swivel and a piece of my Tuf-Line Duracast tied to it, and the yellow grub had been absorbing the black paint from the jig head. It's interesting to see the structure - stumps and branches in the middle of nowhere.

I very rarely target walleye (except for at a few specific lakes where the sizes aren't that big), so my own PB is pretty small at only 21". I caught two at this size, one trolling a silver and black original floating Rapala, and one on my first cast right in tight to shore with a similar lure by Cotton Cordell in firetiger.

I don't know or care what anyone else is using ,i have fished around southern Ontario all my life AND HAVE NEVER used anything but a 71/2ft UGLY STICK.That old pole of mine has ripped many lips...............no breakage

If you want to spend your money.............about $40.......wally world...........pease:Gonefishing:

I said it earlier in the thread, and I'll say it again:

I'm not sure if I want to fish anymore, or just refresh OFC until you post your next batch of crazy beauties.

I'll tell you one rod to avoid, the Shimano Izumi signature rods from Canadian Tire! Done get me wrong, they are actually really nice rods for $70...when they aren't broken! I broke two this year! Got one replace under warranty and then went with a Quantum Resource (same price).

:\ I bought one of these this year for walleye and brook trout. So far, I love it (especially the shades of blue used on it... mmm, pretty). I've yet to break any rod, so hopefully I have better luck than you.

WOW. What a gorgeous picture!

It's a smallmouth bass. Chris K answered your question, but you maybe missed it.

Sometimes, sweet goes surprisingly well with fish. Occasionally I'll cook my trout in maple syrup and it's delightful.

Haha, man, your story reminds me of last year when I caught my first smallmouth bass ever. Keep at it, you'll fight and catch (and likely sometimes lose) much bigger ones too. You've now entered the Personal Best territory. It gets addicting trying to one-up yourself.

I'm not sure about that GPS model, but I downloaded the Ibycus 4.0 Canada mapset and opened it up in a program on Linux (QLandKarte) and then exported all of Ontario in a format that works on my Garmin Dakota 20 handheld. You may be able to do the same for yours? The maps are quite good.

If you do that, wouldn't the fish 'fall apart' and go through the grill?

 

Sorry if it's a stupid question, I'm only 16 (learning to cook).

 

Matt.

If you're worried about that, you can coat it with oil so it won't stick. Flip it only once, carefully, and don't screw around with it. I've not lost anything but a little skin on the grill, when it comes to trout.

If it's a filet, skin-sidie down, top with whatever you like. Try BBQ sauce if you haven't - it's quite nice. I often load my trout with dill, too. It's pretty versatile, though.

If it's a whole, cleaned fish crank the temp to max, three minutes or so, flip it, another 3 minutes, done. Again, season how you like, or not at all, it's delicious either way.