troutologist

Map work is a great start. Look at the surrounding topography. A general rule of thumb is to look for lakes surrounded closely by hills. This most often suggests the lake has a decent drop near the shoreline and may have enough depth to hold fish. In a similar vein look for inlets/outlets to the body of water. Do these lead to other lakes/river? Is this a part of a system? If it is attached to a larger lake/river chain with fish chances are it will hold fish. Often shield lakes (as observed through sat/aerial photos) are relics of receeding iceage water and will often have fish populations "stranded" when post-glacial melt waters dropped. That being said. I have caught many specks (some big ones) from very non tradiational type lakes. As long as the lake will allow overwintering (in one spot!!) there most often will be fish. Conversations with area biologists can provide leads but the best way is still put some miles on bushwhacking with a canoe or snowshoes. When you find a honey hole tell NO ONE. I have seen small spots ruined by knowledge sharing. Even take care of who you bring in. Often smaller lakes cannot sustain fishing pressure. The group of guys I speck fish with have taken to renaming lakes we frequent...broken snowshoe lake, #1, waste a day lake.

AMEN. Same holds true anywhere. Effort (99% of the time) = success. Specks can be a picky lot in certain weather but I find nothing as rewarding as busting my ass to get to a lake and having it pay off. Sometimes you work hard and its a bust. No worries it just gives you a place to send your buddies that slept in that morning.

Go the the forums on myccr.com and do a search. It has been discussed there. There were/are(?) some fishing lodges or camps on a couple of the lakes. Seems there maybe a potential for speckled trout but more predictably bass. Don't believe any of the routes are maintained and may present a challenging trip. I was looking into it when I lived in S. Ont but moved away before I made the trip.

I have seen a little cone made out of saplings and a tarp before, seems to concentrate the smoke during breezy conditions. Green saplings for a fish holding rack work best.

Sweet ride, a buddy of mine got the same boat last fall and has been quite happy. I'll have to keep an eye out for you on the river. Get out there and get some slime on it now.

Looks like you had a pretty good day after all. I've been trying to institute the preshopping drop off with my girlfriend with moderate levels of success.

Looks like a good trip and some nice fish. That pike is a tank! You've certainly got some nice country to explore up there.

Its taken a while to get this report together for a number of reasons, primarily the game of catch up required at work after shirking all responsibility for a while leading up to then the week of this trip. A number of years ago I decided that the provided 3 day weekend was insufficient to facilitate the type of trip I was looking for. Thus overtime all winter to accumulate days off; no holidays on a contract... Anyways the plan came together smoothly; the 2 man expeditionary unit would leave Wednesday morning, prior to the holiday weekend and scribe a loop deep into the bush north of superior. Saturday on the way back out we were due to meet the resupply party and enjoy a couple nights of a bit more laid back camping. The plan was voted so good an additional 4 campers jumped on board for the Saturday-Monday trip. Day 1--In South winds at 30-40kmph. Ya. Well there could have been a hurricane and it wasn’t stopping me. Trees were falling all over; saw at least 5 fall on the way to the first camp. The plan was to single carry the portages. This lasted the first one and numerous blowdowns and deep snow patches forced us to go through with packs and saws first to clear the way. We were the first people through here for the year and going was rough. 8 portages later and this is what we see. AV Setup Cooler beside the door Then the rain really started and kept up all night into the morning. Day 2 saw us getting a late start waiting for torrential downpours to abate and another long day of tripping into another lake. In the rain/snow/sun we managed to hit some fish. Got to the destination and found all the campsites were basically flooded. The normal tent spots were a few inches deep in water so we had a pretty good slope to deal with. Woke up a couple times at the bottom of the tent. Got camp set up and went for a fish in the persistent winds. Found success in a small bay. View from the campsite The two man party was strong that night with classic rock on the crankup radio and whiskey and lakewater flowing. Still at dawn we were up set to catch fish. The day turned HOT and bright, sunburns were handed out after lasts night's low of -3C. Again a few fish were caught and they seemed to be of better size... Got back to camp around 1 for lunch and to check CBC for the weather. Rain turning to snow (2-4") pushed by 60+km winds tonight. Well, packed’er up and head back to the relatively warm confines of the cabin. (Hoping no one moved in). Got some shots of the portage on the way out. It was flat and the walking was easy....after walking in during a rainstorm I definitely was eager to get out before the forecasted snow. First off cheers to DuPont and their making of Kevlar. All different parts of the same hill…it just kept going up…steeply Managed to fish on the way out and was rewarded!! The release.... Down to the bottom.... Crossing the lake towards our ideal homebase we see 2 canoes on the shores.....turns out the boys got out early (after a minor detour) and claimed us a warmish spot for the weekend. The weather really deteriorated for the next day and through the night. Fishing was nearly impossible with the winds, we spent a lot of time looking at this. The wind was whipping right into the building so we had to fortify the structure. After many dead trees were cut and bucked up, strong drink was served and with no chance of hitting the water supplies dwindled. Some point around midnight we were held up at stickpoint by this masked man demanding his nalgene be filled with vodka and lakewater. After a euchre tourney we retired to creaking beams and flapping roof tin. Overnight low got down around an estimated -10C with the windchill. The next day was passable and allowed us to get into some higher (elevation) lakes to catch a few fish. Interesting difference in colours versus the other specks we caught. The lakes are close together however this fish came from altitude... Out Packed up and cleaned up early and left to building winds....by the time we hit the take out waves were crashing hard. A sign of things to come…We battled high winds again through a long paddle and the crossing of the last big lake. Got shuttled to the truck and headed for the shower. It was an amazing trip to see some country. The weather-based change in plans forced us to cut back on fishing time but was worth it to be comfortable in the bad weather. On the plus side there were no bugs!

Thats us for sure in the last pic. What a day!! I assume Im catching a fish or cursing about just losing one.

Nice lakers Anders. Good size fish too. What were you hitting them on?

Great write up and photos. you guys had some good luck with the specks for sure. In those lakes do you tend to catch all the fish of similar size or are there a chance of bigger fish? I ask becasuse I fish some lakes/ponds of fair size that hold seemingly only one size of fish....a 2lber would be on the large size. T minus 96hrs til departure for me

With a safety pin or something you should be able to pop the cover off the bearing and access the insides to check for the offending substrate. Then follow the kerosene, sewing machine protocol and see what happens, worth a try before you look into new ones. About dunking the reels in water...they're for fishing not display. A little post trip care and cleaning will alleviate these problems

As stated I havent had any success jigging in the spring. I like to cast points, humps and little sand bays. I find the bucktail type jigs are the best for this, storm swim shads are also effective. Also heavier bucktails "snap jigged" are deadly. If you find these schools of bait try running through there with a 2-3oz white bucktail ripping it along. In the spring I find it neccessary to troll and cover water to find cooperative fish. Body baits like the Deep Xrap and J11,J13 and the smaller HJs will produce. My best success come over sandy bottoms at the mouth of bays. Water temp dictates where you will be fishing. If all the water is in the 30's find a protected area on the north side of a lake and look for 41-43. Once things hit 45-50, even a little higher they really start to get active. If the temps are just hitting the 40's you will be surpised how shallow you will catch fish.

Heck of a trip guys. Thats the way she goes sometimes with specks fish the same lake all week and have 1 morning of catching. This didnt help my cause at all, Ive been barely able to sit still waiting for my trip next week.

Good job man, Water temp must be getting up there?? Let me know if you need someone to net those atlantics for you.

I found them at western this winter. If they don't have them in Orest can get them for you.

Looks like a good one for sure. That same lure has been real good for our group for lakers as well the last couple of years. Was there still icechunks floating around or were they done this weekend?

All you can say about Saturday was EPIC!!!! One of my best days fishing for mykiss ever. I can usually gauge if we are starting a trip normal early or extra early based on the response from the Hortons drive through girl. This morning they didn’t have bagels, breakfast sandwiches or donuts. Just 4 leftover cookies from last night. So with a stupid early start we headed up the hwy. Nearing our destination we spotted 2 massive timber wolves, some of the bigger specimens I have encountered, tried to double back for a picture but they were elusive. Just as we got out of the car it started to snow, not your regular flakes either in 5 mins the ground was covered and there was no sign of it stopping. It ended up snow all morning (4 or 5") making picture taking an exercise in futility. No decent shots until things calmed down around noon. We started off 3 for 4...4 drifts 3 fish. They were hitting everything, holding shallow and fighting hard in the cold water. Got a bunch of doubles.... As the day wore on we found the fish moving deeper and were a bit more finicky. Changing to beads, and globugs got a renewed interest from the fish. Also as brief flurries came through fresh runs of fish moved up the river adding some aggressive fish into the mix. Best one of the day Late afternoon we headed back in bright sun and warm temps. What a day. My arm was actually sore Sunday.

If it was a heavy old fiberglass canoe you would be in business. Wrong material. theres a couple square sterns on sootoday if you want to go that route.

Have a good trip Mike, hope the weather is decent and the fishing is great.

Tough life eh Luc? Fishing before work and scouting holes during work. The browns are a nice bonus, havent heard of too many around here lately.

Ya we had a talk about that. He's still figuring out that camera....back this weekend? I get back from the Peg friday midnight and am looking to meet at the post before 5. About the bear...I felt like a puss in boots actually after the fact but for whatever reason not being able to get it to take off rubbed me the wrong way at the time. I've been hitting the gym this week and am ready for a bear faceoff. Mike, the water temp up north is low to mid 30s still got a couple weeks to make the trip yet. What a great time of year!!

Those are some solid lakers. Good fishing!

Trout season actually opened for me Jan. 1, but in the spirit of the weekend I decided to get away from the crowds and hike into a river. The walk was pleasant, on the south facing slopes...only 6-12" of snow and stretches of bare ground. Then we hit a corner and descended into a protected (from any sunlight apparently) valley. It was a good trudge with some drifts still waist deep. I remember clearly someone saying "screw it i'm leaving the snowshoes in the truck". It sounded like me....what a jackass. Anyways upon arrival and rehydration we found the river mint. Very high but still clear. Conditions were perfect...it was cold, windy and raining but still perfect. We started fishing a got into a fish or 2. It was a bit of a learning curve as I had never fished the river at this water level and it took a while to find where the fish were holding. Another one... Close up My buddy hit a fish and went over to grab the camera and snap a pic...caught a faint whiff of something. Can't be...we're whooping it up catching fish and whatnot. Proceed with the photo op. Yup sure enough its a bear, and close. It stuck around in a thicket about 30 ft away for a while. We shouted, threw rocks and it took off. Couple minute later it was back....damn. Didnt want to leave the fish but grabbed our stuff and headed across the river. Tried to fish from the other side but its not the spot to fish the run from....stupid bear. Don't think we were in any danger but at the time it was pouring rain, and we couldnt hear or see very far....fish with you're back at the alders...we lost our nerve. Im headed back next weekend for revenge. (with an airhorn)

Wow, man am I jealous. I've been wanting that same boat. Rare to see any used ones up this way for sale. Good searching Mike!